Guilhem Anelier de Tolosa, "Ara farai, no·m puesc tener" (BdT 204.1)

Abstract

Following the publication of Richard E. F. Straub’s study in 1995, his suggestion of dating the four surviving sirventes by Guilhelm Anelier de Tolosa between 1270 and 1285 has generally been accepted; therefore his being identified as the same Guilhelm Anelier de Tolosa who, around 1280, wrote the "Song of the Navarrese War" has also been acknowledged. The present paper, accompanied by the critical edition of "Arai farai", proves the inconsistency of these dates of composition (unacceptable for a variety of historical, ideological and literary reasons) and discusses in particular the date of the sirventes in question, whose composition is to be placed between 1216 and 1222, most probably in the period going from May-June 1218 to June 1219. A central point of the argument consists in identifying the enfans mentioned in the composition with the future count of Toulouse Raymond VII.

Keywords

• Troubadours
• Old Occitan
• Interpretation