(b Vaqueiras, nr Orange, Provence, ?1150–60; d ?Greece, ? 4 Sept 1207). French troubadour, companion-at-arms of Boniface I, Margrave of Monferrat (1152–1207). According to his vida (I-Rvat 5232, f.160) he was the son of a ‘poor knight’ (‘paubre cavaillier’), and the fact of his humble origin, at least, is confirmed in his own writings. As a young man, he travelled to the court of Monferrat in northern Italy, where he entered the service of the Margrave of Monferrat and his son Boniface; he remained there probably until the early 1180s. Less is known of his life during the period from about 1183 to 1188, but in 1189 he was again in Provence, possibly in the service of Hugues I des Baux (d 1240). In 1190 he was back in Italy, and in 1192 had returned to Monferrat and the court of Boniface (who succeeded his father as margrave in that year).
It is from the succeeding period that Raimbaut's military exploits are known. His action in saving his patron's life in Sicily in 1194 earned him his knighthood. In 1201 Boniface was elected leader of the fourth crusade, and in 1202 he set off for the Holy Land from Venice. Raimbaut apparently returned to Provence rather than accompany his patron, but when the crusade was diverted into an action against the Byzantine Empire he finally joined the margrave in Constantinople in 1203. In 1205 Raimbaut composed his celebrated ‘epic letter’ to the margrave (see Linskill, 301–44), where there is a description of the events in which he participated during his colourful career. This document (F-Pn fr.856 (anc.7226), f.130) is an invaluable biographical source. Boniface was killed near Messiople on 4 September 1207 during a surprise attack by the Bulgarian allies of the Greeks, and it is generally assumed that Raimbaut died at his patron's side in this battle. There is no direct testimony for this, however, and it may be that he survived and even returned to Provence. A Raimbaut de Vaqueiras who is named as a witness on a document in Provence dated 1243 is thought by some scholars to be the same man.
Of the 35 poems attributed to Raimbaut, seven survive with music. The best known of these is Kalenda maya which calls itself an estampida in its last line. A razo states that Raimbaut composed this poem to fit a melody which he had heard played on the fiddle (violar) by two French jongleurs. Since many later estampies are instrumental, this story is at least plausible. In any event, Kalenda maya is the oldest example of the genre, although it differs in its construction from later specimens. It is uncertain whether Souvent soupire is the original French melody which Raimbaut used as the basis for his poem, or whether it is a later imitation.
Editions: Der musikalische Nachlass der Troubadours: I, ed. F. Gennrich, SMM, iii (1958) [complete edn]The Poems of the Troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, ed. J. Linskill (The Hague, 1964) [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]
all datings are given according to Linskill
|
Ara·m requier sa costum' e son us, PC 392.2 (composed in Monferrat, 1197–1201) |
|
Ara pot hom conoisser e proar, PC 392.3 (crusade-song celebrating the election of Boniface of Monferrat as leader of the fourth crusade, 1201) |
|
Eissament ai guerrejat ab amor, PC 392.13 (composed in Monferrat, 1197–1201) |
|
Guerras mi plag non son bo, PC 392.18 (composed in Monferrat, 1197–1201) |
|
Kalenda maya, PC 392.9 [contrafactum: ‘Souvent soupire’, R.1506] (composed in Monferrat, 1197–1201) |
|
No·m agrad' iverns ni pascors, PC 392.24 (composed in Salonika, 1204–5) |
|
Savis e fols, humils et orgoillos, PC 392.28 (composed in Monferrat, 1197–1201) |
O. Schultz-Gora, ed.: Die Briefe des Trobadors Räimbaut de Vaqueiras an Bonifaz I., Markgrafen von Monferrat (Halle, 1893)
A. Jeanroy: ‘Sur une pièce de Raimbaut de Vaqueiras’, Studi dedicati a Francesco Torraca (Naples, 1912), 475
K.M. Fassbinder: ‘Der Trobador Raimbaut de Vaqueiras: Leben und Dichtung’, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, xlix (1929), 129–90, 437–72
H. Husmann: ‘Kalenda maya’, AMw, x (1953), 275–9
G. Cusimano: ‘Poesia di Rambaldo di Vaqueiras’, La poesia provenzale in Italia, ed. A. Monteverdi (Rome, 1955–6)
T.G. Bergin: Rambaldo di Vaqueiras: liriche (Florence, 1956)
F. Gennrich: ‘Die Deutungen der Rhythmik der Kalenda-maya-Melodie’, Romanica: Festschrift für Gerhard Rohlfs, ed. H. Lausberg and H. Weinrich (Halle, 1958), 275
F. Gennrich: Der musikalische Nachlass der Troubadours: II, SMM, iv (1960)
F. Lecoy: ‘Note sur le troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueyras’, Etudes romanes dédiées à Mario Roques (Paris, 1960), 23
J. Linskill: The Poems of the Troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (The Hague, 1964)
G.S. McPeek: ‘“Kalenda Maia”: a Study in Form’, Medieval Studies in Honor of Robert White Linker, ed. B. Dutton, J.W. Hassell, Jr and J. E. Keller (Valencia, 1973), 141–154
G.S. McPeek: ‘Medieval Monophonic Song: Kalenda Maia by Raimbault de Vaqueiras (c. 1155–1205)’, Notations and Editions: a Book in Honor of Louise Cuyler, ed. E. Borroff (Dubuque, IA, 1974), 1–7
E. Aubrey: The Music of the Troubadours (Bloomington, IN, 1996)
For further bibliography see Troubadours, trouvères.
ROBERT FALCK