Lecturae Tropatorum (Dec 2009)
Granet ~ Bertran d’Alamano, “De vos mi rancur, compaire” (BdT 189.2 = 76.6)
Abstract
This paper will provide a new edition, with critical apparatus, commentary and translation, of the tenso between Granet and Bertran d’Alamano, “De vos mi rancur, compaire”. This text is only transmitted by chansonnier P and it is not only incomplete but also quite incorrect in parts: as far as this latter is concerned I will consider the suggestions by previous editors and, where necessary, put forward new solutions. The ‘tenso’ belongs to a well-attested typology in troubadour lyric: a debate between a jongleur and someone of a different social status (usually his lord and patron), but in this case the type has been altered in some quite interesting ways that hint at judicial contests and end up by overturning the viewpoint to reveal the true nature of the poem. This should not be read realistically, but as a ‘parlour game’, a ‘divertissement’ that is not necessarily linked to the biographies of the participants and whose aim is to amuse the group of ‘companhos’ who accompany Lord Bertran.
