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PROVENCAL LITERATURE

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 500 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PROVENCAL LITERATURE . Provencal literature is much more easily defined than the See also:

language in which it is expressed. Starting in the 11th and 12th centuries in several centres it thence gradually spread out, first over the greater portion, though not the whole of See also:southern See also:France, and then into the See also:north of See also:Italy and See also:Spain. It never See also:felt the See also:influence of the neighbouring literatures. At the See also:time of its highest development (12th See also:century) the See also:art of composing in the vulgar See also:tongue' did not exist, or was only beginning to exist, to the See also:south of the See also:Alps and the See also:Pyrenees. In the north, in the See also:country of See also:French speech, See also:vernacular See also:poetry was in full See also:bloom; but between the districts in which it had See also:developed—See also:Champagne, Ile de France, See also:Picardy and See also:Normandy—and the region in which Provencal literature had sprung up, there seems to have been an inter-mediate See also:zone formed by See also:Burgundy, Bourbonnais, See also:Berry, See also:Touraine and See also:Anjou which, far on in the See also:middle ages, appears to have remained almost barren of vernacular literature. In its rise Provencal literature stands completely by itself, and in its development it See also:long continued to be absolutely See also:original. It presents at several points genuine analogies with the See also:sister-literature of See also:northern France; but these analogies are due principally to certain See also:primary elements See also:common to both and only in a slight degree to mutual reaction. It must be inquired, however, what amount of originality could belong to any, even the most original, Romantic literature in the middle ages. In all Romanic countries compositions in the vernacular began to appear while the See also:custom of See also:writing in Latin was still preserved by uninterrupted tradition. Even during the most barbarous periods, when intellectual See also:life was at its lowest, it was in Latin that sermons, lives of See also:saints more or less apocryphal, accounts of miracles designed to attract pilgrims to certain shrines, monastic See also:annals, legal documents, and contracts of all kinds were composed. When learning began to revive, as was the See also:case in northern and central France under the influence of See also:Charlemagne and later in the r rth century, it was Latin literature which naturally received increased See also:attention, and the Latin language was more then ever employed in writing.

Slowly and gradually the Romanic See also:

languages, especially those of France, came to occupy See also:part of the ground formerly occupied by Latin, but even after the middle ages had passed away the See also:parent tongue retained no small portions of its original See also:empire. Consequently Romanic literatures in See also:general (and this is especially true of Provencal, as it does not extend beyond the See also:medieval See also:period) afford only an incomplete See also:representation of the intellectual development of each country. Those literatures even which are most truly See also:national, as having been subjected to no See also:external influence, are only to a limited extent capable of teaching us what the nation was. They were, in See also:short, created in the interests of the illiterate part of the See also:people, and to a considerable degree by men themselves almost devoid of See also:literary learning. But that does not make them less interesting. Origin.—It was in the rrth century, and at several places in the extensive territory whose limits have been described in the foregoing See also:account of the Provencal language, that Provencal literature first made its See also:appearance. It took pectic See also:form; and its See also:oldest monuments show a relative perfection and a variety from which it may be concluded that poetry had already received a considerable development. The oldest poetic See also:text, of which the date and origin are not surely determined, is said to be a Provencal See also:burden (Fr. refrain) attached to a Latin poem which has been published (Zeitschrift See also:fur deutsche Philologie, 1881, p. 335) from a Vatican MS., written, it is asserted, in the loth century. But it is useless to linger over these few words, the text of which seems corrupt, or at least has not yet been satisfactorily interpreted. The See also:honour of being the oldest literary See also:monument of the Provencal language must be assigned to a fragment of two See also:hundred and fifty-seven decasyilabic verses preserved in an See also:Orleans MS. and frequently edited and annotated since it was first printed by See also:Raynouard in 1817 in his Choix See also:des poesies originates des troubadours. The writing of the MS. is of the first See also:half of the rith century.

The peculiarities of the language point to the north of the Provencal region, probably See also:

Limousin or See also:Marche. It is the beginning of a poem in which the unknown author, taking Boethius's See also:treatise De consolatione philosophiae as the groundwork of his See also:composition, adopts and develops its ideas and gives them a See also:Christian colouring of which there is no trace in the original. Thus from some verses in which Boethius contrasts his happy youth with his afflicted old See also:age he draws a lengthy See also:homily on the See also:necessity of laying up from See also:early years a treasure of See also:good See also:works. The poem is consequently a didactic piece composed by a " clerk " knowing Latin. He doubtless preferred the poetic form to See also:prose because his illiterate contemporaries were accustomed to poetry in the vulgar tongue, and because this form was better adapted to recitation; and thus his See also:work, while a product of erudition in as far as it was an See also:adaptation of a Latin treatise, shows that at the time when it was composed a vernacular , poetry was in existence. A little later, at the See also:close of the same century, we have the poems of See also:William IX., See also:count of See also:Poitiers, duks of See also:Guienne. They consist of eleven very diverse strophic pieces, and were consequently meant to be sung. Several are love songs; one relates a bonne See also:fortune in very See also:gross terms; and the most important of all—the only one which can be approximately dated, being composed at the time when William was setting out for Spain to fight the See also:Saracens (about 1119) —expresses in touching and often See also:noble words the writer's regret for the frivolity of his past life and the apprehensions which oppressed him as he bade farewell, perhaps for ever, to his country and his See also:young son. We also know from Ordericus Vitalis that William IX. had composed various poems on the incidents of his See also:ill-fated expedition to the See also:Holy See also:Land in rror. And it must further be mentioned that in one of his pieces (See also:Ben See also:soil que sapchon li plusor) he makes a very clear allusion to a See also:kind of poetry which we know only by the specimens of later date, the partimen, or, as it is called in France, the jeu parti. William IX. was See also:born in r07r and died in 1127. There is no doubt that the most prolific period of his literary activity was his youth.

On the other See also:

hand there is no See also:reason to believe that he 496 created the type of poetry of which he is to us the oldest representative. It is easy to understand how his high social See also:rank saved some of his productions from oblivion whilst the poems of his predecessors and contemporaries disappeared with the generations who heard and sang them; and in the contrast in form and subject between the Boethius poem and the stanzas of William IX. we find See also:evidence that by the it century Provencal poetry was being rapidly developed in various directions. Whence came this poetry? How and by whose work was it formed? That it has no connexion whatever with Latin poetry is generally admitted. There is absolutely nothing in common either in form or ideas between the last productions of classical Latinity, as they appear in Sidonius See also:Apollinaris or See also:Fortunatus, and the first poetic compositions in Romanic. The view which seems to meet with general See also:acceptance, though it has not been distinctly formulated by any one, is that Romanic poetry sprang out of a popular poetry quietly holding its See also:place from the See also:Roman times, no specimen of which has survived—just as the Romanic languages are only continuations with See also:local modifications of vulgar Latin. There are both truth and See also:error in this See also:opinion. The question is really a very complex one. First as to the form Romanic versification, as it appears in the Boethius poem and the verses of William IX., and a little farther north in the poem of the See also:Passion and the Life of St Leger (loth or rrth century), has with all its variety some. general and permanent characteristics; it is rhymed, and it is composed of a definite number of syllables certain of which have the syllabic See also:accent. This form has evident See also:affinity with the rhythmic Latin versification, of which specimens exist from the close of the Roman Empire in ecclesiastical poetry. The exact type of Romanic See also:verse is not found, however, in this ecclesiastical Latin poetry; the latter was not popular.

How-ever, it may be assumed that there was a popular variety of rhythmic poetry from which Romanic verse is derived. Again, as regards the substance, the poetic material, we find nothing in the earliest Provencal which is strictly popular. The extremely See also:

personal compositions of William IX. have nothing in common with folk-See also:lore. They are subjective poetry addressed to a very limited and probably rather aristocratic See also:audience. The same may be said of the Boethius poem, though it belongs to the quite different See also:species of edifying literature; at any See also:rate it is not popular poetry. Vernacular compositions seem to have been at first produced for the amusement, or in the case of religious poetry, for the edification, of that part of See also:lay society which had leisure and lands, and reckoned intellectual pastime among the good things of life. Gradually this class, intelligent, but with no Latin See also:education, enlarged the circle of its ideas. In the 12th century, and still more in the i3th, See also:historical works and popular See also:treatises on contemporary See also:science were composed for its use in the only language it understood; and vernacular literature continued gradually to develop partly on original lines and partly by borrowing from the literature of the " clerks. " But in the rrth century vernacular poetry was still rather limited, and has hardly any higher See also:object than the amusement or the edification of the upper classes. An aristocratic poetry, such as it appears in the oldest Provencal compositions, cannot be the See also:production of shepherds and husbandmen; and there is no See also:probability that it was invented or even very notably improved by William IX. From what class of persons then did it proceed? Latin chroniclers of the middle ages mention as joculares, joculatores, men of a class not very highly esteemed whose profession consisted in amusing their audience either by what we still See also:call jugglers' tricks, by exhibiting performing animals, or by recitation and See also:song.

They are called joglars in Provencal, jouglers or jougleors in French. A certain Barnaldus, styled joglarius, appears as See also:

witness in ro58 to a See also:charter of the chartulary of St See also:Victor at See also:Marseilles. In 1io6 the See also:act of See also:foundation of a salsa terra in See also:Rouergue specifies that neither See also:knight nor See also:man-at-arms nor joculator is to reside in the See also:village about to be created. These individuals—successors of the mimi and the thymelici of antiquity, who were professional amusers of the public—were the first authors of poetry in the vernacular both in the south and in the north of France. To the upper classes who welcomed them to their castles they supplied that sort of entertainment now sought at the See also:theatre or in books of See also:light literature. There were certain of them who, leaving buffoonery to the ruder and less intelligent members of the profession, devoted themselves to the composition of pieces intended for singing, and consequently in verse. In the north, where See also:manners were not so refined and where the See also:taste for warlike See also:adventure prevailed, the jongleurs produced chansons de geste full of tales of See also:battle and combat. In the courts of the southern nobles, where See also:wealth was more abundant and a life of ease and See also:pleasure was consequently indulged in, they produced love songs. There is probably a large amount of truth in the remark made by See also:Dante in ch. See also:xxv. of his Vita nuova, that the first to compose in the vulgar tongue did so because he wished to be understood by a See also:lady who would have found it difficult to follow Latin verses.' And in fact there are love songs among the pieces by William of Poitiers; and the same type preponderates among the compositions of the troubadours who came immediately after him. But it is worthy of See also:note that in all this vast See also:body of love poetry there is no See also:epithalamium nor any address to a marriageable lady. The social conditions of the south of France in the feudal period explain in See also:great measure the powerful development of this kind of poetry, and also its See also:peculiar characteristics—the profound respect, the extreme deference of the poet towards the lady whom he addresses. See also:Rich heiresses were married young, often when hardly out of their girlhood, and most frequently without their See also:fancy being consulted.

But they seem after See also:

marriage to have enjoyed great See also:liberty. Eager for pleasure and greedy of praise, the See also:fair ladies of the See also:castle became the natural patronesses of the mesnie or See also:household of men-at-arms and jongleurs whom their husbands maintained in their castles. Songs of love addressed to them soon became an accepted and almost conventional form of literature; and, as in social position the authors were generally far below those to whom they directed their amorous plaints, this kind of poetry was always distinguished by great reserve and an essentially respectful See also:style. From the beginning the sentiments, real or assumed, of the poets are expressed in such a refined and guarded style that some historians, over-estimating the virtue of the ladies of that time, have been misled to the belief that the love of the See also:troubadour for the See also:mistress of his thoughts was generally platonic and conventional. The conditions under which Romanic poetry arose in the south of France being thus determined as accurately as the scarcity of documents allows, we now proceed to give a survey of the various forms of Provencal literature, See also:chronological See also:order being followed in each See also:division. By this arrangement the wealth of each form will be better displayed; and, as it is rare in the south of France for the same See also:person to distinguish himself in more than one of them, there will be generally no occasion to introduce the same author in different sections. Poetry of the Troubadours.—Though he was certainly not the creator of the lyric poetry of southern France, William, count of Poitiers, by personally cultivating it gave it a position of honour, and indirectly contributed in a very powerful degree to ensure its development and preservation. Shortly after him centres of poetic activity make their appearance in various places—first in Limousin and See also:Gascony. In the former See also:province lived a See also:viscount of Ventadour, Eble, who during the second part of William of Poitiers's life seems to have been brought into relation with him, and according to a contemporary historian, Geffrei, See also:prior of Vigeois, erat valde gratiosus in cantilenis. We possess none of his compositions; but under his influence Bernart of Ventadour was trained to poetry, who, though only the son of one of the serving-men of the castle, managed to gain the love of the lady of Ventadour, and when on the See also:discovery of their amour he had to depart elsewhere, received a gracious 1 " E lo primo the comencio a dire sicome poeta volgare si mosse peroche voile fare intendere le See also:sue See also:parole a donna alla quale era malagevole ad intendere i versi See also:latini."welcome from Eleanor of Guienne, See also:consort (from 1152) of See also:Henry II. of See also:England. Of Bernart's compositions we possess about fifty songs of elegant simplicity, some of which may be taken as the most perfect specimens of love poetry Provencal literature has ever produced. Bernart must therefore have been in repute before the middle of the 12th century; and his poetic career extended well on towards its close.

At the same period, or probably a little earlier, flourished Cercamon, a poet certainly inferior to Bernart, to See also:

judge by the few pieces he has See also:left us, but nevertheless of genuine importance among the troubadours both because of his early date and because definite See also:information regarding him has been preserved. He was a Gascon, and composed, says his old biographer, " pastorals " according to the See also:ancient custom (pastorelas a la uzansa antiga). This is the See also:record of the appearance in the south of France of a poetic form which ultimately acquired large development. The period at which Cercamon lived is determined by a piece where he alludes very clearly to the approaching marriage of the See also:king of France, See also:Louis VII., with Eleanor of Guienne (1137). Amorig the earliest troubadours may also be reckoned Marcabrun, a See also:pupil of Cercamon's, from whose See also:pen we have about See also:forty pieces, those which can be approximately dated ranging from 1135 to 1148 or thereabout. This poet has great originality of thought and style. His songs, several of which are historical, are See also:free from the commonplaces of their class, and contain curious strictures on the corruptions of the time. We cannot here do more than enumerate the leading troubadours and briefly indicate in what conditions their poetry was developed and through what circumstances it See also:fell into decay and finally disappeared: See also:Peter of See also:Auvergne (Peire d'Alvernha), who in certain respects must be classed with Marcabrun; Arnaut See also:Daniel, remarkable for his complicated versification, the inventor of the See also:sestina, a poetic form for which Dante and See also:Petrarch See also:express an admiration difficult for us to understand; Arnaut of Mareuil, who, while less famous than Arnaut Daniel, certainly surpasses him in elegant simplicity of form and delicacy of sentiment; Bertran de Born, now the most generally known of all the troubadours on account of the part he is said to have played both by his See also:sword and his sirventescs in the struggle between Henry II. of England and his See also:rebel sons, though the importance of his part in the events of the time seems to have been greatly exaggerated; Peire Vidal of See also:Toulouse, a poet of varied See also:inspiration who See also:grew rich with gifts bestowed on him by the greatest nobles of his time; Guiraut de Borneil, lo maestre dels trobadors, and at any rate See also:master in the art of the so-called " close " style (trobar clus), though he has also left us some songs of charming simplicity; Gaucelm Faidit, from whom we have a touching lament (See also:plank) on the See also:death of See also:Richard Coeur de See also:Lion; Folquet of Marseilles, the most powerful thinker among the poets of the south, who from being a troubadour became first a See also:monk, then an See also:abbot, and finally See also:bishop of Toulouse (d. 123 I). It is not without See also:interest to discover from what class of society the troubadours came. Many of them, there is no doubt, had a very humble origin. Bernart of Ventadour's See also:father was a servant, Peire Vidal's a maker of furred garments, Perdigon's a See also:fisher.

Others belonged to the bourgeoisie: Peire d'Alvernha, for example, Peire Raimon of Toulouse, See also:

Elias Fonsalada. More rarely we see traders' sons becoming troubadours; this was the case with Folquet of Marseilles and Aimeric de Pegulhan. A great many were clerics, or at least studied for the See also:Church, for instance, Arnaut of Mareuil, See also:Hugh of See also:Saint Circq (Uc de Saint Circ), Aimeric de Belenoi, Hugh See also:Brunet, Peire See also:Cardinal; some had even taken orders: the monk of Montaudon, the monk Gaubert of Puicibot. Ecclesiastical authority did not always tolerate this See also:breach of discipline. Gui d'Uissel, See also:canon and troubadour, was obliged by the See also:injunction of the pontifical See also:legate to give up his song-making. One point is particularly striking, the number of nobles (usually poor knights whose incomes were insufficient to support their rank) who became troubadours, or even, by an inferior descent, jongleurs: Raimon de Miraval, Pons de Capdoill, Guillem Azemar, Cadenet, Peirol, Raimbaut de Vacqueiras, and many more. There is no doubt they betook themselves to poetry not merely for their own pleasure, but for the See also:sake of the gifts to be obtained from the nobles whose courts they frequented. A very different position was occupied by such important persons as William of Poitiers, Raimbaut of See also:Orange, the viscount of Saint Antonin, William of Berga and Blacatz, who made poetry for their own amusement, but contributed not a little, by thus becoming troubadours, to raise the profession. The profession itself was entirely dependent on the existence and .prosperity of the feudal courts. The troubadours could hardly expect to obtain a livelihood from any other See also:quarter than the generosity of the great. It will consequently be well to mention the more important at least of those princes who are known to have been patrons and some of them practisers of the poetic art. They are arranged approximately in See also:geographical order, and after each are inserted the names of those troubadours with whom they were connected.

France.—ELEANOR OF GUIENNE, Bernart de Ventadour (Ventadorn); HENRY CURTMANTLE, son of Henry II. of England, Bertran de Born (?); RICHARD CC;uR DE LION, Arnaut Daniel, Peire Vidal, Folquet of Marseilles, Gaucelm Faidit; ERMENGARDE OF See also:

NARBONNE (1143–1192), Bernart de Ventadour, Peire See also:Rogier, Peire d'Alvernha; RAIMON V., count of Toulouse (1143–1194), Bernart de Ventadour, Peire Rogier, Peire Raimon, Hugh Brunet, Peire Vidal, Folquet of Marseilles, Bernart de See also:Durfort; RAIMON VI., count of Toulouse (1194–1222), Raimon de Miraval, Aimeric de Pegulhan, Aimeric de Belenoi, Ademar lo Negre; See also:ALPHONSE II., count of See also:Provence (1185–1209), Elias de Barjols; RAIMON See also:BERENGER IV., count of Provence (1209-1245), Sordel; BARRAL, viscount of Marseilles (d. c. 1192), Peire Vidal, Folquet de Marseilles; WILLIAM VIII., See also:lord of See also:Montpellier (1172–1204), Peire Raimon, Arnaut de Mareuil, Folquet de Marseilles, Guiraut de Calanson, Aimeric de See also:Sarlat; See also:ROBERT, dauphin of Auvergne (1169–1234), Peirol, Perdigon, See also:Pierre de Maensac, Gaucelm Faidit; See also:GUILLAUME nu BAUS, See also:prince of Orange (1182-1218), Raimbaut de Vacqueiras, Perdigon; SAVARIC DE See also:MAULEON (1200–1230), Gaucelm de Puicibot, Hugh de Saint Circq; BLACATZ, a Provencal noble (1200?–1236), Cadenet, See also:Joan d'See also:Aubusson, Sordel, Guillem Figueira; HENRY I., count of See also:Rodez (1208–1222?), Hugh de Saint Circq; perhaps HUGH IV., count of Rodez (1222?–1274) and HENRY II., count of Rodez (1274–1302), Guiraut Riquier, Folquet de Lunel, Serveri de Girone, Bertran Carbonel; NuNYo See also:SANCHEZ, count of See also:Roussillon (d. 1241), Aimeric de Belenoi; See also:BERNARD IV., count of Astarac (1249–1291), Guiraut Riquier, Amanieu de Sescas. Spain.—ALPHONSE II., king of See also:Aragon (1162–1196), Peire Rogier, Peire Raimon, Peire Vidal, Cadenet, Guiraut de Cabreira, Elias de Barjols, the monk of Montaudon, Hugh Brunet; PETER II., king of Aragon (1196–1213), Raimon de Miraval, Aimeric de Pegulhan, Perdigon, Ademar lo Negre, Hugh of Saint Circq; See also:JAMES I., king of Aragon (1213–1276), Peire Cardinal, Bernart Swart de Maruejols, Guiraut Riquier, At de See also:Mons; PETER III., king of Aragon (1276-1285), See also:Paulet of Marseilles, Guiraut Riquier, Serveri de Girone; See also:ALPHONSO IX., king of See also:Leon (1138–1214), Peire Rogier, Guiraut de Borneil, Aimeric de Pegulhan, Hugh de Saint Circq; ALPHONSO X., king of See also:Castile (1252-1284), Bertran de Lamanon, Bonifaci See also:Calvo, Guiraut Riquier, Folquet de Lunel, Arnaut Plages, Bertran Carbonel. Italy.—B0NIFACE II , See also:marquis of See also:Montferrat (1192–1207), Peire Vidal, Raimbaut de Vacqueiras, Elias Cairel, Gaucelm Faidit (?); See also:FREDERICK II., See also:emperor (1215–1250), See also:Jean d'Aubusson, Aimeric de Pegulhan, Guillem Figueira; Azzo VI., marquis of See also:Este (1196–1212). Aimeric de Pegulhan, Rambertin de Buvalelli; Azzo VIII., marquis of Este (1215–1264), Aimeric de Pegulhan. The first thing that strikes one in this See also:list is that, while the troubadours find protectors in Spain and Italy, they do not seem to have been welcomed in French-speaking countries. This, however, must not be taken too absolutely. Provencal poetry was appreciated in the north of France. There is reason to believe that when See also:Constance, daughter of one of the See also:counts of See also:Arles, was married in 998 to Robert, king of France, she brought along with her Provencal jongleurs. Poems by troubadours are quoted in the French romances of the beginning of the 13th century; some of them are transcribed in the old collections of French songs, and the preacher Robert de Sorbon informs us in a curious passage that one See also:day a jongleur sang a poem by Folquet of Marseilles at the See also:court of the king of France. But in any case it is easy to understand that, the countries of the longue d'oui having a full developed literature of their own suited to the taste of the people, the troubadours generallypreferred to go to regions where they had less to fear in the way of competition.

The decline and fall of troubadour poetry was mainly due to See also:

political causes. When about the beginning of the 13th century the Albigensian See also:War had ruined a large number of the nobles and reduced to lasting poverty a part of the south of France, the profession of troubadour ceased to be lucrative. It was then that many of those poets went to spend their last days in the north of Spain and Italy, where Provencal poetry had for more than one See also:generation been highly esteemed. Following their example, other poets who were not natives of the south of France began to compose in Provencal, and this See also:fashion continued till, about the middle of the 13th century, they gradually abandoned the See also:foreign tongue in northern Italy, and somewhat later in See also:Catalonia, and took to singing the same airs in the local dialects. About the same time in the Provencal region the See also:flame of poetry had died out See also:save in a few places—Narbonne, Rodez, See also:Foix and Astarac—where it kept burning feebly for a little longer. In the 14th century composition in the language of the country was still practised; but the productions of this period are mainly works for instruction and edification, See also:translations from Latin or sometimes even from French, with an occasional See also:romance. As for the poetry of the troubadours, it was dead for ever. Form.—Originally the poems of the troubadours were intended , to be sung. The poet usually composed the See also:music as well as the words; and in several cases he owed his fame more to his musical than to his literary ability. Two See also:manuscripts preserve specimens of the music of the troubadours, but, though the subject has been recently investigated, we are hardly able to form a clear opinion of the originality and of the merits of these musical compositions. The following are the See also:principal poetic forms which the troubadours employed. The oldest and most usual generic See also:term is vers, by which is understood any composition intended to be sung, no See also:matter what the subject.

At the close of the 12th century it be-came customary to call all verse treating of love canso—the name vers being then more generally reserved for poems on other themes. The sirventesc differs from the vers and the canso only by its subject, being for the most part devoted to moral and political topics. Peire Cardinal is celebrated for the sirventescs he composed against the See also:

clergy of his time. The political poems of Bertran de Born are sirventescs. There is reason to believe that originally this word meant simply a poem composed by a sirvent (See also:Lat. serviens) or man-at-arms. The sirventesc is very frequently composed in the form, sometimes even with rhymes, of a love song having acquired some popularity, so that it might be sung to the same See also:air. The tenson is a debate between two interlocutors, each of whom has a See also:stanza in turn. The partimen (Fr. jeu parti) is also a poetic debate, but it differs from the tension in so far that the range of debate is limited. In the first stanza one of the partners proposes two alternatives; the other partner chooses one of them and defends it, the opposite See also:side remaining to be defended by the original See also:pro-pounder. Often in a final See also:couplet a judge or arbiter is appointed to decide between the parties. This poetic See also:game is mentioned by William, count of Poitiers, at the end of the 11th century. The pastoreta, afterwards pastorela, is in general an account of the love adventures of a knight with a shepherdess.

All these classes have one form capable of endless See also:

variations: five or more stanzas and one or two envois. The dansa and balada, intended to See also:mark the time in dancing, are pieces with a refrain. The See also:alba, which has also a refrain, is, as the name indicates, a waking or See also:morning song at the dawning of the day. All those classes are in stanzas. The descort is not thus divided, and consequently it must be set to music right through. Its name is derived from the fact that, its component parts not being equal, there is a kind of " discord " between them. It is generally reserved for themes of love. Other kinds of lyric poems, sometimes with nothing new about them except the name, were developed in the south of France; but those here mentioned are the more important. Narrative Poetry.—Although the strictly lyric poetry of the troubadours forms the most original part of Provencal literature, it must not be supposed that the See also:remainder is of trifling importance. Narrative poetry, especially, received in the south of France a great development, and, thanks to See also:recent discoveries, a consider-able body of it has already become known. Several classes must be distinguished : the chanson de geste, legendary or apparently historical, the romance of adventure and the novel. Northern France remains emphatically the native country of the chanson de geste; but, although in the south different social conditions, a more delicate taste, and a higher See also:state of See also:civilization prevented a similar profusion of tales of war and heroic deeds, Provencal literature has some highly important specimens of this class.

The first place belongs to Girart de Roussillon, a poem of ten thousand verses, which relates the struggles of See also:

Charles Martel with his powerful See also:vassal the Burgundian See also:Gerard of Roussillon. It is a literary production of rare excellence and of exceptional interest for the See also:history of civilization in the 11th and 12th centuries. Girart de Roussillon belongs only within certain limits to the literature of southern France. The recension which we possess appears to have been made on the See also:borders of Limousin and See also:Poitou; but it is clearly no more than a recast of an older poem no longer extant, probably either of French or at least Burgundian origin. To Limousin also seems to belong the poem of Aigar and Maurin (end of the 12th century), of which we have unfortunately only a fragment so short that the subject cannot be clearly made out. Of less heroic See also:character is the poem of Daurel and Beton (first half of the 13th century), connected with the See also:cycle of Charlemagne, but by the romantic character of the events more like a See also:regular romance of adventure. We cannot, however, form a See also:complete See also:judgment in regard to it, as the only MS. in which it has been preserved is defective at the close, and that to an amount there is no means of ascertaining. Midway between See also:legend and history may be classified the Provencal Chanson of See also:Antioch, a See also:mere fragment of which, 700 verses in extent, has been recovered in See also:Madrid and published in Archives de l'Orient latin, vol. ii. This poem, which seems to have been composed by a certain See also:Gregoire Bechada, mentioned in a 12th-century See also:chronicle and written in Limousin (see G. See also:Paris, in Romania, xxii. 358), is one of the See also:sources of the See also:Spanish compilation La gran conquista de Ultramar. To history proper belongs the Chanson of the crusade against the Albigensians, which, in its See also:present state, is composed of two poems one tacked to the other: the first, containing the events from the beginning of the crusade till 1213, is the work of a cleric named William of See also:Tudela, a moderate supporter of the crusaders; the second, from 1213 to 1218, is by a vehement opponent of the enterprise.

The language and style of the two parts are no less different than the opinions. Finally, about 128o, Guillaume Anelier, a native of Toulouse, composed, in the chanson de geste form, a poem on the war carried on in See also:

Navarre by the French in 1276 and 1277. It is an historical work of little literary merit. All these poems are in the form of chansons de geste, viz. in stanzas of indefinite length, with a single See also:rhyme. Gerard of Roussillon, Aigar and Maurin and Daurel and Beton are in verses of ten, the others in verses of twelve syllables. The peculiarity of the versification in Gerard is that the pause in the See also:line occurs after the See also:sixth syllable, and not, as is usual, after the See also:fourth. Like the chanson de geste, the romance of adventure is but slightly represented in the south; but it is to be See also:borne in mind that many works of this class must have perished, as is rendered evident by the mere fact that, with few exceptions, the narrative poems which have come down to us are each known by a single See also:manuscript only. We possess but three Provencal romances of adventure: Jaufre (composed in the middle of the 13th century and dedicated to a king of Aragon, possibly James I.), Blandin of See also:Cornwall and Guillem de la See also:Barra. The first two are connected with the Arthurian cycle: Jaufri is an elegant and ingenious work; Blandin of Cornwall the dullest and most insipid one can well imagine. The romance of Guillem de la Barra tells a See also:strange See also:story also found in See also:Boccaccio's Decameron (2nd Day, viii.). It is rather a poor poem; but as a contribution to literary history it has the See also:advantage of being dated. It was finished in 1318, and is dedicated to a noble of See also:Languedoc called Sicart de Montaut.

Connected with the romance of ad-venture is the novel (in Provencal novas, always in the plural), which is originally an account of an event " newly " happened. The novel must have been at first in the south what, as we see by the Decameron, it was in Italy, a society pastime—the wits in turn See also:

relating anecdotes, true or imaginary, which they think likely to amuse their auditors. But before long this kind of production was treated in verse, the form adopted being that of the romances of adventure—octosyllabic verses rhyming in pairs. Some of those novels which have come down to us may be ranked with the most graceful works in Provencal literature; two are from the pen of the Catalan author Raimon Vidal de Besalii. One, the Castia-gilos (the Chastisement of the Jealous Man), is a treatment, not easily matched for elegance, of a frequently-handled theme—the story of the See also:husband who, in order to entrap his wife, takes the disguise of the See also:lover whom she is expecting and receives with See also:satisfaction blows intended, as he thinks, for him whose part he is playing; the other, The Judgment of Love, is the See also:recital of a question of the See also:law of love, departing considerably from the subjects usually treated in the novels. Mention may also be made of the novel of The See also:Parrot by Arnaut de See also:Carcassonne, in which the principal character is a parrot of great eloquence and ability, who succeeds marvellously in securing the success of the amorous enterprises of his master. Novels came to be extended to the proportions of a long romance. Flamenca, which belongs to the novel type, has still over eight thousand verses, though the only MS. of it has lost some leaves both at the beginning and at the end. This poem, composed in all probability in 1234, is the story of a lady who by very ingenious devices, not unlike those employed in the See also:Miles gloriosus of See also:Plautus, succeeds in eluding the vigilance of her jealous husband. No See also:analysis can be given here of a work the See also:action of which is highly complicated; suffice it to remark that there is no See also:book in medieval literature which betokens so much quickness of See also:intellect and is so instructive in regard to the manners and usages of politesociety in the 13th century. We know that novels were in great favour in the south of France, although the specimens preserved are not very numerous. Statements made by See also:Francesco da Barberino (early part of 14th century), and recently brought to light, give us a glimpse of several works of this class which have been lost.

From the south of France the novel spread into Catalonia, where we find in the 14th century a number of novels in verse very similar to the Provencal ones, and into Italy, where in general the prose form has been adopted. Didactic and Religious Poetry.—Compositions intended for instruction, correction and edification were very numerous in the south of France as well as elsewhere, and, in spite of the enormous losses sustained by Provencal literature, much of this kind still remains. But it is seldom that such works have much originality or literary value. Originality was naturally absent, as the aim of the writers was mainly to bring the teachings contained in Latin works within the reach of lay hearers or readers. Literary value was not of course excluded by the lack of originality, but by an unfortunate See also:

chance the greater part of those who sought to instruct or edify, and attempted to substitute moral works for See also:secular productions in favour with the people, were, with a few exceptions, persons of limited ability. It would be out of question to enumerate here all the didactic treatises, all the lives of saints, all the treatises of popular See also:theology and morals, all the books of devotion, all the pious See also:canticles, composed in Provencal verse during the middle ages; still some of these poems may be singled out. Daude de Prades (early 13th century), a canon of Maguelone, and at the same time a troubadour, has left a poem, the Auzels cassadors, which is one of the best sources for the study of See also:falconry. Raimon d'See also:Avignon, otherwise unknown, translated in verses, about the See also:year 1200, Rogier of Parme's " See also:Surgery " (Romania, x. 63 and 496). We may mention also a poem on See also:astrology by a certain G. (Guilhem?), and another, See also:anonymous, on geomancy, both written about the end of the 13th century (Romania, See also:xxvi. 825).

As to moral compositions, we have to recall the Boethius poem (unfortunately a mere fragment) already mentioned as one of the oldest documents of the language, and really a remarkable work; and to See also:

notice an early (12th century?) metrical See also:translation of the famous Disticha de moribus of See also:Dionysius See also:Cato (Romania, xxv. 98, and See also:xxix. 445). More original are some compositions of an educational character known under the name of ensenhamenz, and, in some respects, comparable to the See also:English nurture-books. The most interesting are those of Garin le Brun (12th century), Arnaut de Mareuil, Arnaut Guilhem de Marsan, Amanieu de Sescas. Their general object is the education of ladies of rank. Of metrical lives of saints we possess about a dozen (see Histoire litteraire de la France, vol. xxxii.), among which two or three deserve a particular attention: the Life of Sancta Fides, recently discovered and printed Romania, xxxi.), written early in the 12th century; the Life of St Enimia (13th century), by Bertran of Marseilles, and that of St Honorat of Lerins by Raimon Feraud (about 1300), which is distinguished by variety and elegance of versification, but it is almost entirely a translation from Latin. Lives of saints (St See also:Andrew, St See also:Thomas the Apostle, St See also:John the Evangelist) form a part of a poem, strictly didactic, which stands out by reason of its great extent (nearly See also:thirty-five thousand verses) and the somewhat original conception of its See also:scheme--the Breviari d'amor, a vast See also:encyclopaedia, on a theological basis, composed by the Minorite See also:friar Matfre Ermengaut of See also:Beziers between 1288 and 1300 or thereabout. See also:Drama.—The dramatic literature of southern France belongs entirely to the religious class, and shows little originality. It consists of mysteries and See also:miracle plays seldom exceeding two or three thousand lines, which never developed into the enormous dramas of northern France, whose acting required several consecutive days. Comic plays, so plentiful in medieval French literature (farces, sotties), do not seem to have found favour in the south. pecimens which we possess of Provencal drama are comparatively few; but researches in local archives, especially in old account books, have brought to light a considerable number of entries concerning the acting, at public expense, of religious plays, called, in Latin documents, lulus, historia, moralitas, most of which seem to be irretrievably lost.

As all the Provencal plays, sometimes mere fragments, which have escaped destruction, are preserved in about a dozen manuscripts, unearthed within the last forty or fifty years, there is See also:

hope that new texts of that sort may some day be published. Generally those plays belong to the 15th century or to the 16th. Still, a few are more ancient and may be ascribed to the 14th century or even to the end of the 13th. The oldest appears to be the See also:Mystery of St See also:Agnes (edited by Bartsch, 1869), written in Arles. Somewhat more recent, but not later than the beginning of the 14th century, is a Passion of See also:Christ (not yet printed) and a mystery of the Marriage of the Virgin, which is partly adapted from a French poem of the 13th century, (see Romania xvi. 71). A manuscript, discovered in private archives (printed by Jeanroy and Teulie, 1893), contains not less than sixteen short mysteries, three founded on the Old Testament, thirteen on the New. They were written in Rouer- ue and are partly imitated from French mysteries. At Manosque Basses Alpes) was found a fragment of a Ludus sancta See also:Jacobi, inserted in a See also:register of notarial deeds (printed by C. See also:Arnaud. Marseilles, 1858). The region comprised between the See also:Rhone and the See also:Var seems to have been particularly fond of representations of this sort, to judge by the entries in the local records (see Romania See also:xxvii.

400). At the close of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries many mysteries were played in that part of See also:

Dauphine which corresponds to the present See also:department of Hautes-Alpes. Five mysteries of this See also:district, composed and played somewhere about 1500 (the mysteries of St Eustace, of St Andrew, of St Pons, of SS Peter and See also:Paul and of St See also:Anthony of See also:Vienne), have come down to us, and have been edited by See also:Abbe Fazy (1883), the four others by Canon P. Guillaume (1883–1888). The influence of the See also:con-temporary French sacred drama may to some extent be traced in them. Prose.—Prose composition in the south of France belongs to a comparatively See also:late See also:stage of literary development; and the same remark applies to the other Romanic countries, particularly to northern France, where prose hardly comes into fashion till the beginning of the 13th century, the prose of the preceding century being little else than translations of the books of the See also:Bible (especially the Psalter). As early as the 12th century we find in Languedoc sermons, whose importance is more linguistic than literary (Sermons du XII° siecle en vieux Provencal, ed. by F. Armitage, See also:Heilbronn, 1884). About the same time, in Limousin, were translated chapters xiii.–xvii. of St John's See also:Gospel (Bartsch, Chrestomathie provencale). Various translations of the New Testament and of some parts of the Old have been done in Languedoc and Provence during the 13th and 14th centuries (see S. Berger, " See also:Les Bibles provencales et vaudoises," Romania xviii. 353; and " Nouvelles recherches sur les Bibles provencales et catalanes," ibid. xix.

505). The Provencal prose rendering of some lives of saints made in the early part of the 13th century (Revue des langues See also:

romanes, 189o) is more interesting from a purely linguistic than from a literary point of view. To the 13th century belong certain lives of the troubadours intended to be prefixed to, and to explain, their poems. Many of them were written before 1250, when the first anthologies of troubadour poetry were compiled; and some are the work of the troubadour Hugh of Saint Circq. Some were composed in the north of Italy, at a time when the troubadours found more favour See also:east of the Alps, than in their own country. Considered as historical documents these See also:biographies are of a very doubtful value. Most of them are mere works of fiction, written by men who had no data except such informations as they derived from the songs they had to explain and which they often misunderstood. To the same period must be assigned See also:Las Razos de trobar of the troubadour Raimon Vidal de Besalu (an elegant little treatise touching on various points of See also:grammar and the poetic art), and also the Donatz proensals of Hugh Faidit, a writer otherwise unknown, who See also:drew up his purely grammatical work at the See also:request of two natives of northern Italy. A remarkable work, both in style and thought, is the Life of St Douceline, who died in 1274, near Marseilles, and founded an order of See also:Beguines. In the 14th century compositions in prose grew more numerous. Some rare lccal See also:chronicles may be mentioned, the most interesting being that of Mascaro, which contains the annals of the See also:town of Beziers from 1338 to 1390. Theological treatises and pious legends translated from Latin and French also increase in number.

The leading prose-work of this period is the treatise on grammar, poetry and See also:

rhetoric known by the name of See also:Leys d'ainors. It was composed in Toulouse, shortly before 1350, by a See also:group of scholars, and was intended to See also:fix the rules of the language with a view to the promotion of a poetical See also:renaissance. For this purpose an See also:academy was founded which awarded prizes in the shape of See also:flowers to the best compositions in verse. We still possess the collection of the pieces crowned by this academy during the Nth century, and a large part of the 15th (Flors del See also:gay saber). Unfortunately they are rather See also:academic than poetic. The Leys d'amors, which was to be the starting-point and See also:rule of the new poetry, is the best production of this abortive renaissance. The decay of Provencal literature, caused by political circumstances, arrived too soon to allow of a full development of prose. This accounts, in some measure for the complete See also:absence of historical compositions. There is nothing to compare, with See also:Villehardouin or See also:Joinville in northern France, or with Ramon See also:Muntaner in Catalonia. The 14th and 15th centuries were in no respect a prosperous period for literature in the south of France. In the 15th century people began to write French both in verse and prose; and from that time Provencal literature became a thing of the past. From the 16th century such poetry as is written in the vernacular of southern France (See also:Auger See also:Gaillard, La Bellaudiera, Goudelin, d'Astros, &c.), is entirely dependent on French influence.

The connexion with ancient Provencal literature is entirely broken. Werke der Troubadours (See also:

Zwickau, 1829, 8vo; new ed. by Bartsch, 1882) are of great excellence for the time at which they appeared. A. Restori's Letteratura provenzale (See also:Milan, Hoepli, 1891), though very short and not free from oversights, gives a generally correct view of the subject. For the history of Provencal literature in Spain, see Mila y Fontanals, De los Trovadores en Espana (See also:Barcelona, 1861, 8vo); for Italy, Cavedoni, Ricerche storiche intorno ai trovatori provenzali (See also:Modena, 1844, 8vo) ; A. Thomas, Francesco Barberino et la litterature provencale en Italie (Paris, 1883, 8vo) ; O. See also:Schultz, " See also:Die Lebensverhaltnisse der italienischen Trobadors," in Zeits. fur romanische Philologie (1883). For the bibliography consult especially Bartsch, Grundriss zur Geschichte der provenzalischen Literatur (See also:Elberfeld. 1872, 8vo). For texts the reader may be referred to Raynouard, Choix de poesies originales des Troubadours (1816-1821, 6 vols. 8vo), and Lexique roman, ou See also:diet. de la langue des troubadours, of which vol. i. (1838) is entirely taken up with texts; and Rochegude, Parnasse occitanien (Toulouse, 1819, 8vo).

All the pieces published by Raynouard and Rochegude have been reprinted without See also:

amendment by Mahn, Die Werke der Troubadours in provenz. Sprache (See also:Berlin, 8vo, vol. i. 1846, ii. 1855–1864, iii. 188o; vol. iv. contains an edition of the troubadour Guiraut Riquier, 18.3). The same editor's Gedichte der Troubadours (Berlin, 1856–1873) Is a collection conspicuous for its want of order and of accuracy (see Romania iii. 303). Among See also:editions of individual troubadours may be mentioned: Peire Vidal's Lieder, by Karl Bartsch (Berlin, 1857, I2mo.) ; Les Derniers troubadours de la Provence, by Paul See also:Meyer (Paris, 1871, 8vo) ; Der Troubadour Jaufre Rudel, sein Leben and See also:seine Werke, by A. Stimming (See also:Kiel, 1873, 8vo); Bertran de Born, sein Leben and seine Werke, by A. Stimming (See also:Halle, 1879, 8vo; revised and abridged edition, Halle, 1892) ; another edition, by A. Thomas (Toulouse, 1888, 8vo) ; Guilhem Figueira, ein provenzalischer Troubadour, by E. See also:Levy (Berlin, 188o, 8vo) ; Das Leben and die Lieder des Troubadours Peire Rogier, by Carl Appel (Berlin, 1882, 8vo) ; La vita e le opere del trovatore Arnaldo Daniello, by U.

A. Canello (Halle, 1883, 8vo); O. Schultz, Die Briefe des Trobadors Raimbaut de Vaqueiras an Bonifaz I., Markgrafen von Monferrat (Halle a. S., 1893) ; See also:

Italian edition (See also:Florence, 1898).; Cesare de Lollis, Vita e poesie di Sordello di See also:Goito (Halle a. S., 1896) ; J. Coulet, Le Troubadour Guilhem Montanhagel (Toulouse, 1898) ; R. Zenker, Die Lieder von Peires von Auvergne (See also:Erlangen, 1900); J. J. Salverda De See also:Grove, Le Troubadour Bertran d'Alamanon (Toulouse, 1902); G. Bertoni, I Trovatori minori di Genova (See also:Dresden, 1903), and Rambertino Buvalelli, trovatore bolognase (Dresden, 1908, 8vo) ; A. Jeanroy, " Les Poesies de Gavandan " in Romania, vol. xxxiv. (Paris, 1905).

Concerning the music of the Troubadors, see J. B. See also:

Beck, Die Melodien der Troubadours (Strasburgh, 1908). Among editions of Provencal works of a See also:miscellaneous kind are: Bartsch, Denkmdler der provenzalischen Literatur (See also:Stuttgart, 1856, 8vo) ; H. Suchier, Denkmdler der provenz. Literatur and Sprache, vol. i. 8vo (Halle, 1883) ; Paul Meyer, La Chanson de la croisade contre les Albigeois (2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1875–1879) ; idem, Daurel et Beton, chanson de geste provencale (Paris, 188o, 8vo) ; idem, Le Roman de Flamenca (Paris, 1865, 8vo; 2nd ed., 1901) ; idem., Guillaume de la See also:Barre, roman d'aventures See also:par Arnaut Vidal de Castelnaudari (Paris, 1895, 8vo) ; E. Stengel, Die beiden dltesten provenzal. Grammatiken, Lo Donatz proensals and Las Razes de trobar (See also:Marburg, 1878, 8vo) ; Le Brevairi d'amor de Matfre Ermengaud, published by the Archaeological Society of Beziers (2 vols. 8vo, Beziers, 1862–188o) ; A. L.

See also:

Sardou, La See also:Vida de Sant Honorat, legende en vers provencaux par See also:Raymond Feraud (See also:Nice, 1875, 8vo) ; Noulet and Chabaneau, Deux manuscrits provencaux du XIV° siecle (Montpellier, 1888, 8vo) ; Albanes, La See also:Vie de Sainte Douceline (Marseilles, 1879, 8vo). Documents and See also:dissertations on various points of Provencal literature will be found in almost all the volumes of Romania (Paris, in progress since 1872, 8vo), and the Revue des langues romanes (Montpellier, in progress since 187o, 8vo). See also the other See also:journals devoted in See also:Germany and Italy to the Romanic languages, passim. (P.

End of Article: PROVENCAL LITERATURE

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