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be Duke of Friesland, where I should always have to listen to the barking of these tiresome people.' These terms applied to the language of Wolfram von Eschenbach and Walter von der Vogelweide must of course be taken cum grano salis, and are certainly more characteristic of the critic than of those criticised by im.

In the Crusades, Peire Vidal took the deepest interest. We have already seen that he himself went to Palestine, but he worked for the cause by his songs more usefully than by his actual presence. I cannot refrain from quoting a few stanzas of one of his sirventeses in the original langue d'oc, which may serve as an example of the poet's energy in admonishing and reproaching those who were idle in the service of God:

Baros Jesus qu'en crotz fo mes,
Per salvar crestiana gen,
Nos manda totz comunalmen,
Qu'anem cobrar lo saint paes,
On venc per nostr'amor morir.
E si nol volem obezir,
Lai on feniran tuit li plag,
N'auzirem maint esquiu retrag.

Reis aunitz val meins que pages,
Quan viu a lei de recrezen,
E plorals bes qu'autre despen,
E pert so quel pair' a conques.
Aitals reis fari'ad aucir,
Et en lag loc a sebelir,
Quis defen a lei de contrag,

E no pren ni dona gamag.

The infamous King' thus denounced is Philip Augustus of France, whom the troubadours hated and

despised almost as unanimously as they extolled Alfonso of Aragon.

This poem, apart from its political allusions, is remarkable as a specimen of Peire Vidal's peculiar manner of mixing the two different forms of canzo and sirventes together (compare p. 141). Immediately after the passage about the French King just quoted the poet broaches his favourite theme of love, and explains how the unseasonable passion of mature ladies is sure to destroy the whole courteous world. This sudden change occurs in a similar manner in another sirventes where, after having reproached the same Philip Augustus as a coward and miser, the poet continues with great naïveté, 'But now I must turn my song to my lady, whom I love more than my own eyes or teeth.'

Peire Vidal's faults and errors were in great measure the result of the exaggerated sentiments of the time, and do not detract from his high poetical genius. The best of his contemporaries estimated him correctly, and forgave the great poet the extravagance of his character. The greatest fool,' says Bartolomeo Zorgi, another celebrated poet of the time, is he who calls Peire Vidal a fool; for without sense it would be impossible to make poems like his.'

The exact date of Peire's death we cannot tell. Most likely it took place about 1210.

CHAPTER XVII.

BERTRAN DE BORN.

BERTRAN DE BORN is a perfect type of the warlike baron of the middle ages, continually fighting with his neighbours or with his own vassals, and treating the villeins and clowns on his estate with a brutal contempt all the more unpardonable in his case as he openly and deliberately advocates such oppression in his songs. But his warlike ambition was not confined to the squabbles of petty feudal lords. With sword and song he fought in the great political struggles of the time, and the important part he played in the incessant wars of Henry II. of England with the King of France and with his own rebellious sons ought to secure Bertran a place in any comprehensive history of our Angevin kings.

As to the exact date of Bertran's birth the manuscripts contain no information. By inference we find it must have been about the middle of the

twelfth century. The old biographers call him Viscount of Autafort, a castle and borough of about a thousand inhabitants in the diocese of Perigord. His manhood fell in a stormy time of external and internal warfare.

The marriage of Henry of Anjou, afterwards Henry II. of England, with the divorced faithless wife of the French King was an abundant source of evil to the young adventurer. It is true that the possessions of Aquitain accruing to him from the marriage for the moment added to his power, but in the long run his large dominions in the west and south-west of France tended to divert his attention from the true focus of

his strength-England. The tedious quarrels in which his continental possessions involved him with his feudal overlord, the King of France, greatly increased the troubles of his eventful reign. But far more disastrous were the domestic consequences of this ill-assorted union. History and popular myth have combined to depict Eleanor as the prototype of a ruthless termagant. Whatever may have been the provocations of her truant husband-provocations which, by the way, her own conduct hardly justified her in resenting too harshly-the charge remains against her that by her instigation her sons were first incited to rebel against their father. With much trouble and danger to himself Henry had in 1170 induced his English bishops to assist at a prospective coronation of his eldest son and namesake. Two years later the ceremony was repeated, young Henry's wife, the daughter of King Louis VII. of France, being included, who for reasons unknown had been absent on the former occasion.

The return which Henry received for this highest mark of confidence was the claim on the part of his son to be put in immediate possession either of

Normandy or of England. The refusal of this outrageous demand became the cause of animosities between father and son. Eleanor fanned the flames of discord, and it seems to have been by her advice mainly that young Henry at last broke into open rebellion. He fled from his father's court at Limoges and took refuge with the King of France at St. Denis, where three days afterwards he was joined by his two brothers Richard and Geoffrey. The war which ensued was carried on by both sides with atrocious brutality, not even relieved by bold exploits of arms. The name of the hirelings enlisted by the King of England-Brabançons, from Braband, the country of many of their number-has become a bye-word in history, and the utter want of filial piety, or indeed of any higher motive, on the part of the young princes is at once revolting and astonishing. More than once during his repeated wars with his sons the King's life was attempted, and on one occasion when he was going to a parley with young Henry he was received by a shower of arrows and slightly wounded. Sons who thus disregarded the demands of natural affection could not be expected to be more scrupulous where their country was concerned. Patriotism, more especially English patriotism, never was the strong side of the Plantagenets. In consequence the young princes did not hesitate for a moment to barter away some of the fairest portions of England for promises of assistance from the King of Scotland and the Earl of Flanders, and it was only by Henry's energy and good fortune that

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