XXI - Bel m’es quari la fueill’ alfana

Summary

2 MSS: C (171^r-v) Marcabru (C Reg. Marc e bru), E (152-153) marcabru

Analysis of the manuscripts

Of the two MSS, E appears to be less careful than C, containing lines which are hypometric (1 and 19) and hypermetric (30 and 43); an Irregular rhyme (3: -aia for -ana); repeated rhyme words (16 and 18); several apparent inconsistencies in the case-inflections (3, 23 and 38: compare, however, C lines 3 and 7) and a couple of passages whose Interpretation is far from clear (see the notes to lines 35–36, 38 and 41). On the other hand, E transmits a stanza not found in C; it preserves a metrically correct reading on a couple of occasions when C is obviously faulty (hypometric: line 11 and hypermetric: line 44); and offers for line 41 a different reading altogether, which may point to a lectio diffidlior.

These divergences and the common errors in 1 (fana), 2, 5 (frims) and 23 could indicate an unclear archetype of an obscure text, which C tidied up and which E reproduced more or less faithfully. Dejeanne thought that the additional stanza in E was a later interpolation. We see no compelling reason to doubt Its authenticity: E is alone in preserving several stanzas of other poems (for example IX, 28–36; XLIV stanzas VIII–X) and unica (VII and XXVI) and, while E requires more corrections, these are generally of a trivial nature.

Versification

Frank, Répertoire, 223.5: a7’ b5’ a7’’ b5’ a7’ b5’. Frank folows Dejeanne’s edition, listing seven coblas unissonans and one interpolated stanza in E. Our edition, based on E, contains eight stanzas and features three instances of irregular rhyme (see the note to line 14).

Previous scholarship

Appel, ‘Zu Marcabru’, p, 412; Cocco, Lauzengier, pp. 37–38; Errante, Marcabruf pp. 185, 238, 254; Franz, Marcabru, pp. 15-16; Harvey, ‘Lavador’ pp. 131-34; Hölzle, Kreuzzüge, II, p. 961; Lewent, ‘Kreuzlied’, p. 325; Lewent, ‘Beiträge’, pp. 427–28; Perugi, Saggi, pp. 57–58; Ransom, ‘Rana loquax’, pp. 73, 78; Spanke, Marcabrusludien, pp. 17, 105-6; Speroni, ‘Question!’, pp. 320–22; Storost, Ursprung, p. 87; Topsfteld, Troubadours, pp. 78-79; Vossler, ‘Marcabru’, pp. 26-28.

Scholars refer to this poem in the context either of Marcabru’s conception of harmony in the natural world, or of his use of personification, or stanza VII is evoked in connection with Ms crusade songs.