The Troubadours Part 5

"As concerns the English King (Henry III.) it pleases me, for he is little courageous, that he should eat well of the heart; then he will be valiant and good and will recover the land (for loss of which he lives bereft of worth), which the King of France took from him, for he knows him to be of no account. And the King of Castile (Ferdinand III. of Castile and Leon), it is fitting that he eat of it for two, for he holds two realms and he is not sufficient for one; but if he will eat of it, 'twere well that he eat in secret: for if his mother were to know it, she would beat him with staves."

This idea, which is a commonplace in the folklore of many countries, attracted attention. Two contemporary troubadours attempted to improve upon it. Bertran d'Alamanon said that the heart should not be divided among the cowards, enumerated by Sordello, but given to the n.o.ble ladies of the age: Peire Bremen proposed a division of the body. The point is that Dante in the Purgatorio represents Sordello as showing to Virgil the souls of those who, while singing _Salve Regina_, ask to be pardoned for their neglect of duty and among them appear the rulers whom Sordello had satirised in his _sirventes_. Hence it seems that it was this [105]

composition which attracted Dante's attention to Sordello. The other important poem is the _Ensenhamen_, a didactic work of instruction upon the manner and conduct proper to a courtier and a lover. Here, and also in some of his lyric poems, Sordello represents the transition to a new idea of love which was more fully developed by the school of Guido Guinicelli and found its highest expression in Dante's lyrics and Vita Nuova. Love is now rather a mystical idea than a direct affection for a particular lady: the lover is swayed by a spiritual and intellectual ideal, and the motive of physical attraction recedes to the background.

The cause of love, however, remains unchanged: love enters through the eyes; sight is delight.

We must now turn southwards. A school of poetry had grown up in Sicily at the court of Frederick II. No doubt he favoured those troubadours whose animosity to the papacy had been aroused by the Albigeois crusade: such invective as that which Guillem Figueira could pour forth would be useful to him in his struggle against the popes. But the emperor was himself a man of unusual culture, with a keen interest in literary and scientific pursuits: he founded a university at Naples, collected ma.n.u.scripts and did much to make Arabic learning known to the West. He was a poet and the importance of the Sicilian school consists in the [106]

fact that while the subject matter of their songs was lifted from troubadour poetry, the language which they used belonged to the Italian peninsula. The dialect of these _provenzaleggianti_ was not pure Sicilian but was probably a literary language containing elements drawn from other dialects, as happened long before in the case of the troubadours themselves. The best known representatives of this school, Pier delle Vigne, Jacopo da Lentini and Guido delle Colonne are familiar to students of Dante. After their time no one questioned the fact that lyric poetry written in Italian was a possible achievement. The influence of the Sicilian school extended to Central Italy and Tuscany; Dante tells us that all Italian poetry preceding his own age was known as Sicilian. The early Tuscan poets were, mediately or immediately, strongly influenced by Provencal. The first examples of the sonnet, by Dante da Majano, were written in that language. But such poetry was little more than a rhetorical exercise. It was the revival of learning and the Universities, in particular that of Bologna, which inspired the _dolce stil nuovo_, of which the first exponent was Guido Giunicelli.

Love was now treated from a philosophical point of view: hitherto, the Provencal school had maintained the thesis that "sight is delight," that love originated from seeing and pleasing, penetrated to the heart and [107]

occupied the thoughts, after pa.s.sing through the eyes. So Aimeric de Pegulhan.

Perque tuit li fin aman Sapchan qu'amors es fina bevolenza Que nais del cor e dels huelh, ses duptar.

"Wherefore let all pure lovers know that love is pure unselfishness which is born undoubtedly from the heart and from the eyes," a sentiment thus repeated by Guido delle Colonne of the Sicilian school.

Dal cor si move un spirito in vedere D'in ochi'n ochi, di femina e d'omo Per lo quel si concria uno piacere.

The philosophical school entirely transformed this conception. Love seeks the n.o.ble heart by affinity, as the bird seeks the tree: the n.o.ble heart cannot but love, and love inflames and purifies its n.o.bility, as the power of the Deity is transmitted to the heavenly beings. When this idea had been once evolved, Provencal poetry could no longer be a moving force; it was studied but was not imitated. Its influence had lasted some 150 years, and as far as Italy is concerned it was Arabic learning, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas who slew the troubadours more certainly than Simon de Montfort and his crusaders. The day of superficial [108]

prettiness and of the cult of form had pa.s.sed; love conjoined with learning, a desire to pierce to the roots of things, a greater depth of thought and earnestness were the characteristics of the new school.

Dante's debt to the troubadours, with whose literature he was well acquainted, is therefore the debt of Italian literature as a whole. Had not the troubadours developed their theory of courtly love, with its influence upon human nature, we cannot say what course early Italian literature might have run. Moreover, the troubadours provided Italy and other countries also with perfect models of poetical form. The sonnet, the terza rima and any other form used by Dante are of Provencal origin.

And what is true of Dante and his Beatrice is no less true of Petrarch and his Laura and of many another who may be sought in histories specially devoted to this subject.

CHAPTER VIII [109]

THE TROUBADOURS IN SPAIN

The South of France had been connected with the North of Spain from a period long antecedent to the first appearance of troubadour poetry. As early as the Visigoth period, Catalonia had been united to Southern France; in the case of this province the tie was further strengthened by community of language. On the western side of the Pyrenees a steady stream of pilgrims entered the Spanish peninsula on their way to the shrine of St James of Compostella in Galicia; this road was, indeed, known in Spain as the "French road." Catalonia was again united with Provence by the marriage of Raimon Berengar III. with a Provencal heiress in 1112. As the counts of Barcelona and the kings of Aragon held possessions in Southern France, communications between the two countries were naturally frequent.

We have already had occasion to refer to the visits of various troubadours to the courts of Spain. The "reconquista," the reconquest of Spain from the Moors, was in progress during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and various crusade poems were written by troubadours [110]

summoning help to the Spaniards in their struggles. Marcabrun was the author of one of the earliest of these, composed for the benefit of Alfonso VIII. of Castile and possibly referring to his expedition against the Moors in 1147, which was undertaken in conjunction with the kings of Navarre and Aragon. The poem is interesting for its repet.i.tion of the word _lavador_ or piscina, used as an emblem of the crusade in which the partic.i.p.ants would be cleansed of their sins.[32]

Pax in nomine Domini!

Fetz Marcabrus los motz el so.

Aujatz que di: c.u.m nos a fait per sa doussor, Lo Seignorius celestiaus Probet de nos un lavador C'ane, fors outramar, non' fon taus, En de lai deves Josaphas: E d'aquest de sai vos conort.

"Pax, etc.,---Marcabrun composed the words and the air. Hear what he says. How, by his goodness, the Lord of Heaven, has made near us a piscina, such as there never was, except beyond the sea, there by Josaphat, and for this one near here do I exhort you."

Alfonso II. of Aragon (1162-1196) was a constant patron of the troubadours, and himself an exponent of their art. He belonged to the family of the counts of Barcelona which became in his time one of the [111]

most powerful royal houses in the West of Europe. He was the grandson of Raimon Berengar III. and united to Barcelona by marriage and diplomacy, the kingdom of Aragon, Provence and Roussillon. His continual visits to the French part of his dominions gave every opportunity to the troubadours to gain his favour: several were continually about him and there were few who did not praise his liberality. A discordant note is raised by Bertran de Born, who composed some violent _sirventes_ against Alfonso; he was actuated by political motives: Alfonso had joined the King of England in his operations against Raimon V. of Toulouse and Bertran's other allies and had been present at the capture of Bertran's castle of Hautefort in 1183. The biography relates that in the course of the siege, the King of Aragon, who had formerly been in friendly relations with Bertran, sent a messenger into the fortress asking for provisions. These Bertran supplied with the request that the king would secure the removal of the siege engines from a particular piece of wall, which was on the point of destruction and would keep the information secret. Alfonso, however, betrayed the message and the fortress was captured. The _razo_ further relates the touching scene to which we have already referred when Bertran moved Henry II. to clemency by a reference [112]

to the death of the "young king." The account of Alfonso's supposed treachery is probably no less unhistorical: the siege lasted only a week and it is unlikely that the besiegers would have been reduced to want in so short a time. It was probably invented to explain the hostility on Bertran's part which dated from the wars between Alfonso and Raimon V.

of Toulouse. This animosity was trumpeted forth in two lampooning _sirventes_ criticising the public policy and the private life of the Spanish King. His accusations of meanness and trickery seem to be based on nothing more reliable than current gossip.

Peire Vidal, with the majority of the troubadours, shows himself a vigorous supporter of Alfonso. Referring to this same expedition of 1183 he a.s.serted "Had I but a speedy horse, the king might sleep in peace at Balaguer: I would keep Provence and Montpelier in such order that robbers and freebooters should no longer plunder Venaissin and Crau.

When I have put on my s.h.i.+ning cuira.s.s and girded on the sword that Guigo lately gave me, the earth trembles beneath my feet; no enemy so mighty who does not forthwith avoid out of my path, so great is their fear of me when they hear my steps." These boasts in the style of Captain Matamoros are, of course, not serious: the poet's personal appearance seems to have been enough to preclude any suppositions of the kind. In [113]

another poem he sings the praises of Sancha, daughter of Alfonso VIII.

of Castile, who married Alfonso II. of Aragon in 1174. With the common sense in political matters which is so strangely conjoined with the whimsicality of his actions, he puts his finger upon the weak spot in Spanish politics when he refers to the disunion between the four kings, Alfonso II. of Aragon, Alfonso IX. of Leon, Alfonso VIII. of Castile and Sancho Garces of Navarre: "little honour is due to the four kings of Spain for that they cannot keep peace with one another; since in other respects they are of great worth, dexterous, open, courteous and loyal, so that they should direct their efforts to better purpose and wage war elsewhere against the people who do not believe our law, until the whole of Spain professes one and the same faith."

The Monk of Montaudon, Peire Raimon of Toulouse, Uc de San Circ, Uc Brunet and other troubadours of less importance also enjoyed Alfonso's patronage. Guiraut de Bornelh sent a poem to the Catalonian court in terms which seemed to show that the simple style of poetry was there preferred to complicated obscurities. The same troubadour was sufficiently familiar with Alfonso's successor, Pedro II., to take part in a _tenso_ with him.

Pedro II. (1196-1213) was no less popular with the troubadours than his [114]

father. Aimeric de Pegulhan, though more closely connected with the court of Castile, is loud in his praises of Pedro, "the flower of courtesy, the green leaf of delight, the fruit of n.o.ble deeds." Pedro supported his brother-in-law, Raimon VI. of Toulouse, against the crusaders and Simon de Montfort during the Albigeois crusade and was killed near Toulouse in the battle of Muret. The Chanson de la Croisade does not underestimate the impression made by his death.

Mot fo grans lo dampnatges el dols el perdementz Cant lo reis d'Arago remas mort e sagnens, E mot d'autres baros, don fo grans l'aunimens A tot crestianesme et a trastotas gens.

"Great was the damage and the grief and the loss when the King of Aragon remained dead and bleeding with many other barons, whence was great shame to all Christendom and to all people."

The Court of Castile attracted the attention and the visits of the troubadours, chiefly during the reign of Alfonso VIII. (or III.; 1158-1214) the hero of Las Navas de Tolosa, the most decisive defeat which the Arab power in the West had sustained since the days of Charles Martel. The preceding defeat of Alfonso's forces at Alarcos in 1195 had called forth a fine crusade _sirventes_ from Folquet of Ma.r.s.eilles appealing to Christians in general and the King of Aragon in particular [115]

to join forces against the infidels. The death of Alfonso's son, Fernando, in 1211 from an illness contracted in the course of a campaign against the infidels was lamented by Guiraut de Calanso, a Gascon troubadour.

Lo larc el franc, lo valen el grazitz, Don cuiavon qu'en fos esmendatz Lo jove reys, en Richartz lo prezatz El coms Jaufres, tug li trey valen fraire.

"The generous and frank, the worthy and attractive of whom men thought that in him were increased the qualities of the young king, of Richard the high renowned, and of the Count G.o.dfrey, all the three valiant brothers." Peire Vidal in one of the poems which he addressed to Alfonso VIII., speaks of the attractions of Spain. "Spain is a good country; its kings and lords are kindly and loving, generous and n.o.ble, of courteous company; other barons there are, n.o.ble and hospitable, men of sense and knowledge, valiant and renowned." Raimon Vidal of Bezaudun, a Catalonian troubadour has given a description of Alfonso's court in one of his _novelas_. "I wish to relate a story which I heard a joglar tell at the court of the wisest king that ever was, King Alfonso of Castile, where were presents and gifts, judgment, worth and courtesy, spirit and chivalry, though he was not anointed or sacred, but crowned with praise, [116]

sense, worth and prowess. The king gathered many knights to his court, many _joglars_ and rich barons and when the court was filled Queen Eleanor came in dressed so that no one saw her body. She came wrapped closely in a cloak of silken fabric fine and fair called sisclaton; it was red with a border of silver and had a golden lion broidered on it.

She bowed to the king and took her seat on one side at some distance.

Then, behold, a _joglar_ come before the king, frank and debonair, who said 'King, n.o.ble emperor, I have come to you thus and I pray you of your goodness that my tale may be heard,'" The scene concludes, "Joglar, I hold the story which you have related as good, amusing and fair and you also the teller of it and I will order such reward to be given to you that you shall know that the story has indeed pleased me."

The crown of Castile was united with that of Leon by Fernando III.

(1230-1262) the son of Alfonso IX. of Leon. Lanfranc Cigala, the troubadour of Genoa, excuses the Spaniards at this time for their abstention from the Crusades to Jerusalem on the ground that they were fully occupied in their struggles with the Moors. Fernando is one of the kings to whom Sordello refers in the famous _sirventes_ of the divided heart, as also is Jaime I. of Aragon (1213-1276), the "Conquistador," of whom much is heard in the poetry of the troubadours. He was born at [117]

Montpelier and was fond of revisiting his birthplace; troubadours whom he there met accompanied him to Spain, joined in his expeditions and enjoyed his generosity. His court became a place of refuge for those who had been driven out of Southern France by the Albigeois crusade; Peire Cardenal, Bernard Sicart de Marvejols and N'At de Mons of Toulouse visited him. His popularity with the troubadours was considerably shaken by his policy in 1242, when a final attempt was made to throw off the yoke imposed upon Southern France as the result of the Albigeois crusade. Isabella of Angouleme, the widow of John of England, had married the Count de la Marche; she urged him to rise against the French and induced her son, Henry III. of England, to support him. Henry hoped to regain his hold of Poitou and was further informed that the Count of Toulouse and the Spanish kings would join the alliance. There seems to have been a general belief that Jaime would take the opportunity of avenging his father's death at Muret. However, no Spanish help was forthcoming; the allies were defeated at Saintes and at Taillebourg and this abortive rising ended in 1243. Guillem de Montanhagol says in a _sirventes_ upon this event, "If King Jaime, with whom we have never broken faith, had kept the agreement which is said to have been made [118]

between him and us, the French would certainly have had cause to grieve and lament." Bernard de Rovenhac shows greater bitterness: "the king of Aragon is undoubtedly well named Jacme (jac from jazer, to lie down) for he is too fond of lying down and when anyone despoils him of his land, he is so feeble that he does not offer the least opposition." Bernard Sicart de Marvejols voices the grief of his cla.s.s at the failure of the rising: "In the day I am full of wrath and in the night I sigh betwixt sleeping and waking; wherever I turn, I hear the courteous people crying humbly 'Sire' to the French." These outbursts do not seem to have roused Jaime to any great animosity against the troubadour cla.s.s. Aimeric de Belenoi belauds him, Peire Cardenal is said to have enjoyed his favour, and other minor troubadours refer to him in flattering terms.

The greatest Spanish patron of the troubadours was undoubtedly Alfonso X. of Castile (1254-1284). El Sabio earned his t.i.tle by reason of his enlightened interest in matters intellectual; he was himself a poet, procured the translation of many scientific books and provided Castile with a famous code of laws. The Italian troubadours Bonifaci Calvo and Bartolomeo Zorzi were welcomed to his court, to which many others came from Provence. One of his favourites was the troubadour who was the last [119]

representative of the old school, Guiraut Riquier of Narbonne. He was born between 1230 and 1235, when the Albigeois crusade was practically over and when troubadour poetry was dying, as much from its own inherent lack of vitality as from the change of social and political environment which the upheaval of the previous twenty years had produced. Guiraut Riquier applied to a Northern patron for protection, a proceeding unexampled in troubadour history and the patron he selected was the King of France himself. Neither Saint Louis nor his wife were in the least likely to provide a market for Guiraut's wares and the Paris of that day was by no means a centre of literary culture. The troubadour, therefore, tried his fortune with Alfonso X. whose liberality had become almost proverbial. There he seems to have remained for some years and to have been well content, in spite of occasional friction with other suitors for the king's favour. His description of Catalonia is interesting.

Pus astres no m'es donatz Que de mi dons bes m'eschaia, Ni nulho nos plazers nol platz, Ni ay poder quem n'estraia, Ops m'es qu'ieu sia fondatz En via d'amor veraia, E puesc n'apenre a.s.satz

En Cataluenha la gaia, [120]

Entrels Catalas valens E las donas avinens.

Quar dompneys, pretz e valors, Joys e gratz e cortesia, Sens e sabers et honors, Bels parlars, bella paria, E largueza et amors, Conoyssensa e cundia, Troban manten e socors

En Cataluenha a tria, Entrels, etc.

"Since my star has not granted me that from my lady happiness should fall to me, since no pleasure that I can give pleases her and I have no power to forget her, I must needs enter upon the road of true love and I can learn it well enough in gay Catalonia among the Catalonians, men of worth, and their kindly ladies. For courtesy, worth, joy, grat.i.tude and gallantry, sense, knowledge, honour, fair speech, fair company, liberality and love, learning and grace find maintenance and support in Catalonia entirely."

Between thirty and forty poets of Spanish extraction are known to have written Provencal poetry. Guillem de Tudela of Navarre wrote the first part of the _Chanson de la Croisade albigeoise_; Serveri de Gerona wrote didactic and devotional poetry, showing at least ingenuity of technique; Amanieu des Escas has left love letters and didactic works for the [121]

instruction of young people in the rules of polite behaviour. But the influence of Provencal upon the native poetry of Spain proper was but small, in spite of the welcome which the troubadours found at the courts of Castile, Aragon, Leon and Navarre. Troubadour poetry required a peaceful and an aristocratic environment, and the former at least of these conditions was not provided by the later years of Alfonso X.

Northern French influence was also strong: numerous French immigrants were able to settle in towns newly founded or taken from the Moors. The warlike and adventurous spirit of Northern and Central Spain preferred epic to lyric poetry: and the outcome was the _cantar de gesta_ and the _romance_, the lyrico-narrative or ballad poem.

This was not the course of development followed either in the Eastern or Western coasts of the peninsula. Catalonia was as much a part of the Provencal district as of Spain. To the end of the thirteenth century Catalonian poets continued to write in the language of the troubadours, often breaking the strict rules of rime correspondence and of grammar, but refusing to use their native dialect. Religious poems of popular and native origin appear to have existed, but even the growth of a native prose was unable to overcome the preference for Provencal in the [122]

composition of lyrics. Guiraut de Cabreira is remembered for the 213 lines which he wrote to instruct his _joglar_ Cabra; Guiraut upbraids this performer for his ignorance, and details a long series of legends and poems which a competent _joglar_ ought to know. Guiraut de Calanso wrote an imitation of this diatribe. The best known of the Catalonian troubadours is Raimon Vidal of Besadun, both for his _novelas_ and also for his work on Provencal grammar and metre, _Las rasos de trobar_,[33]

which was written for the benefit of his compatriots who desired to avoid solecisms or mistakes when composing. "For as much as I, Raimon Vidal, have seen and known that few men know or have known the right manner of composing poetry (trobar) I desire to make this book that men may know and understand which of the troubadours have composed best and given the best instruction to those who wish to learn how they should follow the right manner of composing.... All Christian people, Jews, Saracens, emperors, princes, kings, dukes, counts, viscounts, vava.s.sors and all other n.o.bles with clergy, citizens and villeins, small and great, daily give their minds to composing and singing.... In this science of composing the troubadours are gone astray and I will tell you wherefore. The hearers who do not understand anything when they hear a fine poem will pretend that they understand perfectly... because they [123]

think that men would consider it a fault in them if they said that they did not understand.... And if when they hear a bad troubadour, they do understand, they will praise his singing because they understand it; or if they will not praise, at least they will not blame him; and thus the troubadours are deceived and the hearers are to blame for it." Raimon Vidal proceeds to say that the pure language is that of Provence or of Limousin or of Saintonge or Auvergne or Quercy: "wherefore I tell you, that when I use the term Limousin, I mean all those lands and those which border them or are between them." He was apparently the first to use the term Limousin to describe cla.s.sical Provencal, and when it became applied to literary Catalonian, as distinguished from _pla Catala_, the vulgar tongue, the result was some confusion. Provencal influence was more permanent in Catalonia than in any other part of Spain; in 1393, the Consistorium of the _Gay saber_ was founded in imitation of the similar a.s.sociation at Toulouse. Most of the troubadour poetical forms and the doctrines of the Toulouse _Leys d'Amors_ were retained, until Italian influence began to oust Provencal towards the close of the fifteenth century.

On the western side of Spain, Provencal influence evoked a brief and brilliant literature in the Galician or Portuguese school. Its most [124]

brilliant period was the age of Alfonso X. of Castile, one of its most ill.u.s.trious exponents, and that of Denis of Portugal (1280-1325). The dates generally accepted for the duration of this literature are 1200-1385; it has left to us some 2000 lyric poems, the work of more than 150 poets, including four kings and a number of n.o.bles of high rank. French and Provencal culture had made its way gradually and by various routes to the western side of the Spanish peninsula.