The Troubadours and the Assassins Author(s): Frank M. Chambers Source: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 64, No.

4 (Apr., 1949), pp. 245-251 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2909564 Accessed: 08/06/2010 12:19
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MELVILLE'S

THIRD WHALER

245

The Charlesand Henry came to anchorat Lahaina on April 27, 1843, with 500 barrels of sperm oil aboard.18 JohinWallace, a on May 3,19 and sinceonly was discharged sickmember of the crew, one certificate was issuedto Captain Colemanduringthisrecruiting to assumethat it was an inclusiveone and period,20 it is reasonable contained the names of JosephWhiting and Herman Melville.21
WILSON United States ANavalAcademy

L.

HEFLIN

THE

TROUBADOURS

AND THE ASSASSINS

and his Assassinsappear as ornaThe Old Man of the Moountain this colorful, mentsin at least fiveProvencalpoems. Evidently, on cult had made a considerable impression alreadyhalf-legendary the troubadours. Evidently,also, their public could understand fornoneis given. The uses these explanation, the allusionswithout 1 and his followers poets made of the romantic Sheikh-el-Jebel them with love of connecting practicallyexhaustthe possibilities and lovers. is in thepoemPos descobrir One ofthe mostexplicitcomparisons of Aimericde Peguilhan. The authorsays to his Lady: ni retraire "You have me more fullyin your powerthan the Old Man his Assassins,who go to kill his mortal enemies,even if they were beyondFrance":
Car mieills rn'avetz ses doptanssa, Qe 1 Vieills I'Asasina gen,
18 " Consular Returns, Lahaina, January 1-July 1, 1843," in Consular Letters, Department of State, Honolulu, Volume I. The Charles and Henry evidently reached the roadstead of Lahaina on April 26, 1843. (See Nantucket Inquirer of October 2, 1843.) of Cases of Relief Afforded to destitute American sea"19 "Statement man .. . . , Lahaina," in Consular Letters, Department of State, Honolulu, Volume I. . . . , in Consular 20 " Consular Statement of Fees Received at Lahaina Letters, Department of State, Honolulu, Volume I. 21 The background and facts of the 1840-1845 voyage of the Charles and Henry are subjects of a more extended study by the present writer. I For a recent account of them, and numerous references,see Charles E. Nowell, " The Old Man of the Mountain," in Speculum, XXII, 497-519.

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Qu'il vant, neis s'eron part Franssa, Tant li son obedien, Aucir sos gerriers mortals.2

The Lady here is the Old Mlan; the poet is the Assassin,who will with comhis Lady commands. This blind obedience do whatever characteristic was a distinguishing forconsequences plete disregard of the sect. Making a very similar application of the theme,Bernart de Bondeilhs declares: "Just as the Assassins serve their master loyalty": so I have servedLove withunswerving unfailingly,
Tot aissi-m pren con fai als assesis, Qe fan tot so qe lurs senhors lur di, Qe no n pensan failhir ser ni mati, Tant lo crezon e tant l1'es chascus fis; E le seinhers, qar conois certamen Qe chascus fai de grat son mandamen, PFaIs comensar tal re, segon q'aug dir, Don prendon mort, ans q'o puescan complir. Tot eissamen hai ieu estat aclis E fins e francs vas amor, so us afi..3

Here Love, not the Lady, is the Old Mlanwhomthe poet servesas an Assassin. It should be noted also that there is no specific mightbe difficult reference to murder;the Old Man's assignments tasks of manykinds. of the Assassin's duties, conception Withthe same unspecialized or domnejaire an anonymous poetsaysto his Lady in thelove letter
2 Poem 10, 42 according to the numberingof Pillet-Carstens, Bibliographie der Troubadours, Halle, 1933, p. 14. These are lines 28-32. Neither this nor the other poem of Aimeric which we shall have occasion to cite has appeared in a critical edition, though Mr. W. P. Shepard and I have been working for some time on a complete edition of Aimeric. The text given here for both poems is that of A (Pillet-Carstens, p. x), as it appears in the diplomatic edition of Pakscher and De Lollis, in Studj di filologia romanza, III, nos. 391 and 397 respectively. It would probably be preferable here to read s'era for s'eron in line 30, although the majority of the MSS have the plural form; in any case, the basic idea of the comparison is not affected. 3Pillet-Carstens, 59, 1; edited by Appel in Provenzalische Inedita aus Pariser Handschriften, Leipzig, 1892 (Altfranzosische Bibliothek, xviii), pp. 22-24.

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beginning Bona dompna,pros ez onrada: 4 " I am yourAssassin, who hopes to win Paradise throughdoing your commands":
Lo vostre verais ancessis, Que cre conquestar paradis Per far toz vostres mandamens

Here we have an implied explanationof the unfailingobedience of the Assassinsto the Old Man of the Mountain: theirbeliefthat intoHeaven. Such a motivathisobedience guaranteed theirentry tion the contemporaries of the crusadesand the chansonsde geste could easily understand. Of the threeexamplescited so far,two make no mentionat all of murderas a function oL the Assassins. The third (that from as theirchiefduty; Aimericde Peguilhan) doesindeedgivemurder but the detailedallusionmakesit veryclear that the word" Assassin " was not for Aimerica commonnoun meaning"murderer." It could hardlyhave been only that for an audience of the late when the Old Man was still century, twelfth or early thirteenth powerful(there were, of course, several "Old Men"), and his feared. The wordinevitably followers werewell knownand greatly this sect, and its applicationto any reference to had a veryspecific otherkiller constituted a recognizable figureof speech. Later, to be sure, the transitionto a generic term was made in several languages,and a verb coined, and so on; but only later, and as a result of this early figurative use. I insist on this point here because in the two examplesthat remain to be cited the reader, if unforewarned, might make the mistakeof assumingthat the then as it is now. wordwas as colorless The firstexample is anotherfromAimeric de Peguilhan. We himself to an Assassinand his Lady havealreadyseenhim compare to the Old Man of the Mountain. Here, he likenshis heartto an Assassin,since it kills him forhis Lady's sake:
Mas faich avetz ansessi Mon cor que per vos m'auci.5

Knowingas we do that the poet must have had the sect in mind
4Edited by Suchier in Denkmdler provenzalischer Literatur und Sprache, Halle, 1883, I, 311 ff.; lines 9-11. Pillet-Carstens, no. 10, 24 (Eissamen cum l'azimans) ; these are lines 13-14. For the text followed, see note 2.

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when he wrotethese lines, we are justifiedin taking per vos to who meanthatherealso the Lady is the Old Man of the Mountain, sends the Assassin. And, finally,we have this from Giraut de Bornelh: "My Lady's love (i. e., mylove forher) is an Assassin,whichkills me":
Ren als no-lIhsai comtar Mas que s'amorsm'auci. Ai, plus mal assesi Noca-m saup envirar.6

"; but I have already The editor, Kolsen,translates assesi " M6rder expressedmy doubtthat the word could have becomeso colorless the linesto meanthat in Giraut'sday. We must,I think, interpret the Lady is the Old Man, and love is the Assassinwhomshe sends M6rder against the poet. Kolsen: " Ach, einen schlimmeren koiinte ich mirgar nichtausersehen." This seemsto missthepoint completely;my own feelingis that we should read enviar (the readingof nearlyall the MSS) forenvirar, and in any case understand the subject of saup to be " she," not " I." For, takingthis as a reference to the Old Man and his Assassins (and I thinkwe musttake it so), I findit unlikely thatthe poet wouldcall himself " " " the Old Man who selects or sends" an Assassin (love) against himself. In citingtheseexamples, a chronological I havenottriedto follow ones order; becauseit seemedadvisableto put the mostconvincing first, and also because the dates of the poemscannotbe fixedwith to date them as any certainty. It would be desirable,however, accuratelyas we can. Here are the known facts: Aimeric de between1195 and 1230,7 Giraut Peguilhan seemsto have written de Bornelhbetween1165 and 1200.8 Kolsen 9 dates the poem we quote " vielleicht 1169." Bernartde Bondeilhshas not been dated, thoughin this,his one preserved poem,he refersto a Marquis of him, Otto del Carret, who is probably,as the editor identifies
6 Kolsen, Sdmtliche Lieder des Trobadors Giraut de Bornelh, Halle, 19101935, I, 306 (no. 48, lines 73-76). The reading and translation are not with the rest. sure for the word envirar, but there is no difficulty 7 See Jeanroy,Poesie lyrique des troubadours, Paris, 1934, I, 331. 8 Jeanroy, op. cit., I, 384. "In his edition, Ii, 285, with a referenceto his Giraut de Borntelh,der Meister der Trobadors, Berlin, 1894, p. 61.

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of troubadours. This by a number Carret (1180-1230), celebrated of Aimeric. The editorof the wouldmakeBernarta contemporary that it maybe the workof Aimeric anonymous love lettersuggests on this comis based chiefly de Peguilhan. But his hypothesis parisonof the poet and his lady to an Assassinand the Old Man of theMountain; so it is farfroin conclusive. Still, we shall probably not be far wrong in assuming that both these undated poems as their century, belong to the late twelfthor early thirteentlh language and stylehave nothingto implyeithera verylate or a later very early date. Even Giraut's poem may be considerably than Kolsen puts it (he says "vielleicht"); nothingin the poem siniceall the datable itselfseems to make a later date impossible, persons referred to in it were alive at the end of the century 1169-1234; "Sobre-totz" or Raimon Bernart (Dalfin d'Alvernha, de Rovinhan,alive in 1197; it is not knownwhen Eble de Saigna to to him) according died, if indeed the Eblon of the poem refers not imKolsen's own listingsin the Eigennamen. It is therefore withina comparatively possiblethat all these poems were written shortspace of time. Wheredid the poetsget theirknowledge of the Assassinsand the fromreturning in theni? Oral reports Old MTan, and theirinterest crusadersare a possiblesource. And the Latin historiansof the day (e. g., Williamof Tyre) give variousdetailsabout the sect; so as revisedby Graindorde Douai at does the Chanson d'Antioche, of Tyre the end of the twelfth centurv. The historyof Wiilliam was translated into French (as the Esloire d'Eracles) around 1200, and becameverypopular in that form. All these,then,are possiblesources. But there is another,which seems to me even more likely. therewas in France quite Toward the end of the twelfth century, let a commotion about the Assassins. In 1192, Philip Auigustus it be knownthat he suspectedRichard the Lion-Heart of having inducedthe Old Man of the Mountainto sendsomeoftheAssassins him (Philip), and he to France for the purpose of murdering by severalhistorguard. This is recorded redoubled his persolnal tickledthe popularfancy. One thingthat and undoubtedly ians,10 it withtheseProvengal makesme connect poemsis the phraseused
10 See, for example, the Oeuvres de Rigord et de Guillaume le Breton, edited by Delaborde, Paris, 1882-85; I, 120-121, 195.

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by Aimeric de Peguilhan: "his Assassins,who go even beyond France to kill his enemies." This is at least an indicationthat Europe, of Assassinsin western therehad beentalk of the presence to this rumor. The love letterand the poemof and may well refer Bernartde Bondeilhs,as we have seen,may or may not have been written at the same timeas Aimeric'ssongs; and we have seen that then also. My have been written poem could conceivably G-iraut's own feeling, whichis of courseonlya guess,is that all fivepoems after 1200, when the scare beforeor shortly shortly were written in the minds overthe Assassinssentto kill the King was still fresh of the populace.11 in Frenchto the Assastwo references I have alreadymentioned of a historicalnature. The examples given by sins, in wrorks in their dictionariesof Old and Tobler-Lommatzsch G-odefroy French (and I have foundno others) seem to be no earlierthan and are forthe mostpart factualreferences century, the thirteenth or colorlessuses of the word assassin (in the later texts) as an equivalentfor " murderer." The one case wherea poet has used the powerof the Lady over of the sect to illustrate the fanaticism the loveris the following:
Ma dame cui je n'o nomeir, Mon cuer aveis, no-u puix celler; Belle plaixans et coie, Por vos sui je jolis; Partir ne m'an poroie: Vostre hons suix essescis.12

" I am yourAssassinliege-man." The last line could be translated that he is as faithful to the The poet wishesto imply,I presume, lady as the Assassinsto the Old Man of the Mountain. I do not written know that this poem can be dated, but it was evidently under Provengalinfluence.
1" The two poems of Aimeric can be dated before 1212, since they are addressed to Spanish rulers, and in 1212 Aimeric was in Italy, never, as far as we know, to return to Spain. We derive this date from the fact that Aimeric composed two planhs for Azzo VI of Este, who died in 1212. 12 From the Oxford chansonnier (MS Douce 308), fol. 228b; published in Herrig's Archiv, vol.. 99, p. 352, no. 48. I have quoted the complete stanza, and nothing that precedes or follows amplifies the allusion. The punctuation and the interpretation that it implies are mine, as only a bare diplomatic text is given in the Archiv. I take n'o to mean " I do not dare."

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I do not know if the simile occursin otherliteratures;I have to else. And, indeed,I shouldbe surprised not foundit anywhere findit exceptpossiblyin a poem imitatedfromthe troubadours. cult of the Lady that the extravagant admirably for it illustrates withthem.13 began and came to fullestflowering
FRANK M. CHAMBERS

University NorthLwestern

RABELAIS AND THE GREEK DANCES Although nearly every phase of Rabelais' rich eruditionhas of musical ideas in explored,the investigation been thoroughly untouched. The Gargantuaand Pantagruel is a fieldpractically othersare more are ideas obvious; such fairly sources of many the list of Greekdances is latter the Among to explain. difficult the by Queen and her Essence at the court of Quint performed attendants:
revoquans F'antiquitUen usage, ils jouerent ensemble aux Calabrisine, Cordace, Mfolossicque, Emmelie, Cernophore, Sicinnie, Mlongas, lambicque, Thermanstrie, Persique, Florale, Phrygie, Pyrrhicque, Nicatisme, Et mille autres danses.1 Thracie,

What promptedRabelais-and we assume that he was largely Boo/c-to cite these particulardances in for the Fifthl responsible this particularorder? the moreone comesto The moreone studiesRabelais' writings, which so delightedthe jovial believe that the long enumerations accordbut wereorganized medecinwerenevera haphazardmatter ing to some plan, the logic of which was perhaps owing to the task,then, plan of an earlier" authority." It has been a rewarding
13 I am grateful to Professor Grace Frank for valuable suggestions in connection with this article. The author preselntedthe substance of this paper at a meeting of the Modern Language Association of America, December, 1948. LLe Cinquiesme Livre, ed. Jean Plattard (Paris, 1929), p. 72.