Dating and historical circumstances:
The fifth stanza contains references to historical figures and has been used as a starting point to date the composition. Diez suggested that this lyric was composed during the Third Crusade (Friedrich Diez, Leben und Werke der Troubadours: ein Beitrag zur näheren Kenntnis des Mittelalters, Zwickau 1829; enlarged edition Leipzig 1882, p. 213). He stated that the king of Apulia and the emperor referred to were Prince William II of Apulia and Frederick Barbarossa. This tallies with Napolski’s dating, who claims that the work was composed before 1189. He identifies the king of France as Philip II Augustus and the English king as Henry II (Napolski 1879, p. 21). This dating is followed by Fabre (Césaire-Antoine Fabre, «Les Provençalistes du Velay et M. Camille Chabaneau», Romanische Forschungen, 23, 1906, pp. 257-273, pp. 262-263). Lewent argues against this dating. He claims that Pons’s wish for peace between the two rulers «sagt doch deutlich, dass die beiden Herrscher nicht nur keine Freunde sondern geradezu Feinde sind, und man wird durch die Erklärung von Diez…kaum befriedigt werden. Denn diese beiden standen sich vor dem dritten Kreuzzug schlechterdings nicht feindlich gegenüber» (Kurt Lewent, «Das altprovenzalische Kreuzlied», Romanische Forschungen, 21, 1905, pp. 321-448, on pp. 350-351). Lewent argues that Pons is referring to the battle for the German crown between Otto IV of Brunswick and Frederick II. He believes the first two stanzas allude to the papal absolution afforded to crusaders and Innocent III’s call to take the cross in early 1213. At this time Frederick II had sided with the French king Philip II Augustus against Otto IV and King John of England. De Bartholomaeis (Vincenzo de Bartholomaeis, «Osservazioni sulle poesie provenzali relative a Federico II», Memorie della R. Accademia delle Scienze dell’Istituto di Bologna, classe di scienze morali, sezione Storica-Filosofica, 6, 1911-1912, pp. 97-124, on p. 99) and Lucas (Harry Hillgrove Lucas, «Pons de Capduoill and Azalais de Mercuor: a study of the planh», Nottingham Medieval Studies, 2, 1958, pp. 119-131, on p. 125) support Lewent’s criticism of Napolski’s dating and again offer the spring of 1213 as the most likely date of composition.