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I. Henceforth I know no pretext behind which we can hide if we ever wish to serve God, since He seeks so much what is good for us that He has been willing to suffer harm to Himself. First of all He lost the Sepulchre, and now He lets Spain suffer losses, because there [in the Holy Land] we had an excuse, but here at least we fear neither sea nor wind. Alas, how can He summon us more forcefully other than by coming back to die for us again!
II. He made us a gift of Himself when He came to erase our crimes, and He made us thankful here for this when He gave Himself for our redemption. Therefore whoever wishes to die into eternal life should now give and offer his life for God, for He gave it and renounced it through His death, and a man also must die one way or another. He leads such a bad life if he has no fear of this! For we should realise that our life, which we covet so much, is bad and dying in that way is good.
III. Hear how wrong people are and what they may say! Each wants to preserve and cosset his body, which he cannot defend from death by spending his wealth, yet he has no fear for his soul which he can preserve from death and torment. Let each man ponder in his heart whether I tell the truth or not, and then he will feel greater desire to go; but let no brave man be put off by poverty: let him simply make a start, for God is merciful.
IV. At least he can have a good heart: with this he can equip himself, for God and our King of Aragon can do the rest. I do not believe He would fail any man who goes there with a valiant heart, so little do we see Him fail the others. He should certainly not perjure himself to God, for He will honour him if he serves Him honourably, so that this very year, if he so desires, he will be crowned by Him down here on earth or up in the heavens: one or other of these gifts [or two] will not fail to be his.
V. And may the King of Castile disregard foolish gossip and not turn aside because of losing; instead he should thank God who, by calling him to His service, shows him that He wishes to exalt Himself through him. But any exploit other than with God is futile: his good name will be worth a hundred times more if he welcomes God as his companion from now on; for all He desires is acknowledgment of His suzerainty. His [the King’s] reputation is highly honourable and enviable as long as he is not arrogant towards God.
VI. The grander the life and reputation one seeks from foolish people, the more easily he comes to grief. Let us therefore build on solid foundations, on the reputation that holds fast when the other kind is collapsing: all one’s reputation, joy and praise ought to lie in reflecting deeply on how much God has done for us.
VII. Fair Aziman, we see that God is waiting for you, for in this way He wishes to win you freely; I am delighted that He holds you in such esteem. So do not make Him change His good intention, but rather change yourself, since it is twice as good to humble oneself as to be forced to fall.
Text: Squillacioti 1999 (XVIII). – Rialto 6.iii.2014.
The song dates from after the defeat of the Castilian army under Alfonso VIII by the Almohad caliph of Morocco Abû-Jûsûf beneath the walls of Alarcos on 19 July 1195, and before the death of Anfós II of Aragon in April 1196, probably shortly after the battle of Alarcos (Squillacioti, Le poesie, p. 40). Compare BdT 174.10, composed at the same time in Occitania by the troubadour Gavaudan. – Lines 37-44: the king is Anfós II of Aragon (1164-1196). Guida, p. 382, observes that the faith the troubadour places in him was justified among other things by his committed efforts to bring peace between the Iberian rulers after the defeat at Alarcos, a necessary preliminary to any attempts at «reconquest». – Line 40: Lewent (review of Stroński, Literaturblatt für germanische und romanische Philologie, 23, 1912, coll. 327-337, on col. 336) thought l’altra gen referred to the Castilians. The sense appears to be that although these have been defeated, as Folquet will argue in the following stanza, this is not a case of God failing them, but rather one of His love and generosity, for He is offering them a fresh opportunity to advance His cause when their hearts – or the King’s heart – are purer. – Line 46: Alfonso VIII of Castile (1158-1214). Guida 1992, pp. 382-383: there may be a reflection here of the idea, current on both sides of the Pyrenees, that the disaster of Alarcos was divine punishment for the King of Castile’s sins: according to the chronicles of the time, after his marriage to Eleanor of England he had entered a seven-year relationship with a beautiful Jewess from Toledo, forgetting his duties as a spouse and sovereign. – Line 53: Squillacioti translates reconoissemen as ‘riconoscimento’, without comment. The sense of the Occitan is not entirely clear, but it seems to have feudal overtones: see PD ‘reconnaissance. t. féodal’ and reconoissensa ‘reconnaissance. t. féodal; don offert comme signe de reconaissance’. – Line 60: Squillacioti translates «il loro pregio, il loro gaudio e la lora lode», reporting in the note to his 1999 edition that Stroński translated «leur» without specifying to whom these refer, that Jean-Jacques Salverda de Grave (review of Stroński, Annales du Midi, 23, 1911, pp. 498-504, on pp. 503-504), thought they referred to om in 56, and Schultz-Gora, p. 153 thought they could only refer to the King of Castile. It seems to me that Salverda de Grave is right grammatically, but that by innuendo Alfonso VIII is implied. – Lines 62-63: Bels Azimans (‘Fair Diamond’ or ‘Magnet’) is a senhal or pseudonym for Bertran de Born. Lewent (col. 336) thought the sense was that God was expecting Bels Aizimens to go on crusade. Squillacioti (Le poesie, p. 379) admits this as a possibility, though points out that it conflicts with Stroński’s hypothesis that Folquet is exhorting him to enter a monastery, as he is planning to do himself (see Le poesie, p. 90, § 3.2.1.1.3).