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I. Io non mancherò di concentrare la mia attenzione nel canto su ciò che mi fa mezzo felice e mezzo triste, poiché la felicità fa un così dolce contraltare alla mia tristezza che in questo modo resto diviso in due. Nel mio cuore sento una pena dolorosa, pensando al declino vergognoso della Terra Santa, dove Dio è morto ed è nato, ma una gioiosa esultanza travolge il mio cuore, perché il grande re Luigi ora vuole vendicarsi per questo.
II. A tal fine egli è partito dalla Francia con grandi truppe armate, e sta andando a ripagare gli empi infedeli nel luogo in cui Dio sta perdendo i suoi diritti e l'onore a Lui dovuto, e dove la terra è diffamata e disonorata, e la nostra religione è vilipesa fino a un tale punto di umiliazione che se un uomo è in grado di sostenerlo non ha il diritto di essere cristiano, e questo non è consentito; così che il solo pensare com’è grave il disonore mi fa sentire il cuore che si spezza dentro di me dal dolore.
III. Ma c'è uno che si affretta qui per far pagare loro un caro prezzo per questo crimine, così resto confortato in buona speranza; perché egli non si cura o preoccupa di ciò che spende per questo, né ha paura di alcuna ardua difficoltà che potrebbe dover affrontare; al contrario, il peso e la difficoltà del compito sono una gioia per lui, così nessuno deve temere che il danno vergognoso non sarà sistemato, perché egli parte con forze così grandi che non vi è alcun motivo per nutrire dubbi in proposito.
IV. Perché con lui vanno eccellenti lancieri, frantumatori di gambe e braccia, forze d'assalto atte a compiere splendide imprese, combattenti per la mischia, uomini di grande resistenza in caso di difesa, (tutti) così abbondantemente dotati di tutti i migliori equipaggiamenti che non posso immaginare che qualcuno, vedendoli così ben preparati e splendidamente armati su ottimi rapidi destrieri, osi neppure dare l’impressione di mettersi a combattere con loro.
V. Ma se l'orgoglio laggiù si espandesse al punto che un sultano o un emiro osino metterlo in mostra, tanto da rifiutare di restituire il diritto di Dio (verso la Terra Santa), ogni persona che va laggiù dovrebbe ricordare che combattere là porta così tanto beneficio che se è valoroso e vivo sarà ricco di reputazione, e sarà ripagato in gioia alla sua fine, e se muore laggiù la sua anima andrà ancora più in fretta a godere la felicità perfetta.
VI. Per questo motivo il grande Re di Navarra, che è esaltato dalla sua reputazione, accompagna il re con tale nobile compagnia, perché a me sembra certamente avere l’ardimento e il desiderio di servire Dio, compiendo gesta gloriose e onorate, perché ne compie più di quanto la faccenda gli richieda; e similmente l’onorato conte di Tolosa, che si è dato da fare oltre il limite del suo potere per portare aiuti che Lo onorino, (così) ama fare ciò che è gradito a Dio.
VII. Ma il re inglese non dovrebbe essere rimproverato se ha ritardato un po’ per incapacità (di andare più in fretta), perché egli sta certamente portando aiuto al fine di mantenere la promessa e fare talmente tanto che egli possa esserne lodato; e che non si pensi che egli indugerà così a lungo che qualcuno lancerà un attacco senza che egli sia presente, perché non è mai stato più apprezzato di quanto lo sia ora, sopra tutti coloro che sono apprezzati, in quanto egli viene in aiuto di Dio con una tale forza di uomini che nessun altro aiuto supera il suo.
VIII. Nel mio canto vorrei ricordare tutti i cortesi baroni che ora si affrettano qui, che ognuno di loro sia sempre lodato; ma sono così tanti che non saprei come farlo, così prego Dio di dare loro felicità.
I. I shall not fail to focus my attention in song to what makes me half glad and half sorrowful, since gladness makes such gentle amends for my misery that in this way I remain divided in two: within my heart I feel painful grief, thinking about the shameful decline of the Holy Land where God died and was born, but glad rejoicing overwhelms my heart because the great King Louis now wants to take vengeance for it.
II. To this end he has set out from France with vast armies, and is going to pay back the wicked infidels in the place where God is losing his rights and the honour due to Him, and where the land is vilified and put to shame, and our religion disgraced to such a point of abasement that if a man is in a position to support it (paradoxically) he has no right to be a Christian, and this is not allowed; so that just thinking about the gravity of the shame makes me feel my heart breaking within me from sorrow.
III. But there is one hastening here in order to make them pay dearly for this crime, so I remain comforted in good hope; for he does not take care or heed to what he spends on it, nor does he fear any arduous difficulty he may have to face; on the contrary, the burden and hardship of the task are a joy to him; so no-one should be afraid that the shameful damage will not be well put right, for he sets out with such vast forces that there is no reason whatever to entertain doubts about it.
IV. For along with him go fine lancers, leg- and arm-breakers, assault forces to perform splendid deeds, combatants for the mêlée stage, men of strong endurance if defence is needed, (all) so abundantly provided with all the best equipment that I cannot imagine anyone seeing them well-prepared and splendidly armed on fine swift chargers daring even to give the impression he will put up a fight with them.
V. But if pride over there were to spread so far as for a sultan or emir to dare to show it, so much as to refuse to give back God’s right (to the Holy Land), every man who goes there should remember that fighting there brings so much benefit that if he is valiant alive he will be rich in reputation, and repaid in joy at his end; and if he dies there his soul will go all the more quickly to enjoy the happiness that is perfect.
VI. For this reason the great King of Navarre, who is exalted by his reputation, accompanies the King with such noble company, for he certainly seems to me to have the heart and desire to serve God, performing glorious honoured deeds, doing more of them than the affair demands of him; and the honoured Count of Toulouse too, for he has laboured beyond the limit of his power to bring aid that would be an honour to Him, so much does he love doing what may be pleasing to God.
VII. But the English King should not be reproached if he has delayed a little because of inability (to go any earlier), for he is definitely hastening here in order to fulfil his promise and do so much more that he may be praised for it; and let it not be thought that he will delay so long that anyone will launch an attack without him being present, for he has never been more valued than he is now, above those who are prized, since he comes to the aid of God with such a power of men that no other help surpasses his.
VIII. In my singing I would call to remembrance all the gracious barons who are now hastening here, that evermore each one be praised; but they are so many that I would not know how to do so, so I pray to God to give them gladness.
4 remac I 5 penzanza K 9 penre lautz IK (−2) 10 don IK 13 deshauzitz I, dechauzitz K; anctatatz IK (+1) 19 forg I 23 entrebaillz IK 30 agrandanza I 35 cozenz I 37 quergueillz K 43 fides iauzime I 48 ben K 49 faig I 54 far missing I (−1) 61 valgidutrals IK.
4. I has omitted an abbreviation mark over remac.
9. Corr. Levy 1883. – Albert Rohleder, Zu Zorzi’s Gedichten. Doctoral dissertation, Halle 1885 lists Lois as a French form. The form is also found in BdT 217.2, 40 (Guilhem Figueira, hg. Levy, II) and Les Joies du Gai Savoir, éd. Alfred Jeanroy, Toulouse 1914, 23, 77 and 79; 24, 33, and see COM for other examples).
10. Levy retains IK don. Since he does not translate it is unclear what he thought it meant. – Franza is northern France, or more specifically the royal domain of the Île-de-France. See Frank M. Chambers, Proper Names in the Lyrics of the Troubadours, Chapel Hill 1971, Simon Gaunt, Ruth Harvey and Linda Paterson, Marcabru: a Critical Edition, Woodbridge 2000, p. 608, and compare BdT 76.9, 25-29, Mas est afar vey qu’er leu retengutz, / que de Fransa es vengutz lo ressos / que mos senher se n’es tant irascutz / que tug dizon qu’el n’a levat la cros / e vol passar en terra de Suria (Bertran d’Alamano, my edition on Rialto).
13. Levy 1883 apparently read I deschausitz.
14. deissenda is otherwise unattested as a noun on COM or in the dictionaries.
15-16. Levy read K chrestiainz. – Literally «for a man is not rightly a Christian if he can be of support to it (our religion), and this is not allowed». These lines seem to mean that a Christian’s right to support his religion is curtailed. For valer de, see SW, VIII, 576, 11, «helfen in betreff…»
19. For que introducing a final-consecutive clause indicating purpose see Frede Jensen, Syntaxe de l’ancien occitan, Tübingen 1994, § 613. Sa presumably means «here across the Channel».
23. The correction of en to e is Levy’s.
25. I noi, K noy: Levy prints no with no variant.
31. K sbarailhador, Levy sbaralhador. This is the only example of this word attested in the dictionaries (where SW, III, 132 and PD present it as esbaralhador) and on COM; in his edition Levy suggests that the lack of initial e is likely to be an italianism, and notes that Raynouard has baralhar and esbaralha, though not esbaralhaire. Rohleder (p. 25) states that sbaralhador is found in the «provenz. Wörterbuch von Honnorat» («= qui romp») and baralhador («= brouillon, querelleur, tapageur»). Alternatively it might be a case of elision at the rhyme of 30.
37-39. Levy registers qui as missing in I, though it is hard to see what he understood: «if there were anyone who were to extend pride so far»? But orgueillz must be the subject of s’estenda. – The only example I have been able to find of the collocation dreg rendre is aisi es dreg rendutz / per ver a cada part («ainsi justice est faite de part et d’autre»), ed. Joseph Linskill, Les épîtres de Guiraut Riquier, Liège 1985, pp. 249 and 269, Épître XII, 90-91. However, here the sense must be «the right to something»: compare SW, II, 298, 3 «das von rechtswegen Zukommende», and Chanson de la croisade contre les Albigeois, ed. Eugène Martin-Chabot, 3 voll., Paris 1931-1961, 146.45, eu te clami la terra e·l dreg e la eretat («contre toi je réclame la terre, le droit et l’héritage»).
47. tan gent acompaingnatz presumably refers to the King of Navarre rather than Louis, though the syntax is ambiguous.
48. This is the only line not to place the caesura after the fourth syllable (though there is a lyric caesura in 41); it is tempting to imagine that it originally read que senbla.m be aver.
54. Rohleder suggests Zorzi has substituted the subjunctive for the indicative for the sake of the rhyme. It may be that the subjunctive has consecutive force: compare the note to 19, above.
57. Levy s’a cor, which I do not understand. See note 19 above.
59. Levy cujon, but what would be the plural subject?
60. Suggested corrections to qus (Levy ques, Chabaneau quei or que) appear unnecessary.
61. Levy, note: «Valgidutrals. Wie ist zu bessern? Valgr’outrals? Aber gibt das einen genügenden Sinn?» Chabaneau, p. 199, believed this correction to be certainly right, translating «car autrement il ne vaudrait pas, comme il vaut, plus que les plus prisés». Rohleder, Zu Zorzi’s Gedichten, p. 18 emends to valgr’outrals. I take valg as a 3 p. preterite of valer: compare Martin-Chabot, Chanson de la croisade, 136.23-24, de que fon grans pecatz, si m'ajut Dieus ni fes, / en valg mens totz lo mons, and 137.1-3, Totz lo mons ne valg mens, de ver o sapiatz, / car Paratges ne fo destruitz e decassatz / e totz Crestianesmes aonitz e abassatz. The i may have arisen through a previous exemplar having a filler of this typical form at the end of a line. I understand literally «for other than he is worth (in the present) beyond those who are prized, he was not worth (in the past)», in other words he has never been more valuable than he is now, and his worth exceeds that of others who are valued: a hyperbole evidently designed to flatter and spur on the English King.
62. Levy acor’, though it is hard to see how acorar can be right (PD «frapper au coeur, percer, tuer; toucher au coeur, intéresser vivement»).
64. For the conditional reflecting an attitude of politeness, modesty or obligation (as in French je voudrais), see Jensen, Syntaxe, §§ 561 and 566.
65. Levy corrects yhacoron to acoron, Chabaneau to quey ac. From his introduction (p. 21) it is clear that Levy understood plazenz as a wrongly-inflected adjective qualifying chantar, and he censures Zorzi for unjustified obscurity in this alleged praise of his own composition («und mit einem durch den Werth seiner Gedichte ganz und gar nicht gerechtfertigen Dünkel schliesst er das Sirventes»). Chabaneau (p. 200) saw plazens as an adverb, but does not otherwise disagree with this interpretation. It is clear to me (as it was to Gianfranco Folena, «Tradizione e cultura trobadorica nelle corti e nelle città venete», in Storia della cultura veneta. Dalle origini al Trecento, ed. Girolamo Arnaldi and Gianfranco Folena, 7 voll., Vicenza 1976-1987, vol. I, «Dalle origini al Trecento», pp. 453-562, p. 123) that plazenz qualifies the baros: the poet wishes his song could commemorate all the crusaders in detail (baros may mean «barons» but it could simply be a term of respect for «men, warriors»). – What is the force of y? Does it mean «there» as in «at the attack» (62, q’us n’ai’assaut qu’el no·i sia prezenz? Or «here», picking up sa cor from 57? Or even a dative, «to Him», echoing pois Deu acor in 62 (see Jensen, Syntaxe, §§ 680 and 682)? The distinction would hardly have mattered at the time of composition. I have opted for «here» but with no certainty.
Edition, english translation and notes: Linda Paterson; italian translation: Luca Barbieri. – Rialto 29.x.2012.
I 101 (Denbertolome çorçi), K 85 (Denbertholomei çorçi), d 276-35, ρ 23v (Canzone di Bartolomeo Giorgi).
Critical edition: Emil Levy, Der Troubadour Bertolome Zorzi, Halle 1883, p. 77 (CR Camille Chabaneau, Revue des langues romanes, 25, 1884, p. 195).
Other editions: Carl August Friedrich Mahn, Gedichte der Troubadours, in provenzalischer Sprache, 4 voll., Berlin 1856-1873, vol. 2, p. 190 (on I); François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, 6 voll., Paris 1816-1821, vol. V, p. 58 (lines 1-9, 17-18, 28-36, 44-60, 63).
IK transmit some errors from their common source (9, 10?, 13, 61). The photographic reproductions of K are faint and hard to read, so I have preferred to use I despite its greater number of minor slips; the main difficulty in 61 is unaffected by illegibility. Mss. dρ are copies of K and are not taken into account here. Levy 1883 alters some graphies and discusses the problem of such normalisation on pp. 3-4.
Versification: a10’ b10 a10’ b10 c10’ d10 b10 d10 c10’ (Frank 404:1), a = -enda~ansa, b = -atz, c = -ansa~enda, d = -ens; 7 coblas capcaudas, unicum. Dominique Billy, L’architecture lyrique médiévale: analyse métrique et modélisation des structures interstrophiques dans la poésie lyrique des troubadours et des trouvères, Montpellier 1989, pp. 114-115, § 3.9, describes this more precisely as a hybridisation of coblas unissonans and coblas capcaudas with the structure automatically leading to the commutation of the first and last rhyme-sounds of the stanza.
The sirventes was composed between 16 March 1270, when Louis IX set out from the north of France for Africa, and 25 August, the date of his death, and most probably before the end of June 1270 since it celebrates the start of the crusade, with the combined French forces heading for the Mediterranean and the English expected to follow up behind. A Venetian merchant, Zorzi was a prisoner in Genoa at the time, and may not have been well-informed about the events he describes, and the English «king» to whom he refers is probably the Lord Edward rather than his father King Henry III.