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Tenso, Volume 13, Number 1, Fall 1997, pp. 24-47 (Article)

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DOI: 10.1353/ten.1997.0004

For additional information about this article

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ten/summary/v013/13.1.fraser.html

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 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE IN THE SONGS
OF THE TROUBADOURS AND THE TROBAIRITZ

The female troubadours, or trobairitz, composed their songs in the

twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the region of France where Occitan
was the language of communication and also ofculture, an area, broadly
speaking, which lies south of the Loire Valley and extends to the
Mediterranean. About twenty women poets are known to us by name,
whose compositions range from the love song, or canso, and the tenso, or
debate poem, to the sirventes, a satirical poem dealing with political
themes or social comment. The names of seventeen other female
troubadours have been recorded by authors of the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance, whose compositions are unfortunately lost. This amounts
to a total of almost forty female poets who were active in the region of
Languedoc and Provence at the time of the flowering of Occitan poetry
and song, women who undoubtedly took a full part in the cultural life of
their day and were highly regarded by their contemporaries.' The
scholarship devoted to the trobairitz in the last twenty years has focused
on their poetic technique, their social class and their love discourse,
their attitude towards^« 'amor. These studies have ascertained that the
women poets came from the aristocratic class, that for the most part the
themes of their poems are similar to those of the male troubadours,
although they show a more independent and perhaps more realistic
attitude towards love. Their use of rhetoric and poetic technique is also
similar, though not identical to that of the male poets. There are clear
differences in the poetic expression of individual trobairitz, who do not,
in fact, sing with the same voice.2
These studies have shown some of the similarities and the differ-
ences in the love discourse of troubadour and trobairitz, both in the form
and in the content of the poems. Both male and female poets pledge
undying service and devotion to the object of their love, who is often
remote and unattainable, or proud and unresponsive. They suffer
endless torments which will bring death without the longed-for reward
from the beloved. These laments are common to both male and female

24
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

poets and constitute the majority of the songs left to us in the troubadour
tradition. But there is an important element of the Occitan poetic
tradition which is exclusive to the male troubadours; this is found in the
boasting poem, or gab, in which the male poet boasts of his prowess as
a lover and seducer of women. The verb gabar means to open the mouth
wide, the behaviour of a loud-mouth or braggart. We can find no
instances of the gab in the extant corpus of the trobairitz; it appears to
be exclusively a male genre.

In the love discourse of the women poets caution and restraint are
more often in evidence than extravagant display. The trobairitz does not
boast ofher power over her beloved; she is much more disposed to lament
the loss of love and the harshness of the beloved, whom she reproaches
for his pride and boastful conduct. The woman poet also complains of the
impediments which prevent her from enjoying her love, such as the
constraints of social conventions, concern for her reputation, for the
dangers which disclosure may bring, even if her love is returned. The
trobairitz are more preoccupied with the problems oïfîn'amor than with
its joys; they are not given to boasting about their charms or celebrating
their conquests.

This is the exclusive domain of some male poets, from Guilhem de

Peitieu in the early twelfth century to the songs of troubadours compos-
ing at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The boasting song or gab
has its origins in the epic exaggeration of the chanson de geste, where it
expresses superlative courage and strength. In the love song it consists
ofan extravagant display ofsexual prowess, placing the male lover at the
center of the action, while the lady's role is reduced to that of an object
of desire, a trophy to impress his companions. As Simon Gaunt has
shown, the male poets are speaking to each other, rather than addressing
their song to the lady, who is merely an excuse for the song.'* Among the
troubadours who use the gab motif in their love songs, we find Raimbaut
d'Aurenga, Guiraut de Bornelh, and Peire Vidal, as well as Guilhem de
Peitieu. I have chosen examples from the works of Guilhem and Peire,
who were particularly fond ofpresenting themselves as heroes ofthe bed-
chamber.

25
VERONICA FRASER

The first known troubadour, Guilhem, Duke of Aquitaine and Count

of Poitiers, lived at the end of the eleventh century and the beginning of
the twelfth. He composed songs both in the idealized register of/in 'amor,
or pure love, and in a more licentious mode, celebrating the carnal
aspects of love. In a humorous poem addressed to his "companho" he
compares his two mistresses to two horses of equal beauty and delight,
one wild and free, the horse of the mountains, the other, from the plains,
calm and serene. Unfortunately neither horse will tolerate a rival and
since he is unwilling to part from either of them, he asks his companions
to help him solve this dilemma and find a way to enjoy both "horses."
Dos cavalhs ai a ma selha ben e gen:
Bon son e adreg per armas e valen,
Mas no'ls puesc amdos tener, que Pus l'autre non
cossen.

SHs pogues adomesjar a mon talen,

Ja non volgr'alhors mudar mon guarnimen,
Que miels for'encavalguatz de nuill autr'ome viven.
(PC 183,3; Payen I: 7-12)4
(I have two fine horses for my saddle:
they are good and strong and ready for combat,
but I cannot keep them both, because they cannot
tolerate each other.

If I could subdue them to my desire,

I would place my equipment nowhere else,
and I should be better mounted than any man alive).

The vocabulary of military conquest is applied to his pursuit of the

two ladies: "adomesjar" "guarnimen" and "encavalguatz." He wishes to
master both ladies, in order to best employ his equipment when mounted
for battle. But Agnes, the horse of the mountains, is wild and free and
resists his efforts to tame her. Arsen, a pure and ethereal beauty from the

26
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

lowlands, is more gentle and accommodating. The duke has an agree-

ment to share her favours with her young husband, provided he gets the
larger share for himself:
Pero si "m retine ieu tan de covenen
Que s'el lo teni' un an qu'ieu lo tengues mais de cen.
(20-21)

(However I made the following agreement with him that

if he had her for one year I would have her for more than
a hundred).

The Duke of Aquitaine disposes of women as he pleases, with little

regard either to the woman's desires or those of the husband. Since he
has no intention of giving up either "mount," he asks his male compan-
ions to help him find a means of keeping both horses. The choice of
imagery to describe the women and the playful and audacious tone ofthe
song celebrate the poet's success as a lover rather than the qualities of
the objects of his desire.

In another song Guilhem playfully boasts of his adventures with two

ladies, Lady Agnes and Lady Ermessen, whom he tricks by pretending
to be mute and who consequently have no fear of being betrayed or
discovered. The two ladies entertain the supposed mute for a week in a
remote hut, and the adventure concludes with an exaggerated account of
the lover's success and his physical state after this encounter:

"Sor," diz N 'Agnes a N 'Ermessen,

"Mutz es, qe ben es conoissen;
Sor, del banh nos apareillem
E del sojorn."
Ueit jorns ez encar mais estei
En aquel forn.

Tant las fotei com auziretz;

Cen e quatre vint e ueit vetz,

27
VERONICA FRASER

Q 'a pauc no'i rompei mos corretz

E mos arnés;
E no'us puesc dir lo malaveg,
Tan gran m'en près (PC 183, 12; Payen V: 73-84).

("Sister" said Lady Agnes to Lady Ermessen,

"it is obvious that he is mute;
let us bathe and prepare
for pleasure."
There I remained more than a week
in that hot-house.

I will tell you how often I had them—

one hundred and eighty-eight times,
so that I almost broke my reins
and my harness;
and the pain that I suffered from it was so great,
I can hardly describe it).

In this song Guilhem is glorifying his enjoyment of the two ladies,

who have already tested his courage and his endurance by subjecting
him to an attack by a vicious cat to make sure that he is indeed incapable
of speech. He gets his revenge and his reward with such vigour that he
almost ruins himself in the process. Although the ladies have been
willing partners in the game of Eros, it is the male lover who triumphs in
the end.-1

Guilhem de Peitieu composed his songs in the early twelfth century,

the beginning of the flowering of Occitan lyric verse. His triumphant
celebration of his own mastery of the game of love is evident in much of
his verse, but a similar boasting tone appears in the songs of later poets
who claim, like Guilhem, to be "maestre certa" in love. Peire Vidal
composed his songs almost a century later, in the period at the end of the
twelfth century which saw the largest production of verse in Occitan, the
golden age of the literary tradition of the Langue d'Oc. In Peire's cansos

28
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

we see many instances of the gab in which he, like Guilhem, boasts of
his success as a lover. He is more playful and ironic than Guilhem, and
less derisive in his attitude towards his female partners. Peire, unlike
Guilhem, belonged to the bourgeois class; according to his vida he was
the son of a furrier from Toulouse: "Peire Vidais si fo de Tolosa, fils d'un
pelicier." Thus Peire was not of the same social rank as the women he
addresses in his songs. Guilhem, Duke of Aquitaine, a powerful feudal
lord, was not subject to any social strictures. But Peire is not daunted by
inferior social status, he too is an unrivalled master in the dual arts of love
and combat. No one can touch him, not even the king himself, and ladies
from all corners of the courtly world shower him with demands for his
attention:

Eh Dieus! quar ieu sui aitals,

Que mil salut mi venon cascun dia
De Cataluenha e de Lombardia,
Quar a totz jorns pueja mos pretz e creis;
Que per un pauc no mor d'enveja'l Reis,
Quar ab donas fas mon trep e mon joe.
(PC 364.7; Avalle XXIV: 31-36)6

(For by God, I am the one

who receives daily a thousand love requests,
from Catalonia and from Lombardy,
for my reputation grows and increases every day;
the King almost dies of envy,
for all the sport I have with the ladies).

His reputation is running away with him; he is helpless in the face

of this daily avalanche of attention, but will be equal to any task in his
game with the ladies. He remains undaunted by the hundreds of ladies
languishing for him:

Cent domnas sai que cascuna"m volria

Tener ab se, si aver me podia. (41-42)
"29
VERONICA FRASER

(I know a hundred ladies who would like

to have me beside them if they could).

Peire's irrepressible confidence knows no bounds when it comes to

his ability to serve the ladies and overcome the knights, his rivals:
"domnas bais e cavaliers derroc"(1.45). He is equal to any challenge,
either in arms or in love, even surpassing Gawain, the hero of the Round
Table:

Las aventuratz de Galvanh

Ai totas e d 'autras assatz;
E quan sui en cavai armatz,
Tot quan cossec, pesseg e franh.
Cent cavaliere ai totz sols près
Et ai agut tot lur ames;
Cent donas ai fachas plorar
Et autras cent rire jogar. (PC 364.30; Avalle XXXIV: 49-56)

(I undertake all the adventures of Gawain

and more besides;
and when I am armed on horse-back,
I break and smash everything within my reach.
I have overcome single-handed
one hundred knights
and have despoiled their armour;
I have made a hundred ladies weep,
and a hundred more laugh and play) .

He has overcome and incapacitated the hundred knights and may

now choose from among the two hundred ladies. Unfortunately one
hundred of them will be left unsatisfied. Peire can take any lady he
wishes, and like Guilhem, is undeterred by the claims of husbands:
Et ieu torn amoros
Vas domnas e chauzitz

30
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

Tan qu 'enuei 'als maritz,

De cui sui plus temsutz
Que fuecs ni fere agutz
Quar don me vuelh m'en pren,
Cus no las mi defen. (PC 364.17; Avalle XIV: 16-22)

(I turn lovingly towards

the ladies and distinction,
so much that I upset the husbands,
who fear me more than fire or sharp sword,
for I take whatever I like,
and no one defends them from me).

Husbands fear him more than any real weapon, since his arms are
invincible and resistance is quite futile. Like Guilhem, Peire expresses
his virility in terms of military combat, the fire and the sword which have
a further connotation of sexual passion and potency.

Both Peire and Guilhem boast of their domination of women, their

success as conquerors in the game of love, a battle in which the most
brave and aggressive will gain all the spoils. They confidently display
and assert their unquestionable superiority in matters of love, to intimi-
date their rivals and to entertain their audience. The love discourse of the
women poets is in a very different register. Aggression and rivalry have
no place in their songs, which show rather a sense of loss and frustration,
of caution and restraint when speaking of love and of the beloved,
normally addressed as "amie." He is often cruel and indifferent, and in
this he resembles the haughty and distant lady ofmany troubadour songs.
But he is never presented as a trophy or as an object of lust or derision.
There are no instances of the gao in the songs of the trobairitz, who are
much more given to lament the loss of love. The women poets express
their powerlessness in love and the frustration they experience due to
social and biological impediments linked to their female condition. The
presence of the husband is a hindrance, as is the fear of discovery. The

31
VERONICA FRASER

wife/ lover is unable to enjoy her "amie" and in addition must suffer the
proximity of the jealous and suspicious husband. The woman is also
prevented from addressing her love request openly and unambiguously
to the beloved, but must wait for him to woo her, according to convention.
She is hampered on all sides, not least by male pride and arrogance, a
major cause of her grief. Even when her love is returned she has the
added anxiety of the consequences of her lover's sexual demands which
could result in pregnancy. Marriage, too, is seen in an unfavourable light,
bringing with it the onerous and dangerous duties of child-bearing. A
contemplative life devoted to study may be more rewarding for a woman.
In the poems of the trobairitz the realities of love and of relations with
men are presented more openly, in a less idealized form than in the
courtly cansos of male poets. The female poets do not celebrate their
conquests in love, or their power over their lovers, but show instead a
sense of loss and frustration, coupled with caution and restraint, a
marked contrast to the humorous songs of self-glorification of Peire and
Guilhem.

The poet Castelloza was one of the best-known trobairitz. She may
have come from the northern reaches of the Occitan region, from the
Haute Loire, around Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne region.7 In the
four poems attributed to her, which date from the early thirteenth
century, she laments the suffering caused by her beloved, who does not
return her love or respond to her pleas. She feels inferior and unworthy
of his love, which deserves a more high-born lady. In the song "Amies,
s'ie'us trobes avinen "(PC 109.1), Castelloza laments the loss oflove and
the absence of joy and hope. Only her song can alleviate the suffering
caused by the coldness of her beloved, so she will continue to profess her
love even though it is to no avail:

q'e"l preiar ai un gran revenimen

quan prec cellui don ai greu pessamen. (23-24)8

(I receive great comfort from my plea for love,

even when I beseech him who causes my suffering).

32
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

Joy is never a reality, but is present only in a dream, which is her sole
comfort:

ni ioi non ai, ni socors non aten,

mas sol aitant qan n'aurai en dormen. (39-40)

(I have no joy, I expect no comfort,

except for that which will come to me in sleep).

The use of negation throughout the central cobla ofthe poem denotes
the absence of joy, and its illusory quality, since it is present only in a
dream. The song ends with a condemnation of the beloved's behaviour;
she will die of grief if she receives no hope from him, and the blame will
be at his door. The poet concludes with a hint at the fate that awaits those
who sin against love. The reproach is mild and does not harshly accuse
the "amie":

... e si"m laissatz morir,

faretz pechat, e serai n'en tormén,
e seretz ne blasmatz vilanamen. (46-48)

(If you let me die,

the sin will be yours, and I shall be in torment,
and for this you will be severely condemned).

The final love request is equally marked by hopelessness, by death and

by the impossibility ofceasing her quest no matter how painful and futile.
In the song "Mout avetz faich lone estatge" (PC 109.3) Castelloza
laments the loss of love, the absence ofjoy, which again will ultimately
lead to death if she receives no response to her plea. In spite of her
constancy and devotion she is ill-rewarded by her "amie" who has left
her for another. She is aware of the restrictions put on her as a woman,
that it might appear unseemly to speak openly of her love:

33
VERONICA FRASER

Mout aurai mes mal usatge

a las autras amairitz,
c Om sol trametre messatge
e motz triatz e chausitz: (21-24)9

(I will have set a bad example

to other women in love,
since a man usually transmits
carefully chosen messages and words).

But in spite of any possible condemnation she will continue her love
request, using the means at her disposal, her poetic craft. Her song is
justified since it is addressed to a lover of great worth, and since the poet
herself has shown only the most pure and constant devotion. But if the
lover persists in his rejection of her, her life will end, deprived of all joy:

anz sui pensi?' e marrida

car de m 'amor no'us sove,
e si de vos iois no'm ve,
tost mi trobaretz fenida. (35-38)

(So I am sad and pensive

because you do not remember my love,
and if no joy comes to me from you,
soon you will find me dead).

She hopes that her song will so please him and touch his heart that it will
bring him back to her, since it is as a poet that she has gained her renown,
and this she attributes to what she has received or not received from her
faithless 'amie. ' Her song will end and her life also, since both are utterly
dependent on love, which is always absent and a source of grief and
constant lament.10 Castelloza's poems contain a continuous request for
the most meager sign of affection or recognition from her beloved, who
never responds to her.

34
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

The timidity and modesty of Castelloza are not shared by all the
female troubadours. Garsenda, Countess of Provence, has a lively
exchange with the troubadour Gui de Cavaillon, in a tenso or debate
poem, in which she criticises her interlocutor for being too slow and
hesitant in his courtship. She feels hampered by the fact that as a woman
she cannot pursue him openly, but must wait patiently for him to take the
initiative:

ez avetz dan en vostre vulpillatge,

quar no"us ausatz de preiar enardir,
e faitz a vos ez a mi gran dampnatge;
(PC 187.1 = 192.6: 5-7; Rieger 204: 5-7)

(You do harm by your cowardice,

because you dare not request my love,
and this is very harmful to both of us).

He must be bold for the sake of both of them, since only men are free to
act, and she is obliged to depend on him. A woman may not openly
disclose her desire for fear of damaging her reputation:

que ges dompna non ausa descobrir

tot so qu'il vol per paor de faillir.(8-9)

(For a lady dare not disclose all that she desires

for fear of losing her reputation).
The verb "faillir" has the connotation of "fallen woman." The fear of
Garsenda is not fear of rejection or inadequacy, but fear of losing her
reputation by openly declaring her love. She is hampered by her lover's
hesitancy and her own situation as a woman, even though she was a
member ofthe high nobility. Garsenda ofForcalquier was one ofthe most
powerful women of her time, wife ofthe count of Provence and daughter-
in-law of King Alfons II of Aragon. Her court at Aix-en-Provence was a
center of patronage for troubadours.11 The tenso with Gui de Cavaillon

35
VERONICA FRASER

dates from the early thirteenth century and is in a more light-hearted

mode than the poems ofCastelloza. Garsenda emphasizes the limitations
and frustrations endured by women in the game of courtly love.12

Azalais de Porcairagúes refers to another constraint felt by the

female lover, her anxiety over her lover's demands, with its implications
of unwanted pregnancy and possible disgrace. Her lover has all the
courtly virtues and loves her in return, but she is unable to indulge her
passion freely, and must rely on his respect and continence to protect
her. This is one of the few references in Occitan literature to the "assag,"
a test of continence in which the two lovers lay together without fully
consummating their love.13 The poet submits to her "Bel Amie," trusting
in him not to ask too much of her. She is no longer in control and must
rely on him to be the guardian of her honour:

BeIs amies, de bon talan

son ab vos toz iorz en gatge,
cortez' e de bel semblan,
sol no'm demandes outratge;
tost en veirem a Passai,
qu'en vostra merce'm métrai:
vos m 'aves la fe plevida,
que no-m demandes faillida. (PC 43.1; Rieger 482: 33-40 )

(Handsome friend, with joyful heart

I pledge myself to you;
I am courtly and welcoming,
if only you do not demand anything unworthy of me;
soon we will come to the test,
when I shall put myself at your mercy:
you have promised me
that you will not ask me to transgress).

36
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

The request "no"m demandes" is repeated in the final line of the stanza,
a reminder to the beloved to keep faith, not to force her love, nor to bring
disgrace upon her by "outratge" and "faillida." Although Azalais has the
love of her "amie," she is not able to enjoy it with the same abandon as
Peire or Guilhem. In practical and in moral terms, a woman has more to
lose from sexual union than a man.14

The canso ofClara d'Anduza, "En greu esmay et en greu pessamen,"

is a lament on the physical and emotional limitations experienced by the
female lover, who is not empowered to dispose of her body and her heart
as she would wish. She speaks of the power of love, which she contrasts
with the power of her husband and his spies, who force her to live
separated from herself. Her song is defiant; she is determined to do
whatever she can to preserve her love and her bodily integrity. Her
solution is her song, her lament which she fills with her anger and
resentment and offers as a challenge to those who would keep her from
her desires. She curses the gossips and treacherous spies who keep the
lovers apart:

quar vos q'eu am mais que res qu'el mon sia

an fait de me departir e lonhar,
si q'ieu no'us puesc vezer ni remirar,
don muer de doi, d'ira e de feunia. (PC 115.1; Rieger 573: 5-8)

(For you whom I love more than anything in the world,

they have sent far away from me,
so that I may no longer see you,
and for this I die of grief, of anguish and of rage).
Clara's emotions progress from sorrow to bitter anger and resent-
ment; she rejects all power except the power of love that is outside the
control of those who oppress her. Her only solution would be to hide
herself away, the implication being that this is sadly impossible:

37
VERONICA FRASER

qu 'amore que'm te per vos en sa bailia

vol que mon cor vos estuy e vos gar,
e farai o; e s 'ieu pogues emblar
mon core, tais l'a que iamais non l'auria. (21-24)

(For love which holds me for you in its power

tells my heart to be yours to keep,
and this I will do; and if I could hide myself,
he who has power over my body
would never again possess me).

The husband is not openly named, but merely alluded to by means of the
imprecise designation "tais." Clara is unable to change her situation and
dispose of her heart and body as she would wish. All she can do is find
relief, like Castelloza, in her song, which she would prefer to fill with joy,
instead of grief:

Amicx, tan ai d'ira e de feunia

quar no vos vey, que quant yeu cug chantar,
planh e sospir, per qu'ieu non puesc so far
a mas coblas que'l core complir volria. (25-28)

(Friend, I am so filled with anger and resentment

at not seeing you that when I wish to sing,
I sigh and lament, because I cannot compose
the kind of verses that I would wish to create).

Clara feels herself to be hemmed in on all sides, but she refuses to be

silenced and her angry outcry is full of energy and defiance.
The women poets also complain of the suffering brought on them by
the pride and arrogance of their male lovers. A woman may suffer
emotionally from the arrogance and ill-treatment of her lover, and she
may also run the risk of losing her reputation through his boasting.
Humility and discretion are essential qualities in the lover; pride and

38
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

boasting can bring disaster. In an anonymous tenso between two women,

a "domna" and a "donzela," the older woman explains that a proud and
boastful man can damage a woman's reputation, her "pretz;" her lover
must be loyal, and above all, discreet:

qu'a me non tanh om fei ni ergulhos

per que mon pretz dechaja ni dissenda,
mas francs e fis, celans et amoros.
(PC 461.56; Rieger 175: 45-47)

(I do not want a man who is proud or ill-tempered,

who would bring me down and ruin my reputation,
but one who is generous and true, discreet and loving).

A woman must be cautious in love and choose her lover carefully.

The "domna" has rejected her lover because of his boasting and foolish
conduct. Unless he can become more reasonable and considerate, she
must shun him to protect herself:

Na donzela, be'm deu esser salvatge

quan el gaba ni"se vana de me;
tan a son cor fol e leu e volatge
que m'amistat en lunha re no's te. (9-12)

(Young Lady, I must indeed be harsh towards him

when he boasts and brags about me;
his heart is so foolish, flighty and fickle
that he cannot retain my friendship for long).

The "domna," who is older and more experienced in love, is warning

the "donzela" to be wary of such a lover. Those lovers who indulge in the
showy display of "gabar" (like Peire and Guilhem) are to be shunned.
The Comtessa de Dia, perhaps the best known of the trobairitz, also
complains ofthe pride ofher "amie" and the griefthis has brought on her.

39
VERONICA FRASER

The canso "A chantar m 'er de so q'ieu no volria," composed in the

second half of the twelfth century, is a firm rebuke at the lover's arrogant
and destructive behaviour. She warns him that he, too, will suffer for his
foolishness, since her own behaviour is above reproach. She implies that
she deserves much better treatment. In spite of her own merit as a lover
and as a poet, she is rejected by him. His pride and disdain have
destroyed their love: "mi faitz orguoill en ditz et en parvenssa" (In your
words and deeds you are haughty towards me). The theme ofpride recurs
throughout hersong, a constant reproach at the injustice ofhis behaviour,
which has no reasonable cause, since she has always behaved towards
him with love and loyalty. His proud heart is the cause of her grief:

Be'm meravill com vostre cors s'orguoilla

Amies, vas me, per qu'ai razón qu'ieu'm duoilla;
(PC 46.2; Rieger 593: 15-16 )

(I am really amazed how you harden your heart against

me, friend, and for this I am right to complain).

She continues to reproach him for his rough and arrogant behaviour,
insisting in the final stanza of the song that he explain himself, since
nothing in her own behaviour or her personal qualities would merit such
unwarranted pride:

e vuoili saber, lo mieus bels amies gens,

per que vos m'etz tant fers ni tant salvatges,
non sai si s 'es orguoills o mais talens. (33-35)

(I wish to know, my fine friend,

why you are so harsh and unkind towards me;
I do not know if it is pride or ill-will).

The song serves as messenger reminding him of their past love and
how it has been destroyed by his pride and ill-will. She lays the blame
squarely at his door and ends her song with a warning that he too may
suffer for his arrogance; pride comes before a fall:
40"
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

Mas aitan plus vuoili li digas, messatges,

qu'en trop d'orguoill ant gran dan maintas gens.
(36-37)

(But above all, messenger, I want you to tell him that

many people have suffered greatly from too much pride).

The Comtessa takes the tough and uncompromising stance of a

woman who knows her own worth and insists on better treatment. She
hopes that her lover will come to his senses and mend his ways, before
it is too late.

In relationships governed by 'amor,' the women poets have many

misgivings which are expressed in the canso, the lyric love-song of one
single subject, and also in the tenso, the debate poem between two or
more women, or between a man and a woman. A final example ofa debate
between three women, two young sisters and an older woman, deals not
so much with yin' amor but with the pros and cons of marriage and
maternity. The two sisters have misgivings about taking a husband,
particularly the practical, physical consequences of child-bearing. The
tone of the two stanzas in which they address the older woman is light-
hearted and down to earth, while the reply ofthe older woman, giving her
counsel and advice, is more serious and stately in tone. lo The first sister,
Alais, asks Carenza 's advice, whether she should marry or remain single:

penrai marit a nostra conoissenza?

o starai mi pulcela? e si m'agensa,
que far filhos no cug que sia bos;
essems maritz mi par trop angoissos.
(PC 12.1 = 108.1; Bogin 144: 5-8)16
(Shall I marry a man of our acquaintance
or shall I remain single? That pleases me,

41
VERONICA FRASER

for having children does not appeal to me,

and being married seems to me too unpleasant).

Alais clearly prefers the celibate life, while her sister Iselda finds
marriage appealing, but not maternity:

Na Carenza, penre marit m'agenza,

mas far enfantz cug qu'es gran penedenza,
que las tetinhas pendón aval jos
e'l ventrilhs es cargatz e enojos (9-12).

(Lady Carenza, I would like to take a husband,

but having children would be a great trial;
my breasts would hang down
and my belly would be heavy and uncomfortable).
She is particularly concerned with the physical deterioration connected
with child-birth and would rather preserve her youth and beauty. Lady
Carenza encourages both sisters to avoid marriage and put their talents
to better use by embracing a life of contemplation in the service of
knowledge and the spirit. Her reply is enigmatic and elusive, suggesting
to the two young women that these practical anxieties can be easily
avoided if they take for a husband "Coronat de Scienza:"
per qu'ie'us conseil per far bona semenza
penre marit Coronat de Scienza,
en cui faretz fruit de filh glorios. (17-20)

(for this reason I advise you that to produce good seed,

take as husband Crowned with Knowledge,
with whom you will bear the fruit of a glorious son).

Carenza may be suggesting a life of contemplation and study in a

convent, or simply a life devoted to intellectual pursuits, in which Alais
and Iselda may nurture and develop their mental and spiritual capacities

42
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

without the distractions and obligations of marriage and maternity. She

implies that since their youth, vigour and intelligence are far superior to
that ofother women, they should not waste themselves on matrimony, but
have higher goals in life.

In the songs of the women troubadours love is more often a cause of

sorrow than of joy, sorrow caused not only by the pride, boasting or
coldness of the 'amie,' but also by the social constraints placed on them
as females, unable to speak and act freely and openly. They find release
from their suffering in their love lament, in which they admonish and
rebuke the lover for his shortcomings, voicing their frustration at the
impediments preventing them from changingtheirsituation. The trobairitz
do not boast of their conquests or their dominion over men; neither do
they entertain their audience with exaggerated tales of sexual conquest.
Thegab is exclusively a male poetic genre, showing a preoccupation with
self, with the male's consciousness of his own performance, which he
shares with his male audience, inviting them to participate in his
exhibition and display. He evokes a response and a rebuke from the
trobairitz, unimpressed by his parade and more concerned with practical
realities. She warns and admonishes, reminding her courtly audience of
the consequences of so much pride and setting out the woman's view-
point, her reflection on the complexities of 'fin 'amor.'
Veronica Fraser
University of Windsor

NOTES

1 See the excellent study of the trobairitz by Angelica Rieger

Trobairitz: der Beitrag der Frau in der altokzitanischen höfischen Lyrik.
Other studies exclusively devoted to the women troubadours include:
Meg Bogin, The Women Troubadours and William Paden, ed. The Voice
ofthe Trobairitz.

43
VERONICA FRASER

2 See Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner, "Fictions ofthe Female Voice: The

Women Troubadours." Other studies on the trobairitz include: Marianne
Shapiro, "The Provençal 'Trobairitz' and the Limits of Courtly Love;",
Pierre Bee, "'Trobairitz' et chansons de femme. Contribution à la
connaissance du lyrisme féminin au moyen âge;"Jean-Charles Huchet,
"Les femmes troubadours ou la voix critique;" Kathryn Gradval, "Meta-
phor, Metonymy and the Medieval Women Trobairitz."

3 See Simon Gaunt, "Poetry of Exclusion: a Feminist Reading of

Some Troubadour Lyrics."

4 Quotations from Guilhem de Peitieu are taken from the work of

Jean-Charles Payen, Le Prince a" Aquitaine. The translations are my
own.

5 See Jean-Charles Huchet, L 'Amour discourtois, 80. "L'étalage de

la virilité, l'exhibition des prouesses sexuelles peuvent paraître
l'expression d'un machisme triomphant."

6 All the quotations of Peire Vidal are taken from the edition of
D'Arco Silvio Avalle, Peire Vidal, Poesie.

7 A. Rieger, Trobairitz 560.

8· A. Rieger, Trobairitz, 520. Quotations from the poems of the
trobairitz are taken from Rieger's edition, unless otherwise stated. All
translations are my own. For a detailed study of Castelloza, see William
Paden et al., "The Poems of the Trobairitz Na Castelloza."

9 A. Rieger, Trobairitz 539.

10Amelia van Vleck interprets the word "fenida" as meaning a
tornada, the final strophe of a poem, which Castelloza requests from her
'amie' in response to her pleas for love. This would indicate that her
'amie' is also a poet, perhaps the troubadour Peirol, who came from the

44
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

same region, the Auvergne, and according to Angelica Rieger may have
been part of the literary circle of Castelloza. His melancholy style
resembles that of Castelloza. See Rieger, Trobairitz 561-562 and Amelia
van Vleck, "'Tost me trobaretz fenida': Reciprocating Composition in
the Songs of Castelloza," 103-107.

" A. Rieger, Trobairitz 206-210.

12Carol Nappholz comes to the same conclusion on the caution

required by the domna when discussing her sexual desires. In her
analysis of a tenso between Pistoleta and an anonymous "bona domna,"
she states that for the "domna" "to expose her sexual desires too freely
would lay her open to censure" (Unsung Women: The Anonymous Female
Voice in Troubadour Poetry, 19).

13René Nelli discusses the "asag" in L'Erotique des Troubadours,

199-209. He considers it to be essentially a test imposed by the lady on
her lover.

14F. R. P. Akehurst has shown in his computer concordance that

words connoting trust and betrayal are frequent in the corpus of the
trobairitz. See "The Computer Takes up the Challenge: Thoughts on the
joc-partit," 235-241.

15For a discussion of the learned sources of Carenza's argument see

Peter Dronke, Women Writers ofthe Middle Ages, 102.

16Meg Bogin, The Women Troubadours. I have used Bogin's edition

of the women troubadours for this poem, which presents three ladies,
Alais, Iselda and Carenza, rather than Rieger, who interprets the
manuscript as reading one woman Alaisina Yselda. Two sisters are
mentioned in the first stanza, so I see no reason to combine the two names
Alais and Iselda into one: "Na Carenza al bel core avenenz/ donatz
conselh a nos doas serors." Translations are my own.

45
VERONICA FRASER

WORKS CITED

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the joc-partit." Studia Occitanica in memoriam Paul Rémy, ed.
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Bee, Pierre. "Trobairitz et chansons de femmes. Contribution à la

connaissance du lyrisme féminin au moyen âge." Cahiers de
civilisation médiévale 22 (1979): 235-262.

Bogin, Meg. The Women Troubadours. New York: Paddington Press,

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Bruckner, Matilda T. "Fictions of the Female Voice: The Women

Troubadours." Speculum 67 (1992): 865-891.

Dronke, Peter. Women Writers of the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cam-

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Gaunt, Simon. "Poetry of Exclusion: A Feminist Reading of Some

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Trobairitz." Romanic Review 83 (1992): 411-426.

Huchet, Jean-Charles. L'Amour discourtois. Toulouse: Privat, 1987.

--------. "Les femmes troubadours ou la voix critique." Littérature 51
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Nappholz, Carol. Unsung Women: The Anonymous Female Voice in

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Nelli, René. L'Erotique des Troubadours. Toulouse: Privat, 1963.

46
 TWO CONTRASTING VIEWS OF LOVE

Paden, William et al. "The Poems of the Trobairitz Na Castelloza."

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--------. ed. The Voice of the Trobairitz. Philadelphia: University of
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Payen, Jean-Charles. Le Prince d'Aquitaine. Paris: Champion, 1980.

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Rieger, Angelica, ed. Trobairitz: Der Beitrag der Frau in der

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van Vleck, Amelia. '"Tost me trobaretz fenida': Reciprocating Compo-

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47