My apologies for taking so long to get back to this - I was preoccupied by a
Test match in Perth, one of a series of annual cricket events in Australia
that take precedence over medieval genealogy. Apologies also for a long
post:
"Stewart Baldwin" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
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Peter Stewart <
[email protected]> wrote:
Lot does not go into this, but I suppose you are thinking of Szabolcs de
Vajay's miguided attempt to reinterpret that passage, in 'À propos de la
"Guerre de Bourgogne": note sur les successions de Bourgogne et de Mâcon
aux Xe et XIe siècles', _Annales de Bourgogne_ 24 (1962).
That was the main work I was thinking about when I made my comment that
some authors have tended to gloss over the marriages of Eudes-Henri of
Burgundy, but I was also thinking, to a lesser extent, of the work on the
same subject by Constance Bouchard ["Sword, Miter, and Cloister - Nobility
and the church in Burgundy", 980-1198 (1987)] and Christian Settipani
["Les origines maternelles du comte de Bourgogne Otte-Guillaume", Annales
de Bourgogne 66 (1994), 5-63]. Bouchard denies the existence of Gersende
as a separate individual, claiming that most likely the name was a
"variant spelling" of Gerberge, and she argues that Gerberge survived her
second husband (p. 268). Settipani stated that he preferred to set aside
Bouchard's supposition (p. 13, n. 4), but he didn't discuss the origin of
Gersende, which seems to me to be a necessary prerequisite to ruling out
the possibility that she was the sister of count-bishop Hugues whom
Eudes-Henri married.
Looking at Lot's discussion (for which I thank you, by the way), the case
for identifying Eudes-Henri's second wife Gersende with the woman of that
name who was a daughter of the duke of Gascony is plausible enough, but I
don't find it very compelling. The Gersende of "Historia abbatiae
Condomensis" is stated to have married in Burgundy, but that is pretty
vague. Lot's interpretation of the "Rythmus satiricus" of bishop Adalbero
would fill things in by having the wife of [Eudes-]Henri take refuge in
Gascony after their marriage ended, but others have interpreted the poem
differently. Bouchard states that "the wording of the poem seems to
suggest that it was Landric's wife, not Henry's, who was so distressed
that she fled south, though Henry does appear in that part of the poem."
(p. 268) My own lack of skill at Latin poetry effectively prevents me from
having an informed opinion on the exact interpretation of the poem's
statements.
I'm afraid that Constance Bouchard has once again hit on a reading that the
text does not support, although in this case it must be said that 'Rythmus
satiricus' is extremely difficult to interpret. The verses were clearly
written for people with inside knowledge of court gossip at the time: its
style is cryptic, with some twisted expressions and figurative use of words,
rendering a literal translation barely comprehensible.
Consequently, I will give the passage with my own translation as directly as
seems useful into English (PS) followed by Claude Hohl's translation into
French (CH), and then mine of this into English with some added comments. NB
The edition is from the appendix to Hohl's Le comte Landi de Nevers dans
l'histoire et dans la geste de 'Girart de Roussillon', in _La chanson de
geste et le mythe carolingien: Mélanges René Louis_
(Saint-Pierre-sous-Vézelay, 1982). This differs in one important point as
noted below from the text given by Ferdinand Lot.
Adalbero is the author, bishop of Laon; Achitophel is Landri of Nevers:
13. Non percipit Adalbero
Achitophel cur rideat:
Vulpes portat in pectore
Qui suis nescit parcere.
PS: Adalbero does not quite understand
What makes Achitophel laugh:
At heart he has fox instincts
Mindless of sparing his own friends.
CH: Adalbéron ne comprend pas pourquoi Achitophel éclate ainsi de rire: il
porte des renards dans son sein, celui qui ne sait pas épargner ses amis.
(Adalbéron does not understand why Achitophel bursts so into laughter: he
carries foxes in the core of his heart, that does not know how to spare
friends.)
14. Dolis armatus furcifer
Heinrico tollit feminam,
Prius Widoni gratiam,
Timens sponsae prudentiam.
PS: Armed with tricks, the rascal
Parts the woman from Henri,
Initially as a service to Wido,
Dreading the bride's safeguard.
CH: L'animal au pied fourchu, bardé de ruses, enlève à Henri sa femme, et d'abord
ses bonnes graces à Gui, craignant la perspicacité de son épouse. (The
animal with cloven hoof, armed all over with trickery, takes from Henri his
wife, and at first her kind thanks to Gui, fearing the perspicacity of his
wife.)
At the end of the first line Lot gave 'justifer' (justiciar), following the
only known manuscript - now lost - instead of 'furcifer' (a yoked beast or
rogue), that was an emendation proposed by Mabillon in the 17th century,
when this poem was discovered and first published.
I don't think Hohl got an intelligible meaning out of the third and fourth
lines of this strophe. He supposed that Gui (Wido) was an associate or
relative of Henri and that the bride in question was Gui's - if so, the
point is lost to me. I think that Wido was Landri's young brother-in-law, by
this time (996) the co-count of Mâcon recently elevated to comital rank in
association with his father Otto-Guillaume who was Duke Eudes-Henri's
step-son and adopted heir. The favour or service to Gui by Landri was in
splitting husband (Eudes-Henri) from his new second wife (Garsende of
Gascony) before she could exercise the prudence of a bride, i.e. safeguard
her marriage by getting pregnant. Such a turn of events threatened to
produce a son who would cut Otte-Guillaume, and consequently the latter's
son Gui, out of the promised inheritance of Burgundy. Such a context then
makes far better sense of what follows, in Landi's imprecations against
Henri and his brother and nephew that they should all become celibate.
15. Uxor petit Vasconiam,
Achitophel malitiam,
Dum, per iurandi sarcinam,
Totam conturbat patriam.
PS: The wife goes off to Gascony,
Achitophel resorts to spite,
While, by the onus of swearing oaths
He disturbs the entire land.
CH: La femme s'installe en Gascogne; Achitophel s'installe dans l'iniquité
et se fait fort de se justifier par serment, mettant ainsi le trouble dans
tout le pays. (The woman settles in Gascony; Achitophel settles in iniquity
and undertakes to justify himself by oath, thus stirring disorder in all the
land.)
16. Honoris fundit terminum,
Intrans regis palatium:
- Henricus sit aedituus,
Dicit Bodonis filius,
PS: He stretches the limit of his status,
Intruding on the royal preserve:
- Let Henri become a sacristan,
Says Bodo's son,
CH: Il renverse les bornes de l'honneur quand il entre dans le palais du
roi. - Qu'Henri devienne sacristain! déclare le fils de Bodon, (He turns
honour upside down when he enters the palace of the king. - Let Henri become
a sacristan! declares the son of Bodo, [Landri was the son of Bodo, a petty
seigneur].
I don't think the second line should be taken literally - there is no reason
to believe that Landri would actually go to the royal court in order to
insult the two kings and their brother/uncle Henri in public. I think the
reference is just to political overreaching by Landri, son of a local noble
of no great importance, by meddling somehow in the personal affairs of the
ruler of Burgundy (perhaps by adultery with the duke's wife, or more likely
by creating mischief and implicating her, that drove Garsende to flee back
to Gascony in disgrace, or in high dudgeon, with her husband).
17. Fiat Rex Hugo monachus,
Rex Robertus episcopus,
Habens hic vitam simplicem,
Alter vocis dulcedinem!
PS: Make King Hugo a monk,
King Robert a bishop,
The one enjoying a simple life,
The other sweetness of voice!
CH: - Que le roi Hugues devienne moine et le roi Robert évêque, car le
premier aime la vie simple et l'autre a une voix mélodieuse. (May King
Hugues become monk and King Robert a bishop, because the first likes the
simple life and other has a melodious voice.)
Please let me know if you would like a copy of Hohl's article with the
edited text, his translation and further comments.
Peter Stewart