Peire Cardenal (or Cardinal)[1] (c. 1180 - c. 1278)[2] was a troubadour (fl. 1204-1272) known for his satirical sirventes and his dislike of the clergy. Ninety-six pieces of his remain, a number
rarely matched by other poets of the age.[3]
Peire Cardenal was born in Le Puy-en-Velay,[4] apparently of a noble family;[5] the family name Cardenal appears in
many documents of the region in the 13th and 14th centuries.[3] He was educated as a canon, which education directed him to vernacular lyric poetry and he abandoned his career in the
church for "the vanity of this world", according to his vida.[6] Peire began his career at the court
of Raymond
VI of Toulouse—from
whom he sought patronage—and a document of 1204 refers to a Petrus
Cardinalis as a scribe of Raymond's chancery.[3] At Raymond's court, however, he
appears to have been known as Peire del Puoi or Puei (French: Pierre du Puy).
Around 1238 he wrote a partimen beginning Peire del Puei, li
trobador with Aimeric
de Pegulhan.
At Raymond's court also perhaps,
probably in 1213, Peire composed a sirventes, Las amairitz, qui encolpar las
vol, which may have encouraged Peter
II of Aragon to
help Toulouse in the Battle of Muret, where Peter died. In this sirventes
Peire alludes first perhaps to the accusations of adultery that Peter had
leveled against Peter's wife Maria
of Montpellier but
also perhaps to the various changes in law governing women. In the second stanza Peire mentions Peter's success in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa; in the third he alludes to the sacking of Béziers (whose count Raymond
Roger Trencavel was
supposed to have been Peter's vassal): at Béziers the poorer soldiers of the Inquisition were
flogged by the wealthier, and this is the theme of the stanza. Peire's mention
of the court of Constantine may also again evoke the divorce
proceedings of Peter and Marie where Peire ultimately lost. Peire later alludes
to the death of someone (perhaps a daughter or perhaps Peire's wife Marie) and
then apparently to the couple's son James I of Aragon, born at Candlemas, according to James's Chronicle. It's not clear who the crois
hom or "dreadful man" is in the final couplet, whose deeds are
"piggish": Peire has really never addressed anyone in this verse but
Peter II and those close to him. (But dualism had by then made its way into some
of the local religious views of Medieval Languedoc: in dualist philosophy worldly
deeds might be seen as "piggish".)
Peire subsequently travelled widely,
visiting the courts of Auvergne, Les Baux, Foix, Rodez, and Vienne.[3] He may have even ventured into
Among the other troubadours Peire
encountered in his travels were Aimeric
de Belenoi and Raimon de Miraval.[3] He may have met Daude de Pradas and Guiraut Riquier at Rodez.[7] Peire was influenced by Cadenet, whom he honoured in one of his
pieces. He was possibly influenced by Bernart de Venzac.
In his early days he was a vehement
opponent of the French, the clergy and the Albigensian
Crusade. In the sirventes,
Ab votz d'angel, lengu' esperta, non bleza, dated by Hill and Bergin to
around 1229 (when the tribunal of the Inquisition was established at Toulouse by the Dominican Order),[8] Peire enjoins those who seek God to
follow the example of those who "drink beer" and "eat bread of
gruel and bran", rather than argue over "which wine is the
best". The latter behavior Peire's verse attributes to the
"Jacobins" (Hill and Bergin say this is the Dominican Order).[9]
In Li clerc si fan pastor he
condemned the "possession" of the laity by the clergy, for so long as
the clergy order it, the laity will "draw their swords towards heaven and
get into the saddle." This poem was written probably around 1245, after
the First
Council of Lyon,
where the clergy took action against the Emperor
Frederick II, but
not against the Saracens.[10] In Atressi cum per fargar
Peire suggests that the clergy "protect their own swinish flesh from every
blade", but they do not care how many knights die in battle.[10] Peire was not an opponent of
Christianity or even the Crusades. In Totz lo mons es vestitiz et
abrazatz he urged Philip
III of France, who
had recently succeeded his father, Louis
IX, who died in
1270 on the failed Eighth
Crusade, to go to
the aid of Edward
Longshanks, then on
the Ninth
Crusade in Syria.[11]
Near the end of the sirventes,
Ab votz d'angel, lengu' esperta, non bleza, composed as noted probably
around 1229, Peire's words, [s]'ieu fos maritz, "if I were
wed", suggest that he is not yet wed. The verse which follows provides
evidence in the view of some that Peire married: it first mocks the
"barrenness that bears fruit" of the [beguinas (beguines, who may have sometimes been associated with
the Dominicans; Hill and Bergin in 1973 said this was a reference to nuns of
the Dominican
Order).[9] Throughout the verse of course
Peire had been poking fun at the Dominican clergy, but the comment about the
nuns may have additional significance. His tone changes after this and his
closing lines suggest though that all this is a miracle from the "saintly
fathers", suggesting his acceptance of things: Cardenal.org says that some
have interpreted these lines as suggesting that Peire married at this time.[12]
By the end of his life he appears
reconciled to the new modus vivendi in southern
Three of Peire's songs have
surviving melodies, but two (for a canso and a sirventes) were
composed by others: Guiraut
de Bornelh and Raimon Jordan respectively.[13] Like many of his contemporary
troubadours, Peire merely composed contrafacta. The third, for Un sirventesc
novel vuelh comensar, may be Peire's own work.[3] It is similar to the borrowed
melody of Guiraut de Bornelh, mostly syllabic with melismas at phrasal ends.[7] The meagre number of surviving
tunes (attributable to him) relative to his output of poetry is surprising
considering his vida states that "he invented poetry about many
beautiful subjects with beautiful tunes."[14]
References
· Aubrey,
· Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. The Vidas of the
Troubadours. New
York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0-8240-9437-9.
· Hill, Raymond T.
and Bergin, Thomas G., with Bergin, T. G., ed, and Olson, Susan, Paden, William
D. Jr., and Smith, Nathaniel. Anthology of the Provençal Troubadours, Volume
2.
· Lavaud, R. (1957). Poésies
complètes du troubadour Peire Cardenal. Toulouse: Bibliothèque méridionale,
2e série, 34.
· Boutiere, J. and Schutz, A.-H., Biographies des
troubadours. Paris,
1954.
· Throop, Palmer A. "Criticism
of Papal Crusade Policy in Old French and Provençal." Speculum, 13:4 (Oct., 1938), pp. 379-412.
External
links
· Peire Cardenal: Complete Works, criticism, and
biography (in French and Occitan)
· Peire Cardenal: Complete searchable works, with a few melodies (in Occitan)
· Peire Cardenal: Selection of works, with notes (in Occitan and Italian)
Notes
1. His name is spelled Pèire
in modern Occitan.
2. The estimated dates of his life
come from Lavaud.
3. Aubrey, 23-4.
4. Called Puy Nostra Domna
in his vida.
5. His vida calls him the
"son of a knight and a lady" (Egan, 74).
6. Egan, 74. The author of Peire's
vida is known: Miquel de la Tor.
7. Aubrey, 233-4.
8. Hill, Raymond; Bergin, T.G. (1973). Anthology of
the Provençal Troubadours. 2.
9. Op. Cit. Hill; Bergin.
(1973). Anthology of the Provençal Troubadours. 2. p. 68. ISBN 0-300-01405-8.
10. Throop, 401-2.
11. Throop, 409.
12. Cardenal.org. "La
Courtoise insurgée" (in French). Retrieved 2017-01-20. (also available in Italian)
13. This is not unusual for
thirteenth-century sirventes. The poems with
borrowed melodies are Ar mi posc eu lauzar d'amor and Ricx hom que
greu ditz vertat e leu men respectively. Guiraut's poem is No posc
sofrir qu'a la dolor and
14. Egan, 74, emphasis added.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário