Literature in Frankish Greece 301
left for more verses to be added later. It is undeniably curious that the prince’s
own works remain thus incomplete.
Both songs are in the tradition of grande chanson courtoise, and insofar as
we can see from the single stanza of each, they are both reliably generic, with
distinct rhyming schemes. Musically, the style of each is also broadly typical of
the trouvère repertoire, with a repeated initial melodic statement followed by
a new theme that incorporates melodic ideas from the opening theme.36
Loiaus amors qui m’alume
In “Loiaus amours” (figure 9.2) the singer bemoans his situation: he is pas-
sionately in love, his lady is not receptive, if his love does not prosper he will
die. The last two lines of the verse echo lines written by Gace Brulé: known as
“Messire Gasse” in the Chansonnier, this trouvère was clearly a favourite of the
prince. He was a native of Champagne, the Villehardouin homeland, and in
the Chansonnier as originally planned he had far more songs than any other
trouvère. Such referencing can be seen as a homage to this pre-eminent trou-
vère, and confirms again that the trouvère repertoire was well known in the
principality.37 The incomplete state of the song limits comment, but this was
probably originally a seven-line stanza.
Loiaus amours qui m’alume...... merveill ou pris le hardement
coment m’osai de chanter enhardir.
Ce fait ma dame à cui sunt mi desir.
Se n’a de moi merci prochainement,
Morir m’estuet, por aimer loiaument.38
36 Music edited by Paul Leigh of medieval music group Trouvère; both pieces feature on
Trouvère’s recording Music for a Medieval Prince (York, 2012).
37 Samuel N. Rosenberg, “Incipit Citation in French Lyric Poetry of the 12th through 14th
Centuries,” in Courtly Arts and the Art of Courtliness: Selected Papers from the Eleventh
Triennial Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society, ed. Keith Busby and
Christopher Kleinhenz (Cambridge, 2006), p. 558.
38 “Faithful love which enflames me... it amazes me that I had the audacity to be bold
enough to sing. So it is with my lady who has my desire. If she does not have pity on me
soon, then I must die, for loving faithfully.”