University of Kentucky UKnowledge French and Francophone Literature European Languages and Literatures 1974 A Poet at the Fountain: Essays on the Narrative Verse of Guillaume de Machaut William Calin University of Oregon Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Calin, William, "A Poet at the Fountain: Essays on the Narrative Verse of Guillaume de Machaut" (1974). French and Francophone Literature. 3. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_french_and_francophone_literature/3 STUDIES INlROMANCE LANGUAGES: 9 Editor Jom; E. KELLER Associate Editor for French VIRGI:\IA A. LA CHAHiri: Editorial Board French Portuguese WILLIAM c. CALI:\ EDWARD CLASEI\ ROBERT CHAMPIG:\Y GEHALD MosER LESTER c. CHOCKEH J. H. MATTHEWS MICHAEL RrFFXfERRE Spanish JOSE J. ARROM Italian JuA:'I BAUTISTA AYALLE-AHCE GLAUCO CAMBO); Ons H. CREE:<: WILLIAM DESUA KARL-LUDWIG SELIG This page intentionally left blank A POET AT THE FOUNTAIN This page intentionally left blank A POET AT THE FOUNTAIN ESSAYS ON THE NARRATIVE VERSE OF GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT BY WILLIAM CALIN THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY LEXINGTON I.S.B.N. 0-8131-1297-4 LIBRARY OF CoNGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 72-91663 A statewide cooperative publishing agency serving Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky State College, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University EDITORIAL AND SALES OFFICES: LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY 40506 PRINTED IN SPAIN ~PRESQ EN ESPANA I.S.B.N. 978-0-8131-5161-8 DEPOSITO LEGAL: V. 1.719- 1974 ARTES GRAFICAS SOLER, s. A. - JAVEA, 28- VALENCIA (8) - 1974 a Fr~oise This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11 ABBREVIATIONS 13 INTRODUCTION 15 1. Le Dit dou V ergier 23 2. Le Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne 39 3. Remede de Fortune 55 4. Le Dit dou Lyon 75 5. Le Dit de l'Alerion 92 6. Le Jugement dou Roy de Navarre 110 7. Le Contort d'Ami 130 8. La Fonteinne amoureuse 146 9. Le Livre du Voir-Dit 167 10. La Prise tf Alexandrie 203 Excursus: Machaut's Short Dits 227 CONCLUSION 239 BIBLIOGRAPHY 249 INDEX 255 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge grants-in-aid from the American Council of Learned Societies (1968) and the American Philosophical Society (1970), which enabled me to travel abroad in quest of old Machaut manuscripts. Without these grants my work would have suffered. This page intentionally left blank ABBREVIATIONS CA Le Confort d'Ami DA Le Dit de l'Alerion DH Le Dit de Ia Harpe DL Le Dit dou Lyon DM Le Dit de Ia Marguerite DR Le Dit de Ia Rose DV Le Dit dou Vergier FA La Fonteinne amoureuse FLM Le Dit de Ia fleur de lis et de Ia Marguerite JRB Le Jugement dou Roy de Belzaingne JRN Le Jugement dou Roy de Navarre p Le Prologue PA La Prise d'Aiexandrie RF Remede de Fortune VD Le Voir-Dit This page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTION GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT, France's greatest poet and musician of the fourteenth century, was born around 1300, most likely in the village of Machault in Champagne (the Ardennes). He studied probably at Reims and Paris, receiving a Master of Arts degree, but never took Holy Orders. From around 1323 on he served John of Luxem­ bourg, king of Bohemia, as domesticus and familiaris, notarius, and finally secretarius. He followed King John's campaigns in Poland and Silesia (1327, 1329, and 1331), Lithuania (1328-1329, 1336- 1337), and probably Lombardy (1330). The king's favor exerted on Popes John XXII and Benedict XII won for Machaut a number of benefices. In 1337 the poet was awarded a canonicate at Reims and sometime between that date and 1340 left King John to settle down in the cathedral city. There, but for occasional trips to the courts of his protectors, he dwelt for the remainder of his life. He died in 1377. The corpus of his narrative poetry includes ten long dits-Le Dit dou Vergier, Le Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne, Remede de Fortune, Le Dit dou Lyon, Le Dit de l'Aierion, Le Jugement dou Roy de Navarre, Le Comfort d'Ami, La Fonteinne amoureuse, Le Voir-Dit, and La Prise d'Aiexandrie-and four shorter ones-Le Dit de Ia Harpe, Le Dit de Ia Marguerite, Le Dit de Ia fleur de lis et de Ia Marguerite, and Le Dit de Ia Rose-plus a Prologue. Machaut's lyric production was equally immense. He also composed La Messe de Nostre Dame (the first complete polyphonic setting of the Ordinary of the Mass by one man), a hoquet, and twenty-three motets, and set to music a good portion of his lyrics: nineteen lais, one complainte, thirty-three virelais, one chanson royale, forty-two ballades, and twenty-one rondeaux. His opus is preserved in several 16 A POET AT THE FOUNTAIN elaborate manuscripts, some apparently constituted under the mas­ ter's personal supervision. 1 A chronology for Machaut's dits has not yet been determined with any certainty. The following list indicates the order in which his long narrative poems are to be found in the best manuscripts, which include most of those prepared during the author's lifetime. After each poem, whenever possible, I place the date of composition or terminus a quo. Le Dit dou Vergier Le Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne Le Jugement dou Roy de Navarre 1349 Remede de Fortune Le Dit dou Lyon 1342 Le Dit de l' Alerion Le Confort d'Ami 1356-1357 La Fonteinne amoureuse 1360-1362 Le Voir-Dit 1363-1365 La Prise d' Alexandrie 1369-1371 With excellent arguments, Ernest Hoepffner proposed that Machaut himself had arranged his dits according to the order of composition. Machaut would have made an exception only for Le Jugement dou Roy de Navarre. Although the Roy de Navarre was probably composed after Le Dit de l' Alerion, Machaut placed it directly after Le Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne because the two Jugements treat the same theme, and Navarre appears to be a reply to Behaingne, a kind of anti-Behaingne. 2 The vast majority of specialists have accepted Hoepffner's theory. Gilbert Reaney and Leo Schrade suggest that the musical works were also arranged in the manuscripts for the most part chrono­ logically, after having been sorted out by categories according to genre. 3 Although some scholars, including Armand Machabey, do I The best life of Machaut is by Armand Machabey, Guillaume de Machault, 130?-1377: La Vie et J'(Euvre musical (Paris, 1955), I: 13-83. 2 Ernest Hoepffner, ed., CEuvres de Guillaume de Machaut, 3 vols.. (Paris, 1908, 1911, 1921), in the introduction to each volume. 3 Gilbert Reaney, "A Chronology of the Ballades, Roncleaux and Virelais Set to Music by Guillaume de Machaut," Musica Disciplina 6 (1952): 33-38, INTRODUCTION 17 not agree, in my opinion they do not submit convincing reasons for doubting the manuscript evidence nor do they suggest an. alternate order of composition. Nonetheless, the arguments on both sides are far from conclusive. Therefore, I shall examine each of Machaut's dits in order, following Hoepffner's reconstitution of their chronology (the Roy de Navarre comes after the Alerion) but always bearing in mind that this reconstitution is but a hypothesis and that decisive critical judgments cannot be based on it. On the whole, Machaut has fared well at the hands of philol­ ogists. His musical works have been edited twice in a most scrupu­ lous fashion by distinguished scholars (Friedrich Ludwig, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1954; Schrade, 1956). 4 In addition, La Messe de Nostre Dame has been published separately five times since the Second World War by Guillaume de Van, Jacques Chailley, Machabey, H. Hiibsch, and Friedrich Gennrich. Vladimir Chichmaref published a complete edition of the lyric poetry in 1909, which can still be used for scholarly purposes. However, for the lyrics set to music, the reader should consult Ludwig or Schrade and, for La Louange des Dames, the excellent forthcoming edition by Nigel Wilkins. Also still useful is Louis de Mas Latrie's old but competent edition of La Prise d' Alexandrie (1877). On the other hand, Paulin Paris's version of Le Voir-Dit (1875), prepared for the Societe des Bibliophiles, does not measure up to contemporary standards of scholarship. Paris not only omitted a 265 line sequence-Polyphemus's song to Galatea, later published by Antoine Thomas (1912)-but left out other pas­ sages of a descriptive or allegorical nature, without telling the reader. Although Paris's deletions do not affect the plot in a significant way, I have consulted Ms 1584, fond fran~ais, of the Bibliotheque Nationale and will quote from it when appropriate. In the meantime, we must await Paul Imbs's promised critical edition of Le Voir-Dit and "Towards a Chronology of Machaut's Musical Works," Musica Disciplina 21 (1967): 87-96; Leo Schrade, ed., Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century: Commentary to Volumes II & Ill (Monaco, 1956), p. 20; also Ursula Giinther, "Chronologie und Stil der Kompositionen Guillaume de Machauts," Acta Musicologica 35 (1963): 96-114; Sarah Jane Williams, "An Author's Role in Fourteenth Century Book Production: Guillaume de Machaut's 'livre ou je met toutes roes choses,' " Romania 90 (1969): 433-54.