Author: obrienatrix

the beginning

Here is the raw first section of text: lines 1-120, from the prologue up to Enimia’s childhood.

GENERAL PROLOGUE (lines 1-20)
Ad honor d’una gloriosa
verge sancta, de Crist esposa,
que fo Enimia nomnada,
de Fransa, de rehal linhada,
trais aquest romans de lati,
per rima, si com es aysi,
maïstre Bertrans de Masselha,
ab gran trebalha et ab velha,
car qui sap be e non l’essenha
segon la ley de Dyeu non renha;
per que trais maÿstre Bertrans
de lati tot aquest romans.
E no·us cuides qu’el ho fezes
que lauzor de segle n’agues,
ans ne fo pregatz caramen
daus part lo prior e·l coven;
mas majormen, si com say yeu,
o fes ha la lauzor de Dieu
e de midons sancta Enimia,
de cui vos vuelh comtar sa via.
CONTEXTUAL PROLOGUE: A UNIVERSAL HISTORY (ll. 21-62)
Apres cant Jhesu Crist fo natz,
mes en cros e resuscitatz,
e fo a la dextra del Payre
montatz, si com ausem retrayre,
lhi apostol cuminalmen
aduziron a salvamen
las terras e las regios
per lurs sanctas predicazos;
mas cant foro las encontradas
vas Dieu totas per pauc tornadas,
tot deriers lo regne de Fransa
pres pels discipols baptizansa,
car totz temps fo ferma et dura
en aco que cre, per natura;
mas apres, cant ac pres baptisme,
us reys governet lo regisme,
que fo Clodoveus apelatz,
onratz reis et apoderatz.
Aquest fo filhs de Dagobert,
si co·lh gesta ho dis apert.
Sos avis ac nom Clodoveu,
que totz primyers creset en Dieu
que nulhs reis del regne de Fransa,
e prumyers ac bona esperansa.
Et en aysi com syeu payro
foron vas Dyeu fizel e bo,
aquest Clodoveus atrestal
ac vas Dyeu bon cor e leal.
Sa molhers fo, per l’encontrada,
Astorga per nom apelada.
Aquist doy agron un filha
que fo bela per miravilha,
si que natura non poc far
negun temps de beltat sa par;
ans vos dic que per sa beltat
tuch li ric home del regnat
la venieu vezer totz jorns,
et aquo era lors sonhorns;
mas la tozeta no·y metia
son pes, ni s’en orgolhosia,
car en Dyeu avia son cor
et en luy servir son demor.
ADDRESS TO THE READER (ll. 63-80)
E si vos play, dir vo ay yeu
de qual guiza servia ha Dieu
la tozeta en sa enfansa,
que era filha del rey de Fransa.
Sabetz per que dir vos o vuelh?
Que ja non aiont tan d’orguelh
rei, princep ni emperador,
comte, marques ni varvassor,
dompnas, reginas ni comtessas,
emperaryzes ni duguessas
que ja s’en layson, per rictatz,
que aion ni per nobletatz,
de servir al paure coytos
per amor del Rey glorios,
ans devon penre tuch essemps
excemple e tener tostemps
en aquesta sancta pieusela,
de cui vos recomtam novela.
THE CHILDHOOD OF ENIMIA (ll. 81-120)
Car ilh, si com dich vos ay yeu,
era filha de Clodoveu,
e pogra aver, si·s volgues,
marit rey, comte o marques,
car mot ric home la querieu
per la beltat que en lyei vezieu;
mas ilh de re menhs non trachava,
e’n Dieu servir se delectava.
S’ilhs vis lo paure desayzat,
de fam coytos et assedat,
ilh l’abeurava e·l payscia
tro que ben sadolat l’avia.
S’ilh vis lo mesquin nudamen,
hilh li donava vestimen;
mas totz sos majors gautz ades
era lavar los caps e·ls pes
dels paures de Crist nuech e dia,
on plus meschinetz los vesia.
Als malautse fasia lieths,
et aquo era sos delieths.
Lo clop, lo cec e lo lebros,
de calque malautia fos,
aquel banhava e colgava,
e sos malavechs li curava,
car ilh avia en memoria
un vers que recomta l’estoria,
lo qual dis Dieus certanamen,
qu’a luy fay hom propriamen
aquo que hom fay al menor
dels paures per la so’amor,
e per aquesta escriptura
avia els paures sa gran cura,
si que la soa nobletat
que avia daus lo regnat
non presava re segon Crist
on avia fach son conquist,
ans istava molt humilmen,
vestida de vil vestimen,
car no·l venia ges per agrat
que portes polpra ni sendat.

Next:

  • a first translation of episode 1 (bilingual: Old Occitan on the left, modern English version on the right)
  • the next episode: adolescence, impending doom, and a miracle (lines 121-236)
  • a first translation of that second episode
  • and so on, in similar fashion

 

introduction

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Benvengut to the home for a first version of a new translation of the Old Occitan life of Saint Enimia.

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY

SELECTED FURTHER READING

  • the “bibliography” post
  • some background information in the “context” area of this blog, including from Wikipedia as it is free and open and a good starting-point on Old Occitan, Occitan literature, and Medieval romance literature

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY?  Continue reading “introduction” →

from Twitter (2): 2017

Tweets and twitter threads continuing the Great Mission of Continuation for Medieval Occitan poetry and poeticity; not necessarily conversion, albeit a transformation. It’s a state of mind and of being, it’s a culture and ethos, as much as it is a language. (The sixth of these Twitter compilations provides a more coherent version of that idea, as a single piece of continuous writing.) Continue reading “from Twitter (2): 2017” →

about the “context” area

Welcome to the first of the “context” posts. Some of them (like the next six) will be a collection and collage of my attempts to talk about Old Occitan literature and literary culture elsewhere; but, like here, in public and intended for anyone. I also write about matters Occitan, Medieval, and Medievalist, amongst other things, on my main blog; some of that is also versions of longer publications.

I’ll start with some background information that’s not by me but from Wikipedia, as it is free and open and a good starting-point for contextualising Enimia:

An elegant introduction to Occitan, written for an open audience, can be found in Frances Freeman Paden and William D. Paden’s Troubadour Poems from the South of France (Cambridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2007). Here are some excepts (pp. 1-2, 3, 6-7, 8-9):

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This site also has a selective bibliography to provide free open fully accessible resources for further adventures in Old Occitan: manuscripts, transcriptions and editions, language (dictionaries and grammar), criticism, literary history, historical and cultural studies, and some classic introductory books (in many libraries and available through inter-library loan).

The next group of “context” posts are Twitter public writing on, around, and about Old Occitan. Twitter is a place, and tweets are a form of writing, that encourage an openness that’s also careful and considerate of your audience (it should be anyway, and often is), compassionate, and creates and maintains communities. The fixed short form of a tweet concentrates its content, which is communicatively good and poetically enriching. But the ability to continue tweets into a thread—recollecting poetic composition organised in groups of lines and in stanzas—and for it to be a conversation, as well as being shared with and read by others, has the potential to go further, to turn twittering into collective work, including all manner of research collaborations. For example: #MedievalTwitter.

I’ll add notes on translation choices and on any work in progress that has left a temporary multiple-choice translation or a conundrum in the “paratext” area. Any other commentary specifically on Enimia will be there too.

Please do bear with me, and bear in mind that this is a first version of a translation. I may change the form and format along the way, and would certainly expect to do so with next versions. Blogging platforms like this present one are useful as you can change their structure and format along the way.