Dating and historical circumstances:
Napolski (1879, p. 21) asserts that this work was composed at some point between 1170 and 1180 and that the king of Aragon in the sixth stanza is Alfonso II. However, this dating has been largely discredited by later scholars. Lewent dates the lyric to 1213 and believes that the king and the emperor referred to in line 22 represent Otto IV and Frederick II respectively (Kurt Lewent, «Das altprovenzalische Kreuzlied», Romanische Forschungen, 21, 1905, pp. 321-448, on pp. 351-352). Lewent rejects Pons’s dating of the lyric to the time of the Third Crusade, arguing that at this time the emperor was not at war with any king. The later dating is also supported by De Bartholomaeis (Vincenzo De Bartholomaeis, «Osservazioni sulle poesie provenzali relative a Federico II», Memorie della R. Accademia delle Scienze dell’Istituto di Bologna, classe di scienze morali, sezione Storica-Filosofica, 6, 1911-1912, pp. 97-124, on pp. 99-100) and Riquer (1975, p. 1267). If Lewent’s suggestion is correct, the king of Aragon must then refer to Peter II who would die at the battle of Muret in early September that same year.