trobaire.org

a collection of literature from poets, bards, songwriters, and skalds in the SCA

Sirventes

byram's picture
byram
Poem (Canso): 

Hear now the might of our good duke;
Great castles he has battered down,
And traitors duly has rebuked,
and fired their rebellious towns;
in flames his vengeance he has took.

Ask Count Raymond, that thief so foul,
Who captured knights of old Henri;
Those pilgrims held against the vow
That christian prince holds to the See,
And that our duke could not allow.

At Taillebourge that fortresses strong
He stormed the gates by valor won
The pride of traitorous de Rancon.
In just three days it was undone.
The spoils when to the conquering son.

In battle, siege, or in tourney
His harness glitters on the field.
What joy it gives the heart to see
The lion painted on his shield
As all before him turn and flee.

No other knight may boast such fame,
Nor wear the ring of Valerie;
No grander line, no greater name,
No bolder feats of bravery
Than Richard, Duke of Aquitaine.

God grant good fortune unto him,
And to the one who sings this song;
His love and favor keep him in;
His reign be bright, his life be long,
And keep him from the ways of sin

Documentation / Explanation (Razo): 

Sireventes (ANC. Fr. - "the servant") were one form of Troubadour poetry that served as commentary on current events and could praise the subject or sarcastically rebuke him.

This sirventes would have been written by my persona shortly after coming into Richard's service. It details not only the "rough rider" style of government required of a powerful feudal overlord of the 12c, but tells a specific story as well.

Before Richard Couer-de-Lion was King of England, he was Duke of Aquitaine, that rebellious and vast land that he inherited from his mother, Eleanor. After one of the many rebellions that Richard fought against his father, Henry I, Richard was (as a requirement of reconciliation) sent by Henry to crush the very vassals that he had led against his father. This cunning tactic of Henrys would haunt his son for the rest of his life, and indeed, cost Richard his life many years later, while still trying to subdue one of those rebellous rebel vassals, the Viscount de Limoges, outisd of the castle of Chalus-Charbrol.

Count Raymond of Toulouse was one of the many nobles who can to feud with the Angevins, and the capture of two of Henry's household on the way back from the shrine of St. James gave Richard the ability to wage a successful campaign, under the guise of defending the Truce of God. (The Angevin house actually claimed to be overlord of Toulouse, and this battle was only one in a long standing dispute.)

Richard was famous in his day for the successful sieges that he conducted (an important trait to find in a Duke of Aquitaine) and none was more famous than his taking of Taillebourge, the "impenetrable" castle of Geoffry de Rancon.

I have included a bit of Anvegin trivia in the song, with the mention of St. Valerie's ring, the ancient symbol of ducal power, and indeed the ties between the duke and his people, and the people and thier saint.

Finally, I have chosen to end the song with a often employed device in a sirventes, the duel praise of the overlord, combined with the appeal for succor from his man, the troubadour.