Paul Meyer and Hermann Oelsner

“ 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 note that in all this vast body of love poetry there is no epithalamium nor any address to a marriageable lady. The social conditions of the south of France in the feudal period explain in great measure the powerful development of this kind of poetry, and also its peculiar characteristics—the profound respect, the extreme deference of the poet towards the lady whom he addresses. ”

“ 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 Provençal literature, chronological order being followed in each 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 person to distinguish himself in more than one of them, there will be generally no occasion to introduce the same author in different sections. ”

“ There is absolutely nothing in common either in form or ideas between the last productions of classical Latinity, as they appear in Sidonius Apollinaris or Fortunatus, and the first poetic compositions in Romanic. The view which seems to meet with general acceptance, though it has not been distinctly formulated by any one, is that Romanic poetry sprang out of a popular poetry quietly holding its place from the Roman times, no specimen of which has survived just as the Romanic languages are only continuations with local modifications of vulgar Latin. ”

“ 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 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 education, enlarged the circle of its ideas. In the 12th century, and still more in the 13th, historical works and popular treatises on contemporary science were composed for its use in the only language it understood ”

“ 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 Provençal literature became a thing of the past. From the 16th century such poetry as is written in the vernacular of southern France (Auger Gaillard, La Bellaudiera, Goudelin, d’Astros, &c.) , is entirely dependent on French influence. The Connexion with ancient Provençal literature is entirely broken. ”

“ Literature in the south of France never died out entirely. Indeed, We have a link which, though too much importance may easily be attached to it, yet undoubtedly connects the products of the troubadours with the Provençal poetry of the present day. The Academy of Toulouse, founded in 1324, was flourishing in the 14th century, and, after many vicissitudes, is flourishing still. ”

“ Slowly and gradually the Romanic languages, especially those of France, came to occupy part of the ground formerly occupied by Latin, but even after the middle ages had passed away the parent tongue retained no small portions of its original empire. Consequently Romanic literature's in general (and this is especially true of Provençal, as it does not extend beyond the medieval period) afford only an incomplete representation of the intellectual development of each country. ”

“ There is no doubt they betook themselves to poetry not merely for their own pleasure, but for the 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 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. ”

“ Connected with the romance of adventure is the novel (in Provençal 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 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. ”

“ No analysis can be given here of a work the action of which is highly complicated; suffice it to remark that there is no book in medieval literature which betokens so much quickness of intellect and is so instructive in regard to the manners and usages of polite society 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. ”

“ 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 custom of writing in Latin was still preserved by uninterrupted tradition. Even during the most barbarous periods, when intellectual life was at its lowest, it was in Latin that sermons, lives of saints more or less apocryphal, accounts of miracles designed to attract pilgrims to certain shrines, monastic annals, legal documents, and contracts of all kinds were composed. ”

“ Drama.—The dramatic literature of southern France belongs entirely to the religious class, and shows little originality. It consists of mysteries and 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. Specimens which we possess of Provençal drama are comparatively few ”

“ The Provençal prose rendering of some lives of saints made in the early part of the 13th century (Revue des langues romanes, 1890) 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 ”

“ But in the 11th century vernacular poetry was still rather limited, and has hardly any higher object than the amusement or the edification of the upper classes. An aristocratic poetry, such as it appears in the oldest Provençal compositions, cannot be the production of shepherds and husbandmen ”

“ 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 call jugglers' tricks, by exhibiting performing animals, or by recitation and song. ”

“ However, 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 Provençal which is strictly popular. The extremely personal compositions of William IX. have nothing in common with folk-lore. They are subjective poetry addressed to a very limited and probably rather aristocratic audience. The same may be said of the Boethius poem, though it belongs to the quite different species of edifying literature§ at any rate it is not popular poetry. ”

“ The first place belongs to Girart de Roussillon, a poem of ten thousand verses, which relates the struggles of Charles Martel with his powerful vassal the Burgundian Gerard of Roussillon. It is a literary production of rare excellence and of exceptional interest for the 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 borders of Limousin and Poitou ”

“ Some were composed in the north of Italy, at a time when the troubadours found more favour east of the Alps, than in their own country. Considered as historical documents these biographies are of a very doubtful value. Most of them are mere works of fiction, written by men who had no data except such in formations as they derived from the songs they had to explain and which they often misunderstood. ”

“ It goes without saying that all is not perfect harmony; but, on the whole, the differences are differences of detail only, not of principle. While Mistral and many of the best félibres employ the dialect of the Bouches-du-Rhône, others, who have since seceded as the Félibrige latin (headed by Roque-Ferrier) , prefer to use the dialect of Montpellier, owing to its central position. A third class favour the dialect of Limousin, as having been the literary vehicle of the troubadours ”

“ It is easy to understand how his high social 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 evidence that by the 11 century Provençal 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. ”

“ Goudelin essayed and was successful in almost every short genre (Lou Ramelet .Moundi, 1617, republished with additions till 1678) , the piece of his which is most generally admired being the stanzas to Henri IV., though others will prefer him in his gayer moods. He enjoyed enormous popularity (extending to Spain and Italy) , but never prostituted his art to cheap effects. His influence, especially but not exclusively in Provence, has been deep and lasting. The fame of Jean Michel, of Nimes, rests on the Embarras de la faire de Beaucaire, a poem of astonishing vigour, but deficient in taste. ”

“ Their general object is the education of ladies of rank. Of metrical lives of saints we possess about a dozen (see Histoire littéraire 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. ”

“ We need not do more than glance at the Work of the fourth of the group of poets who alone, amidst the numerous writers of lyrics and other works that attain a high level of excellence. appear to us to have so far secured permanent fame by the magnitude of their achievement. ”

“ And in 1854 he was one of the seven poets who, on the 21st of May, fore gathered at the castle of Fontségugne, near Avignon, and founded the Félibrige. [The etymology of this Word has given rise to much speculation: the one thing certain about the word is that Mistral came across it in an old Provencal poem, which tells how the Virgin meets Jesus in the Temple, among the seven féfibres of the law. The outlines of the constitution, as finally settled in 1876, are as follows: The region of the Félibrige is divided into four manteneuco (Provence, Languedoc, Aquitaine and Catalonia [5] ) . ”

“ His is, without a doubt, the deepest nature and temperament among the féfibres, and his lyrics are the most poignant. He has a keen sense of physical beauty in woman, and his verse is replete' with suppressed passion, but he never sinks to sensuality. ”

“ The poets crowned by this body between 1324 and 1498 stand in the same relation to the troubadours as the Meistersinger do to the Minnesänger: academic correctness takes the place of inspiration. The institution flourished, even to the extent of establishing branches in Catalonia and Majorca; and in 1484, when its prosperity was threatened, a semi-fabulous person, Clémence Isaure, is said to have brought about a revival by instituting fresh prizes. The town of Toulouse never ceased to supply funds of some kind. ”

“ Others belonged to the bourgeoisie: Peire d'Alvernha, for example, Peire Raimon of Toulouse, Elias Fonsalada. More rarely we see traders' sons becoming troubadours; this was the case with F olquet of Marseilles and Aimeric de Pegulhan. ”

“ France.—Eleanor of Guienne, Bernart de Ventadour (Ventadorn) ; Henry Curtmantle, son of Henry II. of England, Bertran de Born (?) ; Richard Cœur de Lion, Arnaut Daniel, Peire Vidal, Folquet of Marseilles, Gaucelm Faidit; Ermengarde of Narbonne (1143–1192) , Bernart de Ventadour, Peire 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 Durfort; Raimon VI., count of Toulouse (1194–1222) , Raimon de Miraval, Aimeric de Pegulhan, Aimeric de Belenoi, Ademar lo Negre ”