Bertran de Born

Bertran de Born
Bertran as a knight, from a 13th-century chansonnier
Born	1140s Limousin
Died	1202-1215 Dalon
Nationality	French
Occupation	Baron
Known for	One of the major Occitan troubadours of the twelfth century.

Bertran de Born(Occitan:[beɾˈtɾandeˈbɔɾn];1140s – by 1215) was abaronfrom theLimousininFrance,and one of the majorOccitantroubadoursof the 12th-13th century. He composed love songs (cansos) but was better known for his political songs (sirventes). He was involved in revolts againstRichard Iand thenPhillip II.He married twice and had five children. In his final years, he became a monk.

Early life

Bertran de Born was the eldest son of Bertran de Born, lord ofHautefort(Occitan:Autafòrt), and his wife Ermengardis. He had two younger brothers, Constantine and Itier. His father died in 1178, and Bertran succeeded him as lord of Hautefort. By this time, he was already married to his first wife, Raimonda, and had two sons.

Hautefort lies at the border between theLimousinandPérigord.As a result, Bertran became involved in the conflicts of the sons ofHenry II Plantagenet.He was also fighting for control of Hautefort.

According to thefeudalcustom of his region, he was not the only lord of Hautefort, but held it jointly with his brothers. Other cases of co-seigneuries were known among the troubadours, the most famous being that of the "four troubadours ofUssel",three brothers and a cousin, and that ofRaimon de Miravaland his brothers. Bertran's struggle, especially with his brother Constantine, is at the heart of his poetry, which is dominated by political topics.

Career

Bertran jousting, from a 13th-century manuscript

His first datable work is asirventes(political or satirical song) of 1181, but it is clear from this he already had a reputation as a poet. In 1182, he was present at his overlordHenry II of England's court atArgentan.That same year, he had joined inHenry the Young King's revolt against his younger brother,Richard,Count ofPoitouand Duke ofAquitaine.He wrote songs encouragingAimar V of Limogesand others to rebel, and took the oath against Richard atLimoges.His brother Constantine took the opposing side, and Bertran drove him out of the castle in July.

Henry the Young King, whom Bertran had praised and criticised in his poems, died on campaign in June 1183 inMartel.Bertran wrote aplanh(lament), in his memory,Mon chan fenisc ab dol et ab maltraire.(Anotherplanhfor Henry,Si tuit li dol e.l plor e.l marrimen,formerly attributed to Bertran, is now thought to be the work ofRigaut de Berbezill). In his punitive campaign against the rebels, Richard, aided byAlfonso II of Aragon,besieged Hautefort and gave it to Constantine de Born. Henry II, however, is reported to have been moved by Bertran's lament for his son, and returned the castle to the poet. Constantine seems to have become amercenary.

Bertran was reconciled also with Richard, whom he supported in turn againstPhilip II of France.At various times, he sought to exploit the dissensions among theAngevinsin order to keep his independence. He gave themsenhals(nicknames): Henry the Young King wasMariniers(Sailor),Geoffrey of BrittanywasRassa,and Richard,Oc-e-Non(Yes-and-No). He commemorated Geoffrey's death in theplanh,A totz dic que ja mais non voil.He had contact with a number of other troubadours and also with the Northern Frenchtrouvère,Conon de Béthune,whom he addressed asMon Ysombart.

Although he composed a fewcansos(love songs), Bertran de Born was predominantly a master of thesirventes.Be.m platz lo gais temps de pascor,which revels in warfare, was translated byEzra Pound:

...We shall see battle axes and swords, a-battering colored haumes and a-hacking through shields at entering melee; and many vassals smiting together, whence there run free the horses of the dead and wrecked. And when each man of prowess shall be come into the fray he thinks no more of (merely) breaking heads and arms, for a dead man is worth more than one taken alive.

I tell you that I find no such savor in eating butter and sleeping, as when I hear cried "On them!" and from both sides hear horses neighing through their head-guards, and hear shouted "To aid! To aid!" and see the dead with lance truncheons, the pennants still on them, piercing their sides.

Barons! put in pawn castles, and towns, and cities before anyone makes war on us.

Papiol, be glad to go speedily to "Yea and Nay", and tell him there's too much peace about.

When Richard (by then King) and Philip delayed setting out on theThird Crusade,he chided them in songs praising the heroic defence ofTyrebyConrad of Montferrat(Folheta, vos mi prejatz que eu chanandAra sai eu de pretz quals l'a plus gran). When Richard was released from captivity after being suspected of Conrad's murder, Bertran welcomed his return withAr ven la coindeta sazos.Ironically, one of Bertran's sources of income was from the market ofChâlus-Cabrol,where Richard was fatally wounded in 1199.

Later years and death

Widowed for the second time c. 1196, Bertran became a monk and entered theCistercianabbey of DalonatSainte-Triein the Dordogne region. He had made numerous grants to the abbey over the years. His last datable song was written in 1198. He ceases to appear in charters after 1202, and was certainly dead by 1215, when there is a record of a payment for a candle for his tomb.

Works

His œuvre consists of about 47 works, 36 unambiguously attributed to him in the manuscripts, and 11 uncertain attributions. Several melodies survive, and some of his songs have been recorded bySequentia,Gérard zucchettoand hisTroubadours Art Ensemble,and theMartin Best Mediæval Ensemble,who released an album of songs by "Dante Troubadours".

NSBMband М8Л8ТХ,in collaboration with Famine (K.P.N),released the 2015 EP "Coup de Grâce" (Russian: Удар Милосердия) in his honor.

Family

Bertran de Born married twice. By his first wife, Raimonda, he had two sons (both knighted in 1192) and a daughter:

• Bertran,also a troubadour, still living in 1223.
• Itier, who died in 1237.
• Aimelina, who married Seguin de Lastours.

By his second wife, Philippa, he had two more sons:

• Constantine, who became a monk atDalonwith his father.
• Bertran the Younger, who was still living in 1252.

Later literary image

Doré's illustration of Bertran in Hell, from Dante'sL'Inferno

According to his latervida(a romanticised short biography attached to his songs),Henry IIbelieved Bertran had fomented therebellionof his sonHenry the Young King.As a result,Dante Alighieriportrayed him in theInfernoas a sower of schism, punished in the ninth bolgia of theeighth circle of Hell(Canto XXVIII),carrying his severed headlike a lantern.Gustave Dorédepicts this in his illustrations to theDivine Comedy.

Dante's depiction of him influenced later literary works. In her epic poemCœur de Lion(1822),Eleanor Anne Pordenportrays him fomenting discord in the Third Crusade and, because of his remorse over his involvement with Richard's imprisonment, becoming a hermit. He also figures as a minor character inMaurice Hewlett's novelThe Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay(1900), depicted unflatteringly. He is described as "a man of hot blood, fumes and rages", with "a grudging spirit". One character dismisses him thus: "Great poet he was, great thief, and a silly fool."

His memory was better served byEzra Pound,who translated some of his songs and also based several original poems around him and his works, notablyNa Audiart(1908),Sestina: Altaforte(1909), andNear Périgord(1915). There are also allusions to him in some of theCantos.Via the influence of Pound'sNa Audiart,he is also mentioned inSorley MacLean's poem,A' Bhuaile Ghreine(The Sunny Fold).

He was the subject of a 1936 playBertran de BornbyJean Valmy-Baisse,to whichDarius Milhaudwroteincidental music.He later reworked the music into hisSuite provençale.

Paul Austermentions De Born in his novelInvisible(2009), where the main character meets a Frenchman named Born, and corrects a translation of one of Bertran's war poems. This appeared before as a translation by Paul Auster, inThe Nation.

References

• Maurice Hewlett,The Life & Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay(London, 1900) (external link toProject Gutenbergtext).
• Dante Alighieri,The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Inferno,trans. Allen Mandelbaum, (Bantam Classics 1982)ISBN0-553-21339-3.
• Gérard Gouiran (ed. and trans.),L’Amour et la Guerre: L’Oeuvre de Bertran de Born,2 vols. (Aix en Provence & Marseille, 1985).
• William D. Padden, Jr., Tilde Sankovitch & Patricia H. Stäblein (ed. and transl.),The Poems of the Troubadour Bertran de Born(Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, 1986).
• Robert Kehew (ed.)Lark in the Morning: The Verses of the Troubadours; translated by Ezra Pound, W D Snodgrass & Robert Kehew(Chicago, 2005)ISBN0-226-42933-4.
• Ezra Pound,Poems & Translations(New York, 2003).
• This article includes material from theDictionnaire universel d'histoire et de géographie Bouillet/Chassang.
• Thomas B. Costain, "The Conquering Family", Doubleday & Co. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-20488, pp. 121–124.

External links

• English translation of Bertran de Born's Bel m'es quan vei- translated by Jon Corelis
• Complete works
• Works, translated by James H. DonalsonArchived2007-09-28 at theWayback Machine