Schnerb-Lièvre, Marion, ed. Le songe du vergier (édité d’après le manuscrit royal 19 CIV de la
British Library). 2 vols. Paris: CNRS, 1982.
Coville, Alfred. Évrart de Trémaugon et le Songe du vergier. Paris, 1933.
Lièvre, M. “Note sur les sources du Somnium viridarii et du Songe du vergier.” Romania
81(1960):483–91.
Quillet, Jeannine. La philosophie politique du Songe du vergier (1378): sources doctrinales. Paris,
1977.
SONGE VÉRITABLE
. Written in 1406, the Songe veritable is a political pamphlet in verse. The 19th-century
editor of the poem concluded that the author was not Laurent de Premierfait, as some had
thought, but was definitely a resident of Paris in royal service.
The poem (3,174 lines) describes a dream that begins with a glimpse of the king of
France living in an impoverished state. Allegorical personifications take over as Poverty
leads the common people toward Patience. The narrator is replaced by Everyman, who
seeks counsel because his eldest daughter Money has been raped and his other daughter is
threatened.
The central theme is the corruption of princes and royal officials. Apology says that
royal servants of lower rank serve the king well, but they are mistreated by the powerful
and do not receive benefices. The poem features the allegorical figures Fortune and
Reason. Reason addresses long letters, quoted in full, to the most vilified personages
discussed: Queen Isabeau, the dukes of Berry and Orléans, Jean de Montaigu (grand
master of the hôtel du roi), and Clignet de Brébant (admiral of France). The poem levels
accusations against more than 120 institutions and individuals, most of them identified by
Moranvillé.
Richard C.Famiglietti
Moranvillé, H., ed. “Le songe veritable, pamphlet politique d’un parisien du XVe siècle.”
Mémoires de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris et de l’Île-de-France 17(1890):217–438.
Famiglietti, Richard C. Royal Intrigue: Crisis at the Court of Charles VI, 1392–1420. New York:
AMS, 1986.
SORDEL
(Sordello; ca. 1200–ca. 1270). Immortalized by Dante (Purgatorio, Cantos 6–8), the
troubadour Sordel was born in Mantua. After seducing Cunizza, whom he had abducted
at the request of her brother, Ezzelino da Romano, Sordel fled in the late 1220s to
Provence, where he was supported by Blacatz, Raymond-Berenguer IV, and Charles of
Anjou, among others. Although he composed cansos, he was more interested in other
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