Marcabru [Marcabrun, Marchabrun, Panperdut]

(fl c1129–c1150). French troubadour, probably from Gascony. He is the most distinctive and prolific of the so-called second generation of troubadours. The two short vidas claim that he was the son of a poor woman called Marcabruna, that he was a foundling and that he was originally known as Panperdut (Lost Bread); but these details are derived from remarks in his songs which are probably not to be taken seriously. It is not known whether Marcabru was his given name or a professional sobriquet.

The chronology of Marcabru's career is controversial, but his first identifiable patron is Guillaume X, Duke of Aquitaine (ruled 1126–37), the son of the earliest known troubadour, Guillaume ix. Either before or after Guillaume X's death, on 7 April 1137, Marcabru sought patronage at various Iberian courts, before turning to the young Peire de Gabaret, Viscount of Béarn (ruled 1134–53). Subsequent patrons were Alfons Jordan, Count of Toulouse (1104–48) and Alfonso VII of León, self-styled Emperor of Spain from 1135. It was in Alfonso's service that he composed his two crusading songs in support of the Christian reconquest of Spain; the famous lavador song Pax in nomine Domini!, in which he likened the Spanish crusade to a ‘washing-place’, cleansing the sins of those who fought for the Christian cause, appears to date from shortly before the recapture of Lérida in October 1149.

Marcabru's speciality was the moralizing type of song that later became known as the sirventes. He castigated the indolent and lascivious behaviour of the nobility, condemning adultery and advocating a pure, ennobling form of love which is not without religious overtones. He lamented the declining generosity of courtly patrons, and seems to have identified with the soudadiers – the young men, perhaps sons of the lesser nobility, who depended on patronage for their livelihood. His poetry shows familiarity with a fairly wide range of moralizing literature. His didactic purpose is evident throughout his work; even his pastorela, L'autrier jost’una sebissa, the earliest known example of the genre, makes a moral point as the shepherdess repulses the knight's advances by articulately reminding him of his knightly obligations. Marcabru frequently named himself in his poems, drawing attention to his role as the self-appointed chastiaire (castigator) of folly and loose morals. Richness of allusion, irony and nonce-words make his poetry difficult to understand, and he has been seen as a forerunner of the trobar clus, though he did not use this term himself.

He addressed his song Cortesamen (pc 293.15) to Jaufre Rudel, and probably also knew Cercamon, who is named as his mentor in one of the vidas. Six later troubadours mention Marcabru by name, either to praise his forthright style or to criticize his almost proverbial misogyny. He is the only troubadour mentioned in the famous description of the wedding festivities in the 13th-century romance of Flamenca, and a French romance of the late 13th century, Joufroi de Poitiers, depicts ‘Marchabrun’ as an outspoken jongleur pursuing the errant count of Poitiers. A scribal note in I-Rvat lat.5232 instructs the miniaturist to depict Marcabru as ‘a jongleur without instrument’ (Avalle, 180), perhaps to indicate that he was not associated with the more frivolous, dance-based genres in which instruments were considered appropriate.

Of his 42 lyrics only four survive with music: the pastorela, the lavador song and two diatribes against false love. The notation of L'autrier shows an almost regular alternation of long and short notes – one of the few indications of mensural rhythm in the troubadour repertory – which may have been a characteristic of the pastorela genre.

For a miniature of Marcabru see Troubadours, trouvères, fig.2.

WORKS

Editions:Der musikalische Nachlass der Troubadours, ed. F. Gennrich, SMM, iii, iv, xv (1958–65) [complete edn]Las cançons dels trobadors, ed. I. Fernandez de la Cuesta and R. Lafont (Toulouse, 1979) [complete edn]The Extant Troubadour Melodies, ed. H. van der Werf and G. Bond (Rochester, NY, 1984) [complete edn]

only those surviving with music

BIBLIOGRAPHY

J.-M.-L. Dejeanne, ed.: Poésies complètes du troubadour Marcabru (Toulouse, 1909/R)

D'A.S. Avalle: La letteratura medievale in lingua d'oc nella sua tradizione manoscritta: Problemi di critica testuale (Turin, 1961)

P.T. Ricketts and E.J. Hathaway: ‘Le “Vers del lavador” de Marcabrun: Edition critique, traduction et commentaire’, Revue des langues romanes, lxxvii (1966), 1–11

F. Pirot: ‘Bibliographie commentée du troubadour Marcabru’, Le Moyen Age, lxxiii (1967), 87–126

M. de Riquer: Los trovadores: história literaria y textos (Barcelona, 1975), i, 170–219

R.E. Harvey: ‘Marcabru and the Spanish Lavador’, Forum for Modern Language Studies, xxii (1986), 123–44

R.E. Harvey and S.B. Gaunt: ‘Bibliographie commentée du troubadour Marcabru (mise à jour)’, Le Moyen Age, xciv (1988), 425–55

R.E. Harvey: The Troubadour Marcabru and Love (London, 1989)

E. Aubrey: The Music of the Troubadours (Bloomington, IN, 1996)

S. Gaunt and others, ed.: Marcabru: a Critical Edition (2000)

STEPHEN HAYNES