Elias de Barjols

Elias de Barjols.

I.

Belhs Guazans, s' a vos plazia
Ben fora sazos
Qu' el vostre cors belhs e bos,
Humils, de doussa paria,
Fos d' amor tan cobeitos,
Pus negus non es tan pros
Que us o digua, ni que ja sapcha tan
Que vos o aus dir, ni que vos o man.

Qu' ieu sai qu' a vos tanheria
Amics cabalos,
Tals don res a dir non fos,
Aitals cum ieu chauziria;
Farai n' un tot nou qu' er bos,
E penrai de las faissos
De quadaun de las melhors qu' auran,
Tro vos aiatz cavalier benestan.

N Aymars me don sa coyndia,
En Trencaleos
Sa gensozia, En Randos
Donar qu' es la senhoria,
El Dalfis sos belhs respos,
En Peyr cuy es Monleos
Do m son guabar, e volrai d' En Brian
Cavallairia, e 'l sen vuelh d' En Bertran.

Bels Castellas, cortezia
Vuel aver de vos,
E volrai que m do En Neblos
Covit que plus non penria,
En Miravalh sas chansos;
En Pos de Capduelh do nos
Sa guayesa, En Bertran la Tor man
Sa drecheza mi do, e no m soan.

Aital l' auretz ses fadia
Guai et amoros,
Belha, ben fait e joyos,
E ple de cavallairia;
Et es ben dreytz e razos
Que vos l' ametz et elh vos,
Qu' assatz seretz ambeduy d' un semblan;
Sol non crezatz fals lauzengier truan.

II.

Amors be m' avetz tengut
En vostre poder lonjamen,
Qu' anc no i puec trobar chauzimen,
Ni merces no m' a valgut
Ab vos, per que fatz fallensa,
Quar a lieys no mostre mos mals
Cui sui hom litges naturals,
Qu' ieu non l' en aus far parvensa.

Et auriatz m' ereubut,
Amors, e fag ric e manen,
Si m donavatz tan d' ardimen
Que mon fin cor esperdut
Per sobrar de benvolensa
Li mostres una vetz sivals;
Ja pueis no us quezera ren als,
Si m fessetz tanta valensa.

Qu' ieu fatz semblansa de mut
Quan vey son guai cors covinen
De la belha en cui m' enten;
Si 'l tenc mon cor escondut
Qu' ieu non l' aus dir per temensa
Cum li sui francs, fis e lials
Amicx en totz luecx, e cabals,
Que d' als non ai sovinensa.

Ges no m' es dessovengut,
Domna, vostre plazer plazen
Que m fezetz al comensamen
Don m' avetz viu deceubut;
Car comprey ma conoyssensa
E vostra beutat qu' es aitals
Cum belha rosa e belhs cristals,
Pus ab vos non truep guirensa.

Dona, si dieus vos ajut,
Pus conoissetz so que us es gen,
Conoscatz quo us am finamen,
Ni cum mi tenetz vencut,
Ni cum trac greu penedensa,
Ni cum sui vostr' amicx corals,
Ni cum anc ves vos no fui fals,
Ni cum vostr' amors m' agensa.

El senhoriu de Proensa
Es vengutz senhers naturals
A cui no platz enjans ni mals,
Ni cobeytatz non l' agensa.

En Blacatz, vostra valensa
Es de totas valors eguals,
E sapchatz s' ades etz aitals
Non trobaretz qui la us vensa.

III.

Car comprei vostras beutatz
E vostras plazens faissos,
Dona, e 'l semblan amoros
E 'l vostr' avinen solatz,
Quar no us aus mos talans dire,
Ni de vos no m puesc partir,
Ni d' als no son mey cossir,
Ni nulh joy tan non dezire.

Ben tart serai deziratz,
Avinens dompna, per vos,
Tant etz aut' et ieu suy jos,
Si no us vens humilitatz
Vostre cors per cui sospire,
Don ai fag maint greu sospir;
E sai que non puesc guerir,
S' umilitatz n' es a dire.

Anc no us dis ben acordatz,
Dona, tan sui temeros,
Co us am e 'n sui enveios,
Car no sui de vos privatz;
Pero be m pens e m' albire
Que vos sabetz mon albir;
Veus so que m fai esbaudir,
Qu' ieu d' al re no soi jauzire.

Ben sui jauzens et iratz,
Dona, quan sui denan vos;
Iratz sui, quar a rescos
No us aus dir mas voluntatz,
E sui jauzens quan remire
Vos qu' es la genser que s mir,
Mas mey huelh me fan falhir,
S' al dezir me fan aucire.

Ben es mortz qui a pensatz
Viu ni dezaventuros
D' aisso don es cobeitos,
Don nulhs joys non l' es donatz;
D' aital mort suy ieu sufrire
Per vos don no m tuelh ni m vir;
E, si m metetz en azir,
Tem que totz lo mons m' azire.

Bona dompna, s' a vos platz,
Merce us quier, que quan cossire
De vos qui etz ni m' albir,
Si merces no m vol venir,
Mortz sui senes contradire.

Comtessa, nulh mal cossire
Non es qu' om de vos cossir,
E tenetz cort de servir
E de solatz e de rire.

D' En Blacatz no m tuelh ni m vire,
Ni de son pretz enantir,
Que tan non puesc de ben dir
Qu' ades mais no y truep a dire.

//

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_de_Barjols

Elias de Barjols (fl. 1191–1230) was a bourgeois Aquitainian troubadour who established himself in Provence and retired a monk. Eleven of his lyrics survive, but none of his music.

According to his vida Elias was the son of a merchant and came from Agenais. The name of his birthplace is peiols in the manuscripts, but such a name can not be found in Agenais nor elsewhere: the most recent edition suggests that peiols is a scribal error for Poiols, ancient name of Pujols, (Podiolo, little Podium, Pujol, Pujolet, like the well known catalan dwarf) castle placed in Agenais, about 25 km from Agen. The identification of peiols as Pérols-sur-Vézère, as Stronski proposed in 1906, is untenable, because this place was not a castle and was not in Agenais, but in Limousin. According to his vida he was the greatest singer of his age (but such a statement is very frequent in the vidas') and he travelled widely from court to court as a jongleur with a fellow jongleur named Oliver. They eventually found favour with Alfonso II of Provence: a document dated to 1208 seems to confirm this. Alfonso gave them wives and land in Barjols, where Elias is witness in a document of Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Provence (Alfonso's son) in 1222.

According to his vida Elias fell in love with (i. e. celebrated) Garsenda of Sabran, the widow of Alfonso II (died 1209), and composed songs for her "as long as she lived", but none of his songs names her explicitly, whereas three of them are dedicated to Beatrice of Savoy, wife of Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Provence. The vida is therefore inaccurate in this case.

He later entered a hospital of the Fratres Pontifices founded by Beneic in Avignon, where he died.

Elias was a practitioner of the trobar leu style. Among his works are a descort, a partimen, and nine cansos; a sirventes, two cansos and another descort have a questionable attribution. Probably around 1200 Elias (but attribution is uncertain) wrote a poem describing the cavalier soissebut (or cavalher benestan: ideal, or model, knight) with his characteristics taken from his contemporaries, in imitation of a work by Bertran de Born in which the domna soissebuda (or dompna soiseubuda) is described by features of the exemplary noblewomen of Bertran's time. Elias constructs this knight for his lady from the "elegance" of Aimar, the "affability" of Giraut IV Trencaleon d'Armagnac, the "generosity" of Randon (a lord of this name died before 1219, when he is mentioned in the testament of his son-in-law; he was the nephew of the troubadour Garin lo Brun), the "good responses" of Dalfi d'Alvernha, the "wits" of Peir cui es Monleos (maybe the troubadour Peire de Gavaret), the "chivalry" of Brian, the "wisdom" of Bertran, the "courtesy" of a Bels Castellas (beautiful castellan), the "conviviality" of a certain Neblos, the "songs" (chansos) of Raimon de Miraval, the "gaiety" (guaieza) of Pons de Capdoill, and the "probity" of Bertran II de la Tor.

Another poem, Ben deu hom son bon senhor, written probably around 1225, has two tornadas referring to Beatrice of Savoy, husband (wife) of Ramon Berenguer IV of Provence, and the lord Blacatz respectively. The stanza preceding them is full of praise for the Emperor Frederick II, suzerain of Provence, who had good relations with both Raymond Berengar and Blacatz at the time.

Comtessa Beatris, gran be

aug de vos dir e retraire,

quar del mon etz la belaire,

de las autras dompnas qu'om ve.

Countess Beatrice, great good

I hear said and related of you,

for you are the most beautiful

of the ladies seen in the world.

Besides Beatrice and Blacatz, Elias wrote poems to Jaufre Reforzat de Trets and Ferdinand III of Castile-León.

http://www.rialto.unina.it/ElBarj/132.4(Barachini).htm

Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. The Vidas of the Troubadours. New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0-8240-9437-9.

Gaunt, Simon, and Kay, Sarah (edd.) The Troubadours: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.

Harvey, Ruth. "Courtly culture in medieval Occitania" (pp. 8–27). The Troubadours: An Introduction. Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay, edd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-57473-0.

Stronski, Stanislaw, ed. Le Troubadour Elias de Barjols. Toulouse: Edouard Privat, 1906.

Topsfield, L. T. "Raimon de Miraval and the Art of Courtly Love." The Modern Language Review, 51:1 (January 1956), pp. 33–41. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3718257

http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/497.html  

"One should with one's good lord" at Epistolæ: Medieval Women's Latin Letters.