Study Guide for Medieval Love Songs

Although modern Western ideas about romantic love owe a certain amount to the classical Greek and Roman past,
they were filtered through the very different culture of the European Middle Ages. One can trace the concepts which
dominated Western thinking until recently to the mid-12th Century. Before that time, European literature rarely
mentions love, and women seldom figure prominently. After that time, within a decade or two, all has changed.
Passionate love stories replace epic combat tales and women are exalted to almost god-like status. Simultaneously,
the Virgin Mary becomes much more prominent in Catholic devotions, and emotionalism is rampant in religion.

The pioneers of this shift in sensibility seem to have been the

troubadours

, the poets of Provence (now Southern

France). Provençal is a language related to French, Italian and Spanish, and seems to have facilitated the flow of
ideas across the often ill-defined borders of 12th-Century Europe. It has often been speculated that Arabic poetry
may have influenced their work by way of Moorish Spain. Although this seems likely, it is difficult to confirm.

Once the basic themes are laid down by the troubadours, they are imitated by the French trouvères, the German
Minnesingers (love poets) and others. Thus, even though the disastrous 13th-Century Albigensian crusade put an
end of the golden age of the troubadours, many of their ideas and themes persisted in European literature for
centuries afterward.

Guiraut de Bornelh: Leu chansoneta, from The Dante Troubadours, Nimbus NIM 5002, track 2

An unromantic but obvious fact is that much if not most troubadour poetry consists of artificial compositions,
sometimes commissioned, sometimes written for competitions, rather than being private outpourings directed to the
poet's lady-love. This is particularly obvious in this poem where the poet mentions the lady almost offhandedly in
the final stanza, although he does claim that he is dying for love of her. The competitive nature of this poem is made
clear when the poet hopes it will travel to my Lord of Eblo, a rival troubadour who wrote in the obscure trobar clus
style. The second stanza continues with Guiraut bragging that he knows how to tell a true noble from a base man by
his wit. He should be able to speak eloquently when necessary and know when to stop. The third stanza says that
only nobles willing to engage in duels should get involved in poetry contests with him. The reference to God turning
water into wine is an allusion to Christ's miracle at the wedding feast of Cana (John 2: 1-12). True wine (great
poetry) is pleasing only to the great. After all this bragging, the final stanza devoted to his lady seems almost an
afterthought. The conventional language of

courtly love

requires that the lover present himself as the feudal inferior

of his Lady, whom he serves humbly. The ideal lover keeps his love affair a secret, so the poet cannot name her
publicly. In fact, she may be wholly imaginary. Unconsummated love can theoretically lead to death; but the poet
darkly hints at a more serious loss: of his ability to write.

Bertran de Born: Ges de disnar , from The Dante Troubadours, Nimbus NIM 5002, track 5.

Bertran was one of the most famous troubadours, especially renowned for his passionate devotion to combat. Yet
even he wrote love poetry. Like much troubadour verse, this poem is a loose collection of images whose connections
are somewhat obscure. The introduction, defining what good service is at a proper inn, tells us that he is a
connoisseur who knows quality when he sees it; therefore his praise of Lady Lena can be trusted. The standard form
which courtly love took involved the admiration of a single man for a married woman. Whether such affairs were
really as common as the poets implied in questionable, but the idea becomes so standardized that Bertran can write
this love poem to the Lord of Poitou's wife without worrying that he will be upset, even mentioning her
underclothes! In the second stanza he praises her in traditional terms as noble, but takes time to praise himself as
well as the best of poets. Since he has deigned to praise her, she is all the more worthy. Her husband was heir to the
throne of Provence, and he anticipates her elevation to the rank of queen. In the last stanza, he describes his love for
her in intimate detail and says that he would rather have her than the city of Corrozana. All of this is the rankest
flattery, and would not be taken seriously by any of the parties.

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras:

Kalenda Maya

, from The Dante Troubadours, Nimbus NIM 5002, track 11.

This poem is extremely popular because of the light, lilting tune it is set to. The troubadours were composers as well
as poets, though they sometimes reused older melodies when they set their lyrics. At first we might look at this
poem and feel that at last we have encountered a genuine love poem, filled with heart-felt emotion. But no, the final
lines reveal that it is just as artificial as the others. In ancient times May Day was the festival day of Venus, and it
continued to be associated with love in the Middle Ages. The usual signs of spring in poetry are leaves on the trees
and birds singing. Both are mentioned here, but instead of bringing joy, they only reinforce the loneliness of his
beloved. The lovers have been separated by "the jealous one," a stock figure who is sometimes the lady's husband,
sometimes just an envious meddler who has discovered and publicized the secret affair. In the second stanza he begs
with the lady not to allow the jealous one to succeed in the plot of separating the two of them. Grace is of course an
important theological term in Christianity, but in courtly love language it is applied to the willingness of the lady to
grant favors (usually in the form of love-making) to her suitor. Since the lover presents himself as suffering from
love-longing, he asks for her "pity" (which has roughly the same meaning as "grace"). The message is the same as
such old blues lines as "Ooh Baby, I need you so bad!" but expressed in more pretentious language. We now learn
that despite their intense relationship, they have not yet actually made love (and neither, the poet reassures himself,
has she taken any other lovers). Whoever does not love this lady leads a worthless life. Note the insistent repetition
of terms relating to her nobility. In this class-bound society, beauty, virtue, and nobility were supposed to go hand-
in-hand, though it was widely acknowledged that sometimes they did not. Then we are shocked to find the
concluding lines addressed, not to the mysterious, marvelous lady, but to the poet's patron, Lord Engles. Alas, the
poem is yet another set piece written to please a patron and not the outpourings of a romantic soul in love.

Anonymous French: L'autrier m'iere levaz, from Medieval Songs and Dances, CRD 3421, track 3.

Up to this point all of our poets have been Provençal. This one is written in 12th-Century French, a quite distinct
language, but differing substantially from modern French (in which the title would be something like L'autre jour je
me levais). This is a pastourelle, a common poetic form which makes different use of the class structure of Medieval
society than the poems we have read earlier. The theme of these poems is that knights can find attractive lovers
among the common people, especially shepherdesses. The courtship is depicted as much more crude and rapid than
the elegant and prolonged maneuverings required for a courtly affair. Today pastourelles would be considered little
more than poems of sexual harassment, and this one ends in what is essentially a rape. Part of the appeal of such
poems for noble (male) audiences was the thrill of the forbidden: crossing class boundaries, slumming. I don't know
how the melody of this song struck Medieval listeners, but it has always seemed oddly sinister to me. The translation
here is in prose, but it effectively conveys the poem's message.

Like most love poetry it is set in spring, beneath the flowering trees. Just as in ancient pastoral poetry there is a
conventional set of names by which the rustic characters are identified, so Ermenjon is recognizably a peasant name.
She is addressed not as Lady, for only noblewomen qualified as ladies. "Sister" is a much more casual,
commonplace term. She has been raised well enough to know that she should have nothing to do with her social
superiors and tries to escape his unwanted attentions to reminding him of his status and hers. But he claims to have
broader views. His praise of her sense (intelligence) is insincere, since they have obviously never spoken before this
moment. Like many pastourelle heroines, Ermenjon already has a shepherd-lover, this one named Perrin (another
typical peasant name). When she tells him how afraid she is, the knight deliberately misinterprets her as saying that
she is afraid of Perrin's jealousy, when in fact she had been threatening the knight with the shepherd's vengeance.
She makes clear her rejection of him by saying her body cannot be bought even for all the rich goods displayed in
the great market at the city of Limoges. The response of the knight is then to rape her. Fulfilling standard male
fantasies of the time, she is much pleased and glad that he ignored her resistance. The message is clear: "No matter
what women say, they all want it. Just be firm." Modern attempts of women to tell men directly and repeatedly how
stupid and revolting this point of view is have been only partially successful, so it is not surprising to find it widely
accepted in the Middle Ages. What is surprising is that in about half the pastourelles the young woman succeeds in
rebuffing her noble suitor and sending him on his way. In such poems she is clearly the smarter of the two, and the
more virtuous. The existence of both traditions side by side should keep up us from over-generalizing about
Medieval attitudes.

In order to balance things a bit, you will find in your class packet an example of such a pastourelle. Why is the
knight's attempt flatter the woman by claiming she must be of noble descent actually insulting? How does the
shepherdess answer him? Note that although he begins by praising the young woman, he ends by cursing her. This
hostility lurks not too far beneath the surface of many love poems in which the man professes himself to be the
slavish servant of his beloved. Her final reply is rather obscure, but it seems to say he will get as much pleasure out
of her as a hungry man gets out of painted food, and he can hope for as much cooperation from her as someone who

expects to be miraculously fed by God, like the ancient Hebrews wandering in the wilderness of Sinai.

Anonymous Italian: Lamento di Tristano, from Medieval Songs and Dances, track 1.

After Lancelot and Guinevere, the most famous fictional lovers of the Middle Ages were Tristan and Iseult, another
adulterous pair who were often separated. (One episode from their story is told by Marie de France in the lai of
Chevrefoil). Tristan is portrayed as an outstanding musician, and is imagined here as having composed this lament
during one of these separations. Although the story is set in Cornwall, its most famous retellings were Continental,
and it is not at all surprising to find this title turning up in 14th-Century Italy.

Guillaume de Machaut:Foy porter

Besides being a famous poet, Machaut was one of the greatest composers of the 14th Century. Working in Paris, he
was at the heart of the development of polyphony. This first song, however, is monophonic, a love song with
typically intricate rhyming. My translation doesn't aim at poetry, but does get the essential theme across: the
irresistibility of love. It was believed that gemstones could be used to heal various sufferings. Only the lady can heal
his suffering. How does the poet claim loving the lady has made him a better person? The idea that courtly love
improved one's character was a crucial part of the whole tradition.

Refrain:

Foy porter, honneur garder

I want to stay faithful, guard your honor,

Et pais querir, oubeir

Seek peace, obey

Doubter, servir, et honnourer

Fear, serve and honor you,

Vous vueil jusques au morir Until

death,

Dame sans per. Peerless

Lady.

I.

Car tant vous aim, sans mentir

For I love you so much, truly,

Qu'on poroit avant tarir

that one could could sooner dry up

La haute mer the

deep

sea

Et ses ondes retenir

and hold back its waves

Que me peusse alentir

than I could constrain myself

de vous amer.

from loving you,

Sans fausser; car mi penser,

without falsehood; for my thoughts

Mi souvenir, mi plaisir

my memories, my pleasures

Et mi desir sont sans finer

and my desires are perpetually

En vous que ne puis guerpir n'entroublier

of you, whom I cannot leave or even briefly forget.

II.

Il ne'est joie ne joir

There is no joy or pleasure

N'autre bien qu'on puist sentir

or any other good that one could feel

N'imaginer

or imagine which does not seem to me

worthless,

Qui ne me samble languir,

whenever your sweetness wants to sweeten

my bitterness.

Quant vo douceur adoucir vuet mon amer:

Therefore I want to praise

Dont loer et aourer

and adore and fear you,

Et vous cremier, tout souffrir,

suffer everything,

Tout conjoir, Tout endurer

experience everything, endure everything

Vueil plus que je ne desir Guerredonner.

more than I desire any reward.

Foy porter . . .

I want to stay faithful . . .

III.

Vous estes le vray saphir

You are the true sapphire

Qui puet tous mes maus garir et terminer.

that can heal and end all my sufferings,

Esmeraude a resjoir,

the emerald which brings rejoicing,

Rubis pour cuers esclarcir et conforter.

the ruby to brighten and comfort the heart.

Vo parler, vo regarder,

Your speech, your looks,

Vo maintenir, font fuir et enhair et despiter

Your bearing, make one flee and hate and detest

Tout vice et tout bien cherir et desirer

all vice and cherish and desire all that is good.

Foy porter . . .

I want to stay faithful. . .

Translated by Paul Brians

Dame, je suis cilz/Fins cuers doulz/Fins cuers doulz, from

The Mirror of Narcissus, Hyperion CDA66087

, track 2.

The multitextual motets of the 14th Century seem very strange to modern ears, but in that time it made sense to
create polyphony by layering one verse of a monophonic song on top of another to produce harmony. Here there are
three voices. The Tenor is repeated over and over while the other verses are sung. The whole idea of courtly love
was for the lover to present himself as a loyal servant to his lady. If he obeyed her every wish and loyally kept secret
their connection, after a long period of trial she might legitimately take pity on him and console him with love-
making. However, if she postponed this healing consolation too long, he might die; and poets often used the threat
of such a death to exert pressure on the ladies to whom they were supposedly utterly submissive. It was a not
uncommon form of emotional blackmail to tell a woman, "You can either commit adultery with me or effectively
commit murder by refusing; which is it to be?" One wonders whether this worked in real life, but in poetry it is
routine. Note how in the Motetus the poet says that all his good qualities come from loving her. How does the
Triplum present the poet as a martyr?

Motetus

Dame, je sui cilz qui vueil endurer

Lady, I am one of those who willingly endures

Vostre voloir, tant com porray durer:

your wishes, so long as I can endure;

Mais ne cuit pas que longuement l'endure

but I do not think I can endure it for long

Sans mort avoir, quant vous m'estes si dure

without dying, since you are so hard on me

Que vous volés qu'ensus de vous me traie,

as if you wanted to drive me away from you,

Sans plus veioir la tres grant biauté veraie

so I should never again see the great and true beauty

De vo gent corps, qui tant a de valour

of your gentle body, which has such worth

Que vous estes des bonnes la millour.

that you are of all good women the best.

Las! einssi ay de ma mort exemplaire,

Alas! thus I imagine my death.

Mais la doleur qu'il me me convendra traire

But the pain I shall have to bear

Douce seroit, se un tel espoir avoie

would be sweet, if I could only hope,

Qu'avant ma mort par vo gré vous revoie.

that before my death, you let me see you again.

Dame, et se ja mes cuers riens entreprent

Lady, if ever my heart undertakes anything

Dont mes corps ait honneur n'avancement,

which may honor or profit my heart,

De vous venra, com lonteins que vos soie,

it will come from you, however far you may be,

Car ja sans vous que j'aim tres loyaument,

for never without you, whom I love very loyally,

Ne sans Amours, emprendre nel saroie.

nor without Love, could I undertake it or know it.

Triplum

Fins cuers doulz, on me deffent

Sweet noble heart, I am forbidden

De par vous que plus ne voie

to ever see you again

Vostre doulz viaire gent

your fair sweet face

Qui d'amer m'a mis en voie;

which put me on the path of love;

Mais vraiement, je ne sçay

but truly I do not know

Comment je m'en attendray

how I can expect

Que briefment morir ne doie:

not to have to die soon.

Et s'il m'en faut abstenir

And if I must abstain

Pour faire vostre plaisir,

to give you pleasure,

Ou envers vous faus seroie,

or else be untrue to you,

S'aim trop mieus ma loyauté

then I would rather keep my loyalty

Garder et par vostre gré

and according to your will

Morir, se vos cuers l'ottroie,

die, if your heart wishes it,

Qu'encontre vostre voloir,

than against your will

Par vostre biauté veioir,

to receive complete joy

Recüsse toute joie

by viewing your beauty.

Tenor

Fins cuers doulz, joliete,

Sweet noble heart, pretty lady,

Amouretes m'ont navré;

I am wounded by love

Por ce sui mas et pensis,

so that I am sad and pensive,

Si n'a en moy jeu ne ris,

and have no joy or mirth,

Car a vous, conpaignete,

for to you, my sweet companion,

Ay mon cuer einsi doné.

I have thus given my heart.

Repeat

Trans. Paul Brians

Douce dame jolie

A virelai is a lively dance form. Although the text of this poem reads as dolefully as the other Machaut pieces, its
delightfully lilting music belies its text. Note again the tight and intricate rhyming of the original. Again the opening
image is the feudal domination the lady exerts over her beloved. By now you know what the lover is asking for
when he begs her "pity." What is the message of this last stanza?

From Kate Farrell: Art & Love: An Illustrated Anthology of Love Poetry. New York: Bulfinch Press, 1990.

Dante Alighieri

: Sonnet

Lapo Gianni and Guido Cavalcante were friends of Dante's. In this poem from La Vita Nuova, he fancifully
imagines that they might escape in a magic ship on an endless voyage of love. Tragically, his Beatrice died young,
as did Guido's Giovanna ("Vanna" is a nickname). In the Divine Comedy Dante later imagined meeting her in an
altogether more serious way when he described her guiding him through Heaven. The translation "whose name on
the list is number thirty" is misleading: it should be something like "who is the best of the top thirty." Dante was
influenced by the courtly love style, and carried on his life-long love for the married Beatrice while being himself
married to another woman. According to his own account, they never consummated the relationship. It consisted
entirely of his adoring her from afar and--most important--writing poetry about her. What effect does knowing this
background have on your interpretation of the poem?

From Wendy Mulford, ed.: Love Poems by Women. New York: Fawcett, 1991.

La Comtesse de Dia: I Must Sing of That

There were few women troubadours (some twenty are known), but the most famous of them was the Countess of
Dia. We know little about her life, but this song is the only female troubadour song to survive with music intact.
Like much male troubadour poetry, this is a lament of unrequited love. Deceived and betrayed suggests that he has
been unfaithful to her. Seguin and Valensa were the lovers in a now-lost romance. Like many other troubadour
songs, it ends with a threat, this one rather veiled. Other translations render the fourth line of the third stanza as "it is
not right that another love. . . ." What are the main arguments she uses to get him to return her love?

Anonymous:Dawn Song

A "Dawn Song" is a standard Medieval form common in Provence, France, and Germany, in which a pair of lovers
lament the coming of the dawn, which means that they must part. Often the woman is married, but that does not
seem to be the case here. What evidence is there, at least, that this couple is not married to each other?

Christine de Pisan: A Sweet Thing Is Marriage

Christine de Pisan (or Pizan), born in Venice to the chief physician of Charles V of France, was married at fifteen
and widowed at twenty-five. She wrote extensively defending women and arguing for their intelligence and abilities.
Her poetry consists of posthumous tributes to her dead husband. What qualities did she especially admire in her
husband? His speech to her implies that his love for her is making him better: a common courtly love idea.

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz: From A Satirical Romance

This Mexican nun actually belongs with the Renaissance writers, but her language is typically Medieval. What
unusual image does she use to express the flowing of her love to her jealous lover?

From Kate Farrell: Art & Love: An Illustrated Anthology of Love Poetry. New York: Bulfinch Press, 1990.

I can't hold you and I can't leave you

How does the poet propose to deal with her ambiguous feelings about her lover? The last stanza implies that if he
would be wholehearted in his love for her, she could be equally wholehearted in loving him.

More about Medieval and Renaissance music.