Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (?), “Altas undas que venez suz la mar” (BdT 392.5a)

Abstract

The article proposes a new authorship for Altas undas que venez suz la mar, a poem attributed by ms. Sg to Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. This authorship has long been debated by scholars. Altas undas is almost without a doubt a specimen of cantiga de amigo, a Galician-Portuguese lyric genre which flourished in the 13th century, slightly after Raimbaut’s death. This leads to some crucial problems. Is Raimbaut the inventor of this genre? Did he imitate a Galician-Portuguese model? If so, did Galician-Portuguese lyric begin earlier than is generally acknowledged? Did Raimbaut draw inspiration from another extravagant lyric genre, the French chanson de toile, to compose Altas undas? The critical history of the poem is summarized by Tavani, who concludes that Altas undas may be attributed to Cerveri de Girona, a 13th century Catalan troubadour.

Keywords

• Raimbaut de Vaqueiras
• Troubadours
• Old Occitan
• Textual criticism
• Interpretation