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The Troubadours of Peire D'alvernhe's Satire in Spain
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
A recent study of Peire d'Alvernhe's Chantarai d'aquest trobadors identified one “Guossalbo Roitz” ridiculed by Peire with a certain Spanish nobleman named Gonçalvo Roiz, showed that this man had been in or near Puivert (Aude), where Peire's satire was written, in the summer of 1170, and proposed that the brilliant cortège with which he was travelling had attracted to that spot the troubadours of Peire's satire. Since this group of nobles was going into Aragon escorting Eleanor, the daughter of Henry II of England, to her wedding with Alfonso VIII of Castile, it suggested the possibility that at least some of the troubadours of the satire were attached to the bride's suite.
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References
1 Mod. Phil., xxxi, 19–34.
2 Guiraut von Bornelh, der Meister der Trobadors (Berlin, 1894), p. 17 ff.
3 Ibid., pp. 60–63.
4 Ed. by Appel, Provenzalische Inedita, p. 261, vss. 17 and 41.
5 Ibid., vss. 25–32.
6 Stronski, Le Troubadour Folquet de Marseille, pp. 153–154, and Annales du Midi, xxiii, 491; J. Laurent, Annales du Midi, xxiii, 333.
7 Miret y Sans, Itinerario de Alfonso I en Cataluña, II en Aragón, in Bolelín de la Real Academia de Buenos Letras de Barcelona, ii, 260–261.—Stronski, Folquet de Marseille, pp. 153–154, erroneously supports the date 1174, citing Miret y Sans, Bol. de la R. Acad. de B. Letras de Barcelona, iii, 278, on which page we read of the marriage of Pedro I in 1204!
8 Appel, Raimbaut von Orange, p. 9.
9 Miret y Sans, op. cit., ii, 268; Zurita, Anales de Aragón, i, 77s
10 Appel, R.v. Orange, p. 10.
11 Ed. by Appel, ibid., p. 27, vss. 19–20; also ed. by Crescini, Atti del R. Istituto Veneto, ixxxvi, 1235 ff.
18 Appel, op. cit., p. 15.
13 One of the easiest passes of the Pyrenees is the Col de la Perche at Puigcerda, which was the most frequently travelled route into eastern Spain. Cf. L. B. Holland, Traffic Ways about France in the Dark Ages (500–1150), p. 79. From Puivert this pass can be reached by ascending the river Aude and then crossing to the valley of the Tet. Curiously enough, if one takes the eariest route between these two river valleys—the Col de Creu, by which it is six hours' travel on foot from one river to the other—one passes through Talau. Could it be that Raimbaut's poem Nr. 20, with its allusion to the Lord of Talaug and its relation to Peire d'Alvernhe‘s satire, was written at or near Talau, after the performance of the satire at Puivert? In this case Raimbaut would be defending himself against Peire's assertions when he twice says that he is haughty “because of his lady‘? (vss. 29 and 48).
Moreover, when one crosses the Col de la Perche into Spain, the first important town is Urgel, which is mentioned in works of both Raimbaut and Giraut de Bornelh dating from this same period. Although we cannot be positive, the Col de la Perche seems to be the route of the troubadours and the wedding party.
14 Appel, op. cit., p. 14.
15 Ed. by Kolsen, Sämtliche Lieder des Trobadors Giraut de Bornelh, Nr. 59, vss. 1–8.
16 Appel, op. cit., p. 17.
17 Ibid., p. 19.
18 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 26, vs. 46; Nr. 27, vs. 68.
19 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 28, vss. 31–36.
20 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 51, vss. 46–56.
21 Nrs. 26 and 27, both of which tell us that the glove was lost “last year,” show that Giraut is in Languedoc. In Nr. 26 he is probably at Narbonne (vs. 98), while in Nr. 27 he has recently left Provence (vss. 76–77). Then in Nr. 28, which informs us that the glove was lost “more than a year ago” (vs. 31 ff.), we discover that Giraut is in Spain (vs. 15). Giraut wishes to impress us with the length of his exile; he would certainly have said “more than two years” had such a period elapsed. Consequently, his sojourn in Spain must have begun during the second year of his exile.
22 His death is mourned in the planh for Raimbaut's death. Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 76, vs. 15.
23 See, for example, ed. Kolsen, Nr. 29, where both these patrons are named. This work is one of the last of the series, hence the whole series falls before 1173.
24 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 48, vss. 4 and 72.
25 Stronski, Annales du Midi, xviii, 476.
26 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 16, vs. 13 ff; Nr. 49; Nr. 19, vss. 4–6.
27 Miret y Sans, Bol. de la R. Acad. de B. Letras de Barcelona, ii, 266–275.
28 Ibid., ii, 274; Zurita, Anales de Aragón, i, chap. 32.
29 See above, note 21.
30 Jeanroy, Romania, lvi, 517, n. 1.
31 Indignation was shown by other troubadours at the betrayal of Eudoxia. Cf. Stronski, Annales du Midi, xxiii, 491. This indicates that Alfonso's deed was generally regarded as a breach of the code of love.
32 He says, for example, “Last year, when I lost my glove, I used to sing in the clear style, but now [I use] the obscure style. …” Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 26, vss. 46–53. See also Nr. 27, vss. 50–58; Nr. 25, vss. 1–19.
33 This poem is Nr. 28, which, we have already seen, speaks of the loss of the glove as having taken place “more than a year ago.” Giraut is deliberately making this poem clear and simple, in order to send it to his friends in Provence who objected to trobar clus (vss. 1–10, 15).
34 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 16, vss. 1–12; Nr. 48, vss. 1–2; Nr. 49, vss. 1–9; Nr. 51, vs. 3.
35 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 58, vss. 1–3.—Jeanroy has suggested (Romania, lvi, 517, n. 1) that Giraut may argue against the obscure style merely because it is the convention of the tenson to take a stand opposed to the proposition of the first copla. But Raimbaut's opening words reproach Giraut for previous attacks on trobar clus.
36 It mentions an honor conferred on him by his lady (vs. 56) as in one of the poems which speaks of the glove (Nr. 27, vss. 69 and 74).
37 Kolsen's dating of the whole Glove-cycle hangs on his statement that the tenson on trobar dus was written at Christmas, 1168. His reasons are as follows: From 1166 to December, 1168, Alfonso II was in Languedoc and Provence. It seems that Giraut must have left Raimbaut on Christmas and followed Alfonso into Spain at the latter's return (G. von Bornelh, der Meister der Trobs., pp. 60–61).
Not only are these statements devoid of logical coherence, but the historical event on which they depend has recently been disproved. Alfonso did not return to Spain in December, 1168. His trip to Provence fell between the spring and the fall of 1167 (Miret y Sans, op. cit., ii, 264–265).
38 See above, note 21.
39 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 16, was written in the winter (vs. 13 ff.) and Giraut is planning to leave Spain the following April (vss. 25–28), i.e., April, 1172.
40 The court was at Roda in Ribagorza as can be seen by a document published in España Sagrada, xxx, 110, 421.
41 Appel, Bernart von Ventadorn, p. xli; Crescini, Atti del R. Istituto Veneto, lxxxvi, 1227; Zingarelli, Studj Medievali, i, 332.
42 Appel, ibid., pp. xl–xli.
43 Ibid., Nr. 45, vs. 47.
44 Ed. Kolsen, Nr. 48, vss. 71–74.
45 Kolsen, G. von Bornelh, der Meister der Trobs., p. 61; Crescini, Atti del R. Istituto Veneto, lxxxvi, 216.
46 Kolsen, loc. cit.; Crescini, loc. cit.; Chabaneau, Hist. Gén. de Languedoc, x, p. 345, n. 5; Jeanroy, Romania, xlii, p. 115.
47 Giraut de Bornelh's renunciation of trobar clus late in the year 1170 should be checked against similar statements of other troubadours to see if there was a universal change of taste about that time. Cf. Peire d'Alvernhe, ed. Zenker, Nr. 1, vs. 6; Nr. 3, vss. 13–18. and Raimbaut d'Aurenga's Nrs. 3, 7, and 38 in Bartsch's Grundriss.
48 Atti del R. Istituto Veneto, lxxxiii, 795.