Jordan Bonel, sometimes also de Confolens[1] (fl. late 12th century), was a troubadour from western Aquitaine about whom very little is definitively known except that he was associated with the court of Alfonso II of Aragon.[2] His vida states that he was from Saintonge and he appears to have been contemporary with Bertran de Born.[3] His surviving corpus probably consists of three cansos, wherein only one is attributed to him, though its melody survives:[3]
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- S'ira d'amor tengués amic gaudent,
- non fora cel que mièlhs amès de me;
- car pena e dòl e dams e marriment
- ai sofertat longament; e'l conven
- qu'ieu aja'l mal e ma domna lo ben.
- E pos aissí li plai amb me de vire,
- qu'ar sap e crei que non l'ausi redire,
- vuèlh tot sofrir s'ela'l vòl et Amors:
- gardatz s'ieu sui dels fenhents amadors![4]
The melody has similar to those of Arnaut de Maruelh, but is rather conservative when compared with his more illustrious contemporaries.[2] It is in AAB form with musical rhymes at the cadences.[2]
One of Jordan's cansos is said to refer to the Holy Land by Linda Paterson, though neither she nor Kurt Lewent classifies it as a "crusading song".[5] The poem actually refers to Edessa as representing the far reaches of the earth. The same song celebrates Guiborc de Montausier, the "viscountess" of Chalais (Chales or Chaletz):
- A Chales vai, chansos, a midons dire,
- A Na Guiborc cui beutatz saup eslire
- E pretz e jois e largues' e valors,
- Qe a leis mi clam de sos mals noiridors.[6]
References
edit- Aubrey, Elizabeth. The Music of the Troubadours. Indiana University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-253-21389-4.
- Kastner, L. E. "Notes on the Poems of Bertran de Born." The Modern Language Review, Vol. 27, No. 4. (Oct., 1932), pp. 398–419.
- Paterson, Linda M. "Occitan Literature and the Holy Land." The World of Eleanor of Aquitaine: Literature and Society in Southern France between the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, edd. Marcus Bull and Catherine Léglu. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2005. ISBN 1-84383-114-7.
Notes
edit- ^ Also spelled "Confolent" or "Cofolen". There is some confusion regarding the identification of Jordan (de) Bonel (modern Occitan Bonèl) and Jordan de Confolens. Alfred Jeanroy rejected the identification.
- ^ a b c Aubrey, 222.
- ^ a b Aubrey, 10. His vida is less than completely reliable because it suffers some of the serious errors found in a razo for one of Bertran de Born's works.
- ^ Jordan Bonel de Confolent
- ^ Paterson, appendix I, 97.
- ^ Kastner, 410.