The Tale of the Alerion 9781442616578

Table of contents :
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Notes to the Introduction
Bibliography of Works Cited
The Tale of the Alerion
Notes to the Translation
Appendixes
Index

Citation preview

Guillaume de Machaut The Tale of the Alerion

Guillaume de Machaut, the most important poet and musician of fourteenth-century France, had considerable influence on subsequent generations of writers in both France and England: among them, Charles d'Orleans, Christine de Pizan, and Geoffrey Chaucer. The Dii de I'alerion, one of his long narrative poems, is particularly interesting for students of Chaucer, but has remained inaccessible to contemporary readers because of the difficulties inherent in Middle French and in Machaut's enigmatic use of the language. With this scholarly translation, Minnette Gaudet and Constance B. Hieatt make this interesting and long-neglected treatise on love and falconry available to students of medieval literature. In the poem, Machaut defines the problems and pleasures of courtly love by comparing them to those of falconry, a sport that modern readers know little about. The introduction and notes to this edition provide valuable information about the art of falconry, thus clarifying aspects of the poem that might be incomprehensible today. The notes and introduction furnish explications and variant readings of obscure passages and comments on wordplay. A running summary of the contents of the poem is provided in the margins. The editors have retained the peculiarities and playfulness of Machaut's style by duplicating, in so far as possible, the poet's wordplay and the intricate rhythms of his octosyllabic verse. They have therefore chosen to create a verse translation in preference to one in prose. As the only translation of Machaut's poem, this volume will be of value to all medievalists, and especially to Chaucerians. (Toronto Medieval Texts and Translations) MINNETTE GAUDET, Associate Professor of French, University of Western Ontario, is a specialist in Old French language and literature and has written on the Chanson de Geste and the medieval French romance. CONSTANCE B. HIEATT, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Western Ontario, is known primarily as a specialist in Old English language and literature. She has published widely in the field of medieval literature.

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G U I L L A U M E DE MACHAUT

The Tale of the Alerion EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY MINNETTE GAUDET AND CONSTANCE B. HIEATT

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London

University of Toronto Press 1994 Toronto Buffalo London utppublishing.com Printed in the U.S.A. Reprinted in paperback 2013 ISBN 0-8020-0531-4 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4426-2606-5 (paper)

© Printed on acid-free paper Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Guillaume, de Machaut, ca. 1300-1377 The tale of the alerion / Guillaume de Machaut; edited and translated by Minnette Gaudet and Constance B. Hieatt. (Toronto medieval texts and translations; 10) Translation of: Dit de 1'alerion. Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-8020-0531-4 (bound). - ISBN 978-1-4426-2606-5 (pbk.) I. Grunmann-Gaudet, Minnette. II. Hieatt, Constance B., 1928III. Title. IV. Series: Toronto medieval texts and translations; 10

PQ1483.G5A6413 1994 841'.1 c949306835 This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. ONTARIO ARTS COUNCIL Canada Council for the Arts

Conseil des Arts du Canada

CONSEIL DES ARTS DE I/ONTARIO 50 YEARS OF ONTARIO GOVERNMENT SUPPORT OF THE ARTS 50 ANS DE DOUTEN DU GOVERNMENT DE L'ONTARIO AUX ARTS

University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing activities.

Contents

PREFACE

vii

INTRODUCTION

3

NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

27

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CITED

38

The Tale of the Alerion Prologue

45

Part i 46 Part 2 81 Part 3 119 Part 4 138 Epilogue

151

The Poet's Signature 165 NOTES TO THE TRANSLATION

167

vi

Contents

APPENDICES Appendix A: 'Learned' Sources of I n f o r m a t i o n about the Alerion 179 Appendix B: Numerology and Machaut's Structure INDEX

189

185

Preface

In collaborating on this translation, we attempted to divide the work in a way that would maximize the strengths and interests of two contributors coming from different disciplines. MG, as the Old French specialist of the team, was responsible for translating the text into English prose and for reviewing the subsequent verse translation. She also had the work of checking the manuscripts and determining the readings to be translated in the few instances in which the base manuscript was lacking in clarity. The verse rendition and basic background research were primarily undertaken by CBH, who also drafted most of the introduction, with the exception of the sections on Machaut's life and the manuscript affiliations. CBH also provided much of the editorial material. The textual notes, however, were drafted jointly. CBH had considerable input into the basic understanding of the text adopted, and MG had a comparable effect on the final form of the introduction. We wish to offer our thanks to a number of individuals and organizations for assistance of various kinds. We are grateful to the University of Western Ontario, and particularly to Dr Thomas Lennon, dean of the Faculty of Arts, for his support and encouragement, and the help that he provided us in the form of released time and graduate research assistants. Many libraries have given us indispensable help, including UWO's Weldon Library, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, which holds the Machaut manuscripts MG consulted, and the libraries of Yale University, where CBH did the bulk of the background research. We also owe a great debt for encouragement and constructive criticism to a number of colleagues, not all of whom can be mentioned here, especially those who were anonymous appraisers of an earlier

viii Preface version of our work. To those we know helped - especially Brian Merrilees, A. Kent Hieatt, Paul Gaudet, Brenda Hosington, William Kibler, and James Wimsatt - we give express thanks. To others, including those whose names are unknown to us, we give thanks in general, and hope they will find we benefited from their comments. And we give hearty thanks to all others who saw our work as worth publishing and whose faith and labours helped bring it to fruition, among whom the late Prudence Tracy deserves particular gratitude. MINNETTE GAUDET CONSTANCE B. HIEATT

April 1994

GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT THE TALE OF THE ALERION

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Introduction

I. GUILLAUME DE MACHAUT AND HIS WORKS

Guillaume de Machaut was the most important poet and musician of fourteenth-century France. He is one of the very few musicians of his age whose music is still played and studied widely today; it is also generally available in modern recordings.1 As a poet, he had an enormous output and an even more enormous influence on his fellow poets - especially in France, of course, where those who looked to him as a model included virtually all the poets whose works have survived from the next century or so: for example, Eustache Deschamps, Charles d'Orleans, and Christine de Pisan. But his influence was also significant elsewhere in Europe, most especially in England, where he was above all important for his impact on both the form and content of Geoffrey Chaucer's work.2 Very little is known about Machaut's life.3 The few details that we have are gleaned from his own poetry and from other ecclesiastical and legal records. It appears that Machaut was born around the year 1300 in or near the village of Machaut in Champagne and that he was not of noble origin. It is clear, however, that he was well educated. The fact that he obtained the degree of master of arts is attested to by several documents dating from 1361 and i37i.4 From all indications, Machaut studied theology but never became a priest. He did hold the title of 'clerc/ however; this we know from a bull of Pope Benedict XII, dated 1335, which states that Guillaume had been the clerk and secretary of John of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia, for approximately twelve years. Machaut thus began his service for the king of Bohemia in 1323. The circumstances surrounding his

4

Introduction

attachment to King John are not known. All we do know, from Machaut's own testimony in La Prise d'Alexandrie, is that Machaut accompanied John on many of his trips and military expeditions to eastern Europe. When John died in 1346, however, Machaut was no longer closely associated with him. John had rewarded Machaut for his service by providing him with a canonry at Rheims, which he received formally in 1337. By 1340 Machaut had become a resident of Rheims, as attested to by the records of that city. While he was in the service of the king of Bohemia, Machaut composed three of his longer dits amoureux:5 the Dit dou vergier, the Jugement du roy de Behaigne, and the Remede de Fortune. He received considerable acclaim for these dits, all written before 1342. Thus, Machaut's reputation as a poet and a musician was well established before John's death and he had no difficulty in attracting a long succession of noble patrons. Among them were Bonne (daughter of John of Bohemia and wife of the future John II of France) and Bonne's sons, John of Berry and Charles of Normandy, who became king in 1364. The list of patrons also includes Charles the Bad, king of Navarre; Peter I of Lusignan, king of Cyprus; and Amadeus VI of Savoy. Machaut wrote two dits for Charles of Navarre: the Jugement dou roy de Navarre and the Confort d'ami, a poem of consolation and advice directed to Charles in 1356-7 while he was in prison. He wrote one dit for John of Berry, the Dit de la fonteinne amoureuse (1360-1), and a verse chronicle, La Prise d'Alexandrie, for Peter of Lusignan. La Prise d'Alexandrie, written around 1370, was his last major work, apart from his Prologue to his Oeuvres, probably written in 1372. Although he composed a few lyric poems and three dits amoureux during his years of service to John of Bohemia, the majority of Machaut's works were written after he settled in Rheims around 1340. For a poet who did not begin to write prolifically until the age of forty, Machaut's literary output is astonishing. As Machabey points out (85), no composer prior to Machaut, not even Adam de la Halle, had written more. Machaut's corpus includes more than four hundred lyric poems and eight long dits amoureux: the Dit dou vergier, the Jugement du roy de Behaigne, the Remede de Fortune, the Dit dou lyon, the Jugement dou roy de Navarre, the Dit de I'alerion, the Dit de la fonteinne amoureuse, and the Voir dit. Machaut also wrote four shorter dits amoureux, plus the Confort d'ami, La Prise d'Alexandrie, and the Prologue to his Oeuvres. Not all of these can be dated with any precision; according to the editor of Machaut's Oeuvres, Ernest Hoeppfner, the nearest we can get

Introduction

5

to a date for the Dit de I'alerion is somewhere between 1342 and 13576 Despite Machaut's prolific output and the towering literary reputation he enjoyed in his own time, the catalogues in today's major research libraries show that the vast bulk of scholarship on his work in the past century or so has focused on his music, not his poetry. Among the works not written to music, the longer dits amoureux were little appreciated in their own right for some centuries. The complexity of form and diction that was especially admired in a poet of Machaut's time (see the discussion of his diction on 21 and 23-4) went out of fashion long before the nineteenth century. Even as late as the twentieth century, critics like Alfred Jeanroy expressed their disdain for Machaut's poetic innovations and his poetry in general.7 The Dit de I'alerion, in particular, was thought by many critics to be an inferior work, possibly because of its reliance on falconry terminology, with which most modern readers have little acquaintance. As William Calin remarked in his seminal book on Machaut's dits, 'A modern reader finds it difficult to enjoy a love story narrated in terms of falconry; he simply does not have enough knowledge of, or interest in, or emotional attachment to 'Tart de chasse aux oiseaux" to react to the tale as poetry/8 It is only in the past decade or so that Machaut's dits amoureux and his poetry in general have come back into vogue. In France9 and in the United States,10 more and more studies have been devoted to Machaut, whose work has also received extensive consideration in several less narrowly focused books on the literature of the period11 and in a continually growing number of articles and conference papers. And, while many of these critics have been expressing appreciation of the literary quality of Machaut's dits in general, some have reconsidered the quality of the Alerion in particular. In 1980 Alice Planche remarked that it was not as bad as Calin had judged it to be, and labelled it a 'defensible' work.12 In a more recent article Alexandre Leupin devoted several pages to the Alerion, exploring its symbolic use of birds in a thoroughly sympathetic way.13 II. THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THE DIT DE L'ALERION

The Dit de I'alerion is one of the longest of Machaut's poems: only the Voir dit and La Prise d'Alexandrie are longer. It contains 4814 verses, which may be divided into six sections: a prologue, four sections de-

6 Introduction voted each to a different bird, and an epilogue. Machaut here approaches the problems and pleasures of courtly love by comparing them to those of falconry. The narrator tells of his (ostensible) experiences with four rather oddly assorted birds of prey: a sparrowhawk, an alerion, an eagle, and a gerfalcon. His first three hunting birds were, he informs us, highly satisfactory, but he lost them all: the first reverted to the wild state when she moulted, and the others departed under circumstances that are not explained. The fourth was so ill behaved he abandoned her in disgust. Finally, to his great joy, the alerion, his favourite, returned to him. Such are the bones of the 'plot/ but this summary does not cover the three-quarters of the poem that concern courtly love, in sequences that alternate with the falconry narrative. For example, when the narrator has told us he associated with falconers in order to learn their art, he adds that an aspiring lover ought to associate with other lovers in order to learn theirs. All of the amatory situations discussed are, be it noted, purely hypothetical: the 'narrative/ strictly speaking, concerns only the narrator's experiences with his four falcons, experiences that are systematically developed into a metaphorical discussion of the problems of a lover in winning, and retaining, his lady.1^ Machaut's application of falconry terminology to courtship was a logical one. Falconry had a prestigious role in the literature and art of the period, as witnessed by the frequency and abundance of falconry motif s.1* In Machaut's time almost all members of the upper classes practiced falconry, and the terminology used to describe this ancient practice lent itself naturally to a discussion of courtly love. Falconers often spoke of their 'love' for their falcons and the 'courteous' reciprocal relationship between the falcon and the falconer. For example, the falconry section of the contemporary Menagier de Paris warns that the trainer must not upset the hawk in any way, 'car se vous le courroucez une seule foiz ja puis ne vous aimera.'16 The Traite de fauconnerie of Adam des Aigles warns, right at the beginning: 'Fauconnerie vielt que luy soyez doulx et courtoys et debonnaire.'1? Some of the parallels Machaut draws between falconry and various aspects of courtship should be easily understandable for modern-day readers. Machaut suggests, for example, that a lover must be just as careful in considering how to attract the lady he desires as the falconfancier must be in arranging a trap to catch a wild falcon. He then compares the tame bird that the falconer uses as a decoy to the lover's bait of 'dous amoureus regart' ('amorous sweet glance/ 803) and 'bel

Introduction 7 et courtoisement parler' ('eloquent and courteous speech/ 808). In the earlier sequences, the birds cooperate with the falconer and thus emulate the behaviour of praiseworthy ladies towards their lovers. In the last sequence, however, the gerfalcon turns away from her appropriate prey to chase a screech owl; her misconduct thus provides an appropriate parallel to a lady who betrays her lover by abandoning him for an unworthy suitor. Machaut here uses the gerfalcon to justify a point he had made in the Jugement du roy de Behaigne (a point for which he was later chastised in the Jugement dou roy de Navarre}: a bad woman should be, as Othello put it, 'whistled off like a bad falcon,18 but a good one kept at any price - one of the principal points of the Alerion s epilogue, which ends with the narrator's vow to love his alerion for life. The complex way in which Machaut applies falconry episodes to the problems of the courtly lover has been addressed by Kevin Brownlee in his thorough and perceptive work Poetic Identity in Guillaume de Machaut. Brownlee points to the alternating falconry and amatory 'registers7 in the Alerion: that is, the alternation between the basic narrative, related in the voice of the 'narrator-protagonist/ and the discussion of love situations, related in the more clerkly and authoritative voice of the 'poet-narrator' (64-5). According to Brownlee, these separate 'registers' function in opposition to one another, becoming more closely intertwined as the poem progresses, but not completely fusing until the fifth and final episode (88). While this is certainly true in regard to the tone and stance of the narrator, we should like to emphasize that the two registers are never kept entirely separate. Machaut chose his falconry material with a constant eye to its usefulness for the amatory comparison. Vocabulary and concepts not exclusively associated with either subject unite both 'registers' and provide important clues to the poem's structure and subject. Machaut's plan becomes clear at the beginning when he sets forth his subject as four points necessary for happiness in this world: 'En tout le monde entierement, / Pour vivre seculerement, / N'a seulement que .iiii. poins;' ['Everywhere, throughout the earth, / to enjoy this earthly life, / there are four basic points to heed'] (1-3). These turn out to be: 'Bien penser, bien dire, bien faire / Et eschuer tout le contraire' [To think good thoughts, speak and do good / and to eschew the contrary'] (13-14). The four birds correspond to the four 'points.' The first three illustrate, if not always very clearly, the virtues of thinking, speaking,

8 Introduction and acting properly; for example, the section on the alerion compares the bird's hunting to a lady's courteous conversation. ^ The fourth section, dealing with the gerfalcon, illustrates the negative effects of behaving in a contrary manner. The gerfalcon section thus goes beyond being simply one more of a 'program of variations on the model plot pattern of desire-possession-loss,' as Brownlee describes it (85). The episode is a necessary part of the plan, providing an anticipated contrast to the good behaviour of the earlier birds, a point Machaut draws attention to in his language here. That the gerfalcon did not 'eschuer tout le contraire' (14) is emphasized by the reiteration of the word contraire four times in the section leading up to a description of her misbehaviour (4028, 4039, 4047, and 4060). Contraire is not the only word from the opening passage that is repeated in a conspicuous way later in the poem. It would be difficult to forget that the poem is about four 'points' when the word poins or point is repeated frequently with every possible shade of meaning. It occurs, for example, twenty-one times in the first five hundred lines alone.20 The most significant repetitions of poins I point are those that place it in conjunction with other words and ideas from the opening passage, as in 3617-18, introducing the conclusion that the eagle's flight is comparable to the behaviour of a courtly lady: 'Or vueil prouver les autres poins, / Tandis qu'il en est temps et poins' ['Now I have other points to prove, / since both the time and place are right'], which echoes the opening passage, especially 4-5: 'Et il est ades temps et poins / De ces .iiii. poins maintenir' ['And it is now the time and place / to maintain all of these four points']. The second (and longer) section of what we consider to be the prologue, lines 17-48,21 which we have treated as a verse paragraph, sets forth another aspect of Machaut's 'plan,' using words that also recur with obvious significance later in the poem, although these recurrences are less frequent than those of the motif 'point.' This passage tells us that all things have three times: beginning, middle, and end; and that if we do our work well in the earlier stages, we shall reap a suitable reward in the end.22 Lines 36-40, in which the previously introduced word contraire is repeated for the first time (a repetition that we could not echo), tell us: Et qui fait ouvrage trop court, Je ne puis veoir ne penser Qu'on li doie recompenser,

Introduction 9 Que selonc Tuevre le salaire, Je ne doubt mie le contraire. [And if one should cut short his work, in no way can I think or see that he is owed reward or fee, for fees must tally with the task: I know it can't be otherwise.] Note the use of the words recompenser and salaire. This section, and the prologue as a whole, concludes that the 'worker7 who makes a good beginning and does well at the middle stage is bound to succeed: 'Envis puet estre qu'il ne traie / Dou tiers temps tres souffissant paie7 ['It would be hard for him to lose / in the third stage sufficient fee7] (47-8). Here two more important words are introduced in the two elements of the phrase 'souffissant paie.7 Thus lines 17-48 also set a pattern. Brownlee7s 'desire-possessionloss7 expresses the beginning, middle, and end of each of the relationships, whether these are with a 'real7 falcon or a hypothetical lady. The lover's or falconer7s pleasures and rewards are described many times in terms related to those used in that preliminary section: the locus amoenus in which the narrator first finds his sparrowhawk provides 'souffissans 7 pleasure (458, 472); the pleasure he gains from the sparrowhawk and the alerion is characterized by 'souffissance7 (1202, 2072); Love gives true lovers 'paiement/ 'recompense,7 and 'salaire7 (2908, 2914, 2916), and so forth. 2 3 In addition, like the use of 'contraire,7 discussed above, this nexus has a foreshadowing quality, leading us to expect that the narrator, who has had four disappointing 'ends7 in his experience with four birds, must be due a reward. He has, he assures us a number of times, generally thought, spoken, and acted well in the beginning and middle stages of his various experiences. There is only one instance in which he admits he has made a mistake, when he questions the wisdom of his own speech in praising the gerfalcon before it had been properly put to the test (4019-37). This is a significant error, of course, but the narrator quickly defends himself on the grounds that one should believe every creature is good in itself, and speak well of it or him or her, until the contrary has been proved (Tant que soit prouvez li contraires7 [4047]). He is sure those who understand love did not blame him for this error: 'Et se fu bien chascuns certeins / Que dou contraire

io Introduction fusse ateins' ['Yet every one of them was sure / the contrary was true of me7] (4059-60). He thus denies that he has really misspoken in a way that might make him forfeit his 'reward/ At the very end of the gerfalcon episode, we should recall the opening, 'Bien penser, bien dire, bien faire/ when we hear that the narrator is now in such a state of despair and confusion that he does not know what to say or do or think: 'je ne savoie que dire, / Ne que faire, ne que penser' (4246-7). This is the low point of our narrator's 'experience,' which makes an epilogue absolutely necessary. In the epilogue, the impasse is resolved by a sequence that closely approximates the 'dream vision' form.2* We could perhaps say that the structure of the poem as a whole resembles that of the vision form,2* since it has a prologue, separate from the main narrative, providing clues for the interpretation of what follows. The narrator receives guidance, encountering 'authority figures' such as Love, Reason, et al. (although these are heard rather than seen in Machaut's poem), and observing 'symbolic figures and/ or actions'; and there is 'an epilogue, stating (or suggesting) what the narrator has (or has not) learned/ All that is missing to complete standard dream-vision structure is the 'break in consciousness/ involving 'falling into a dream state and/or entering a dreamlike world/ 26 But the epilogue is in itself a miniature version of a conventional fourteenth-century dream vision: the narrator, guided by Nature, Fortune, and other personifications, finds himself in a hortus conclusus of paradisaical perfection in which he is advised by Reason, and, as a result of following Reason's advice, gains the reward of the alerion's return - which is, of course, what is to be expected if he has been speaking, acting, and thinking the right way, as Machaut has so often reminded us. In her epilogue appearance, Reason assures the narrator that he has acted correctly in regard to his gerfalcon; the unhappy ending of that episode was not his fault ('par ton fait' [4359]). Furthermore, she specifically reminds us of other statements made at the beginning of the poem when she gives the narrator advice on how to 'maintenir tous bons usages' (roughly, 'to live well' [4402]) and promises her 'paie' (4413, 4414). These words recall the uses of 'maintenir' (5) and 'useroit' (7, 12) in the earlier passages about how to lead a good life, and the 'paie' to be gained in the final stage. Whether or not the whole poem is built on a dream-vision frame - which is not unlikely, considering the number of ways in which Machaut manipulated elements of this

Introduction 11 frame into new constructs in other poems 2 7 - the finale here is surely meant to remind us of other poems more explicitly representing the 'vision' genre. The forty-eight lines of the first two sections, then, set a pattern in several ways. Another sort of pattern they may suggest is a numerical one. This introductory discussion of four 'points' and three 'times' consists of exactly 48 lines, which may suggest that twelve is in some way a significant number here, as well as four and three, since 48 = 12 x 4. Furthermore, the length of the poem is, when we cut off the 'signature' passage, exactly 4800 lines: 48 x 120, or 12 x 40. (See appendix B for a more detailed discussion of the numerological possibilities of the text.) The Alerion is one of only two poems that Machaut 'signed' with a numerical signature,28 and in this case, its interpretation may be derived from a perfectly rational exercise. It reads, in translation: If you would know, without a doubt, who has composed all of this rhyme, it's easy and quite plain to see; you will not find it difficult, if you wish to amuse yourself with 18, 24, and 2, 40, 10, and 22, but divide them into two; and 13, 7, and 18, 19, 4, and 3 and 8, without adjusting them at all. This means that the first numerical sequence consists of numbers to be divided in two, which gives 9, 12, i, 20, 5, and 11; if we match them to the letters of the medieval alphabet, which considers i/j to be one letter, the alphabetic results are i, ra, a, u, e, I. The second group, 13, 7, 18, 19, 4, 3, 8, yields n, g, s, t, d, c, h. If we rearrange the lot, reusing letters that occur more than once in the poet's name, we find 'Guillemins de Machaut,' which is exactly the way he spelled his name in the Remede de fortunes anagrammatic signature.2? Laurence de Looze has recently argued that doubling letters to arrive at the (obviously predetermined) solution to this and other of Machaut's riddling or anagrammatic signatures is contrary to the text's claims; that is, the claim of lines 4811-14 that the author's name will

12 Introduction appear clearly if no adjustment is made ('Sans faire nul adjoustement. / Par ce verrez tout clerement ... ').3° However, in this case doubling letters is not an 'adjustment/ Machaut's directions should be understood as demanding exactly that. All the number/letters in the first series - those we are told to divide in two, and only those in that series - must be reused, and each is used precisely twice; Machaut meant that when each of these half-numbers had been used twice, the numerical total, which happens to be 188, would be that of the original numbers. His game here is tricky, but makes excellent sense once one grasps the principles. III. SOURCES AND INFLUENCES

Machaut's birds have been described as bestiary birds,^1 but his falconry lore has been said to be drawn from the falconry manuals circulating in his time.32 These two types of sources would have yielded some very different, and sometimes conflicting, information, but indeed there are some basic debts to both genres in the poem, as well as to a third that is a little harder to categorize: the 'natural history' accounts of birds found in such learned sources as the Speculum naturale of Vincent of Beauvais, which sometimes gives information confirmed by the falconry manuals (and/or later scientific accounts) but also includes anecdotes that seem more suited to the fanciful world of the bestiary.33 To turn to the falconry manuals first, it is quite true, as Brownlee remarks, that the 'falconry register' uses 'the vocabulary and constructs of twelfth- and thirteenth-century manuals of falconry considered as a genre' (66); but the technical vocabulary of falconry is only extensively used in the sparrowhawk sequence, and is remarkably selective even there. That is, if we examine the technical matters here and compare them with what is found in even the briefest of falconry manuals, we can easily see that Machaut's omissions are as notable as what he includes. Having captured his hawk by methods approved and described in some manuals - methods that, as noted above, actually do lend themselves to comparison with the lover's tactics in wooing a lady - the narrator equips her with leather 'longes et prolonges' (1035); these were the shorter and longer leashes known to English falconers of the period as 'lunes' and 'creance/ both of which were basic equipment for training and handling the bird. Machaut does not attempt to equate

Introduction 13 these with lovers' gifts or in any way integrate them with the 'amatory register/ which may show commendable restraint on his part. While many ladies might not mind the idea that they can be 'lured/ they would be unlikely to appreciate the notion of being controlled by a lover's 'leashes/ Machaut also omits any mention of the tame falcon's other necessary equipment, such as bells and jesses. Nor does he allude to the vital necessity of temporarily depriving the newly taken falcon of sight, either by the use of a hood or by the older expedient of 'seeling' the falcon's eyes by sewing down the eyelids. Any falconry manual sufficiently thorough as to explain how to capture a 'ramage' hawk (one that had left the nest to hunt for herself but was still in her first year and had not yet moulted) 34 also spells out the need for temporary blinding during the training period. Many manuals explain how to do this. Adam des Aigles simply takes it for granted; without having told us how to seel the ramage hawk's eyes, he warns strongly against unseeling too soon: 'Se voustre oyseau est ramage, aprenez le bien et ne le dessillez point jusques atant qu'il mengeue bien sur le poing et saiche bien aler sur la main par luy.'35 However 'separate' the falconry and amatory 'registers' appear to be in this early part of the poem, they are still so closely related that Machaut may well have wanted to avoid the suggestion that a lover should blind his lady's eyes. The narrator next discusses his care in the proper feeding of his hawk (1042-8), saying he measured her food precisely, gave it at the proper times, and always from his own hand - just as prescribed by the falconry manuals. But he does not say that he withheld food to keep the hawk 'sharp/ as the manuals recommend, and while he makes an allusion to the practice of keeping a newly caught hawk continually awake for two or three nights to get her to submit to his will, a procedure that was considered essential at that time, he turns this into the need for him to suffer sleepless nights, not mentioning the fact that she, too, would be forced to go without sleep.36 Again, it would seem he wished to avoid suggesting tactics unacceptable for a lover courting a noble lady, however well similar tactics may have served Shakespeare's Petruchio in taming his shrew. Machaut uses a little more technical vocabulary in the section on the actual training of the hawk. In speaking of casting the hawk so that she may rise up over her prey, he uses the technical term mettre a point (1119), but adds that he does not want to go into details about

14 Introduction this (1121). It may or may not be significant that he uses that term rather than the usual technical term for casting a falcon, geterj? which again might have sounded offensive in relation to ladies, although it is also possible that Machaut's study of the vocabulary of falconry had simply not gone this far. But he makes use of some rather more important vocabulary when he tells us that this hawk was easily 'reclaimed' (fu reclamez [1123]), the technically correct term for the falcon's return to the falconer in response to his signal (or lure); and he refers to the falconer's call (for which the proper term was atrais) when he says that the hawk came 'tost ou attrait' (1148).38 These latter points are, of course, of first importance to the comparison between falcons and ladies that he is in the process of setting up: the good falcon (and lady) is she who attends the falconer/lover's signals and can be 'reclaimed,' in contrast to the fickle bird/woman whose heart changes, like that of the sparrowhawk after it moulted:30 or, worse, the capricious, unreliable falcon/lady who behaves like Machaut's gerfalcon and thus forfeits all claim to her good reputation. On the other hand, the technical details about how the falconer persuades the falcon to hunt exactly as he wishes her to hunt, while given at some length in the manuals, are passed over in almost complete silence; they would not have been very helpful to the amatory comparison. For example, any use of an already initiated lady (as a 'makefalcon') or a cooperative companion to help the lover 'train' his prospective lady certainly sounds like matter more appropriate to a bawdy fabliau than to a courtly dit. If, then, Machaut actually selected details and vocabulary from the falconry manuals, he used very little beyond those points that would help him to draw his comparisons. He did not make use of such manuals for specific information about hunting with an alerion or an eagle for very good reason: no such information is to be found in any of them. While the eagle is mentioned in various works on falconry, this is only in passing; eagles were not recommended for use in falconry and were apparently never used for this purpose in western Europe. The most magisterial medieval falconry text of all, Emperor Frederick H's De arte venandi cum avibus, says: 'There are raptors not generally regarded as hunting birds, such, for example, as the higher order of eagles, that, on account of their weight, cannot be held on the fist/4 0 The Roman des deduis mentions eagles a number of times, but never as birds used in hunting. The sole reference in the Menagier to an eagle says that it can be used to hunt deer, hares, and bustards, but

Introduction

15

the practical writer of that work recommends that hounds, instead, be used for hunting such large game.41 In the Near and Far East, where eagles were sometimes used to hunt larger game, they had to be carried about on specially constructed frames. 42 If Machaut knew any of this, he chose to ignore it, since he obviously wanted to use an eagle in order to take advantage of its reputation as 'king of the birds/ He gives no indication that he knew much about the varieties of birds that were in common use among falconers, and he may have had little acquaintance with the more technical literature on the subject of hunting with trained birds. But, whether or not Machaut drew information on falconry from books, he must certainly have learned some of the basic falconry facts and vocabulary from associating with falconers - such as Gace de la Buigne, a contemporary of Machaut who was probably a personal acquaintance.43 In a period when people thought it perfectly proper to take their falcons to church with them,44 Machaut would have had plenty of opportunity to meet falcons and their owners. Modern readers who have never heard of an alerion may be especially curious to know what the falconry manuals have to say about this species. The answer is, almost nothing: alerions are conspicuously absent from most of the treatises on falconry written, and circulating, in medieval Europe. Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio, known as 'Modus/ which is typical enough in its treatment of birds suitable for falconry, states flatly that there are only eight kinds of birds of prey suitable for falconry: the (peregrine) falcon, the lanner, the saker, the hobby, the goshawk, the gerfalcon, the sparrowhawk, and the merlin. 4 ^ Interestingly enough, the only serious work on falconry that even mentions a bird called an alerion appears to be Gace de la Buigne's Roman des deduis. Unfortunately, however, the Roman tells us almost nothing about alerions. From it, we can learn only two things: first, that they are not common in the West (10481-2), which agrees with Machaut's claim (1578-1608) that they are rare; for example, 'Car ce n'est pas chose commune' ['They're not at all like common things'] (1583); and second, that they capture pheasants, partridge, and other small birds (10489-90), which implies that they are a small species - as Machaut says, 'Ce n'est pas uns oiseaus moult grans' [it's not a bird that's very large] (2531). However, the learned sources of information about the nature of the alerion - some of which Machaut must have known - differ, and none present particularly convincing evidence

16 Introduction that such a bird actually existed. For further details on these sources, and their apparently tangled relationships, see appendix A. Most of the details about alerions appear to be derived from bestiaries. For instance, it is unlikely that Machaut could have learned from the natural histories or the falconry manuals that alerions had knifelike feathers, unless he grossly misinterpreted a falconer's description of a bird's wing feathers.46 Information on this point could have come only from the world of the bestiary, and a likely source is the early thirteenth-century Bestiaire of Pierre de Beauvais. This tells us, Thisiologes dist que li alerions a moult grant segnorie sor tous les oiseaus del monde, et sa colors est semblant a fu. Et ses eles sont alsi tranchants comme un rasoirs; et il est petis I pou, et il est plus grant d'un aigle/47 If Pierre is an important source of traditional information about the alerion, as appears to be the case/8 perhaps this contradictory statement explains the confusion about the alerion's size, but the editors, Cahier and Martin, understandably suggest that the last clause may be a copyist's error. If so, Machaut may have seen a copy of Pierre that made better sense. Another aspect of the Bestiaire that may suggest an influence on Machaut is the 'moral/ which informs us that 'les trencans eles del alerion, ce sont li fait de mal horn' [the cutting wings of the alerion are the deeds of an evil man], as against the good, who will be saved by 'mesure et raison/49 While this is not exactly what Machaut says about those wings, the passage could certainly have suggested that the sharp feathers had a connection with dividing good from bad behaviour, and its emphasis on 'mesure' (moderation) could have suggested the treatment of false lovers as gluttons (2871-2).5° But if Machaut knew Pierre's account, he chose to ignore Pierre's attribution to the alerion of certain characteristics traditionally associated with the phoenix.51 The alerion is not to be found in most other bestiaries, nor in the usual 'learned' sources from which bestiaries drew.52 A description of the alerion's knifelike wings does appear, however, in the widely disseminated Old French prose version of the famous medieval forgery known as the 'Letter of Prester John/ Hoepffner notes as possible sources for this reference to the cutting wings the Old French translation of the Tetter of Prester John' and the Bestiaire d'amour of Richard de Fournival, but neglects to mention the Bestiaire of Pierre de Beauvais.53 The original Latin 'letter' (which began to circulate in the twelfth

Introduction 17 century) does not mention the alerion; the phoenix, however, does appear in a list of the exotic inhabitants of Prester John's kingdom - briefly: 'avis, quae vocatur fenix.'54 This reference is considerably elaborated in some of the German versions of the next century or so,55 and was apparently replaced by the description of the alerion in continental French versions, all of which credit the alerion with phoenixlike qualities.56 One of these French translations, which does not say anything about the size of such birds, calls them 'yllerions' and says 'leurs helles sont tranchantes comme rasoirs.'5? Note the spelling of the word for wings: helles. Here we may have the origin of Machaut's razor-sharp 'pelles/ by which he evidently meant feathers rather than wings, since he rhymed it with 'elles.' A confusion of p and h is not a particularly common error in medieval manuscript hands, but it is far from impossible.58 There does not seem to be any proof that Machaut took his ideas of what an alerion is from either the 'Letter of Prester John' or Pierre's Bestiaire, but his immediate or ultimate source of information about the alerion's peculiar wings must have been an account closely resembling one (or both) of those. If either was an immediate source, Machaut certainly was very selective - and very discriminating, in the best sense - in the details he chose to accept. He was similarly selective in his use of other materials drawn from the bestiary tradition, just as he was selective in details drawn from the world of falconry, and, evidently, for the same reasons. Here, too, he chose only information that might usefully form the basis of amatory comparison. For example, he does not tell us that the bills of elderly eagles grow so long they have difficulty in eating, whereupon they break them off on stones - a trait reported by Pliny that is mentioned in most bestiaries, including Richard de Fournival's. His report that the eagle takes prey away from other birds is contrary to a conflicting story he does not see fit to include: the information that is credited to Pliny by the Roman des deduis (5969-74) that the eagle courteously shares his prey with lesser birds. One might have thought that story could have been usefully adapted in a medieval courtly analogy, since a lord earned praise for the generosity with which he shared with other diners the special dishes served only to his own table.5? Presumably Machaut felt this aristocratic virtue was not applicable to courtly love, in which, he says, each is to receive only what he deserves. Those blades that correspond to the alerion's sharp feathers

i8 Introduction dole out to each man his due in keeping with his private thoughts. Thus Love gives proper recompense for what one does or wants to do, for fees must tally with the task.60 An idea (as against an anecdote) that Machaut may have gleaned from a bestiary source is that good and bad falcons can be compared to people who do or do not turn out well. Such a source may have given him the idea of discussing, at some length, just before he turned to the subject of birds, the ways in which childish behaviour, or misbehaviour, enables us to see what the adult character of an individual will be (49-117). One bestiary tells us that people can be compared to three kinds of falcons: thieves and prostitutes are like falcons that are hopeless from the start, choosing disgusting prey; men who become corrupt as they mature are like falcons that start out by chasing partridge but later turn to lesser species such as small birds and mice; men who are good at every stage of life are like the 'true/ 'gentle' falcons that always catch the noblest prey, pursuing cranes and never hunting quarry of an inferior nature. 61 This bears some resemblance to the 'moral7 concerning the alerion in Pierre de Beauvais, cited above, but with the additional idea that youthful behaviour has a connection with later character, a point that Machaut makes much of in the first part of his poem. But there is another, more 'learned/ bestiary, the Aviarium, in which Machaut may well have found remarks about hawks that suggested to him that birds of prey might provide an appropriate analogy to correct human behaviour: that is, the Aviarium includes, unusually for this type of work, several chapters on the use and training of hawks, 'described as a means of depicting the righteous life which a man should lead/ 62 It is probable that Machaut found a partial model for his distinctly original poem in Richard de Fournival's Bestiaire d'amour, the first poem to allegorize beasts with application to courtly love rather than religious and moral values - and indeed Machaut's method of allegorization, first describing the real or supposed characteristics of the bird and then drawing an analogy to a love situation, is exactly that of the Bestiaire d'amour. However, the Bestiaire d'amour does not allude to falcons at all.6^ If Machaut was led by his reading to consider the possibilities of falconry as an analogy to correct human behaviour, the Aviarium, which is now credited to Hugo de Folieto, is the work most likely to have influenced him.64

Introduction 19 That Machaut did draw on this work is suggested by several correspondences, of which the most striking is that chapter 13 consists exclusively of reflections on Gregory's commentary on Job 39: 26: 'Numquid per sapientiam tuam plumescit accipiter, expandens alas suas ad austrum?' [Does the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings to the south?]. Machaut makes much of the southeastwardly direction 'his' sparrowhawk takes ('devers orient' [639], 'le midi' [641]), which he proceeds to compare to the proper course ('vers orient' [678]; 'plus midi que 1'autre partie,' [682]) taken by an honourable lady. Perhaps he was not absolutely certain whether auster should be rendered as south, east, or both.6* It is also possible that Machaut may have been led to the idea of a right/left contrast in the allegorization of the alerion's feathers by the Aviarium's discussion in chapter 16 of carrying the hawk on the left hand but loosing it from the right. Oddly, the Aviarium explains this with reference to the Song of Songs 8: 3: 'Leva eius sub capite meo, Et dextera illius amplexabitur me' [His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me]. Hugo says that the left signifies temporal good whereas the right is true eternal good.66 Machaut's sources, then, were distinctly different types of literature, one group of which - manuals - contained reliable information about the art of falconry, as against another - bestiaries - that most certainly did not. Such learned works as those of Thomas of Cantimpre and Hugo de Folieto contained a little of both, but these could not have been important sources of Machaut's information about the actual practices of falconers. This striking difference in the nature of Machaut's sources needs to be taken into account by all readers because it suggests at least one important reason for the relative brevity of the falconry sequences involving the alerion and the eagle. That is, while Machaut could easily have learned all he needed to know about how to catch, tame, and care for a sparrowhawk from falconers or from any of the falconry manuals circulating in the fourteenth century, he could not have learned any special points about hunting with an alerion or an eagle from any such sources of information. Whatever the sources of Machaut's information on falconry, his use of falconry as a literary metaphor appears to have attracted admirers, both in France and in England. Both Alain Chartier and Charles d'Orleans use falcon metaphors (see Planche 357-8). But such examples do not necessarily show Machaut's influence, much less the influence of the Alerion, since brief similes and metaphors referring to falcons

20

Introduction

were quite common in earlier French works.67 A more definite influence may be perceived in the works of Oton de Granson. In his Complainte amoureuse de Sainci Valentin, Granson compares the beloved lady to a falcon enthusiastically pursuing 'prey' (love): 'la grant ardure / Que vous aves de querir proye ... /68 Machaut's Alerion is also almost surely the model for an episode in Granson's Lime Messire Otes (1118-1525; Piaget 426-41), in which a lover says he has lost a beloved sparrowhawk due to chasing a peregrine falcon and neglecting his own hawk. When his interrogator protests that a mere bird is a trivial occasion for the sorrow expressed, the lover explains (unlike Machaut in the Alerionl) that the birds were a poetic fiction: it is his lady that he has lost. Other French poets who may have been influenced by Machaut's Alerion are Deschamps and Froissart. Deschamps wrote a Fiction d'oyseaulx, an allegorical story in which the characters are birds (including the eagle, who is, of course, the king).6? However, whether or not Machaut's Alerion was a primary source for this 'fiction' cannot be ascertained. The Alerion's influence can be discerned more certainly in Froissart's Espinette amoureuse, although the latter is completely devoid of falconry imagery. This poem begins with a prologue about childhood experiences and their relationship to the poet's alleged predilections in maturity.70 This passage, in the work of a poet whose narrative poems seem to derive, directly or otherwise, many of their major scenes and motifs from Machaut,71 must reflect the opening passage of the Alerion (49-129), which discusses the narrator's own personal tastes as a child in the context of a discourse about the ways in which children's behaviour indicates the individual child's lifelong proclivities. Machaut's Alerion also appears to have had considerable influence in England, particularly on the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, who probably follows Machaut in the many ways in which he applies falconry terminology, in a metaphorical manner to human relationships. Like Machaut, Chaucer identifies ladies as hawks and their lovers as falconers, a metaphorical nexus that does not seem to appear in earlier English literature.72 The influence of the Alerion probably lies behind two sequences portraying falcons as courtly lovers in 'The Parliament of Fowls' and the 'Squire's Tale,' especially in the case of the Squire's 'faithless' tercelet. This is not to suggest that Machaut depicted falcons as lovers of each other in the Alerion. Machaut's falcons are nonanthropomorphic hunting birds. Love concerns them only in the sense that Machaut describes the falconer's desire for, and delight in, the

Introduction 21 falcon, and the falcon's attachment to the falconer, as 'love' - in fact, as the work of 'Amours,' a figure familiar to readers of the Roman de la rose. The metamorphosis of falcon characters into lovers with human problems would appear to be Chaucer's invention, with, of course, precedents in the beast fable, although these rarely draw on falcons as characters.73 The metaphorical use of falconry to describe love situations in which the falcon is portrayed as the female and the falconer as the male became a widespread commonplace in the work of English writers of the next few centuries. The most notable example is the pervasive and fundamental use of the comparison in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The metaphor was also a popular one with such seventeenth-century writers as Milton and Sir Thomas Browne, and continued to be popular into the nineteenth century.74 In France, however, after the period of Machaut's immediate successors, the use of falconry metaphors underwent a noticeable decline.75 IV. MACHAUT'S LANGUAGE AND THE PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATION

However the content may be explained and understood, no amount of explanation can make Machaut's poem an easy one to read. Far more than in his other dits amoureux - all of which have more straightforward story lines - Machaut is here often given to a leisurely expansiveness that is bound to strike many modern readers as excessively repetitious; yet there are also any number of difficult passages where he seems to be condensing rather than expanding. Some, at least, of the dense and intricate quality of his language derives from the strong element of wordplay, including the kind of verbal echoing known as annominatio. These qualities are at the heart of Machaut's poetry,76 and were (as remarked on 5) especially admired by his contemporaries; but, unfortunately, they may leave the modern reader - and most especially the translator - in considerable doubt about how to understand and interpret much of what he has to say. Most of the wordplay is, inevitably, impossible to duplicate in a translation. Similarly, the Alerion contains many popular adages, and although we should have liked to preserve the proverbial ring of these 'sayings/ it was difficult to do so in a different language. For these reasons, the present translation could not be absolutely literal. Furthermore, anything very close to a literal translation would make very unreadable, and even puzzling, prose.

22

Introduction

Verse translation therefore seemed a better medium to convey a sense of the texture and style of the original poem, as well as the most accurate rendition of its meaning that could be managed. We hope the not-too-demanding form of verse used here, one as close to Machaut's own verse line as is possible in modern English, gives some indication of the modulations of tone, and even to some extent the peculiarities of style, of the poem - much of which would seem irritating, at best, in normal modern prose. Our translation may, then, be said to emulate the practice of one of the very earliest of English translators, King Alfred, as characterized in the proem to his translation of the Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius: 'hwilum he sette word be worde, hwilum andgit of andgite' [sometimes he put down word for word, and sometimes sense for sense]. We have not gone so far as to follow St Jerome in translating 'non verbum e verbo, sed sensum exprimere de sensu';?7 for one thing, we often could achieve results we found satisfactory by a word-forword approach, although certainly not always. There are many passages in the poem where we found it necessary to determine just what Machaut's essential point was, and to redraft a sequence of lines in such a way that this point was clarified. Readers comparing our translation to the text of the original poem will, thus, not always find that a particular line corresponds to the line of that number in Machaut's work. The manuscripts that we have worked from are primarily those used by Hoepffner (F-G, Paris, BN, f. fr. 22545-6; and A, Paris, BN, f. fr. 1584), but we have also consulted the other manuscripts that contain the Dit de I'alerion and occasionally indicate in the notes instances where we have preferred variant readings. But, since a verse translation cannot be absolutely literal anyway, there seemed to be little reason to draw attention to variants that do not actually affect the sense of a passage (as, for example, whether 'dou' or 'd'un' is the correct reading in line 3171). We have spent considerable time examining C (Paris, BN, f. fr. 1586) in particular, given the recent work done on this manuscript by James Wimsatt and William Kibler.?8 Wimsatt and Kibler argue that C is the earliest of all the manuscripts and is superior to A and F-G in its rendition of the Jugement du roy de Behaigne and the Remede de fortune. In the case of the Dit de 1'alerion, however, a comparison of C and A, F-G shows that, apart from many small stylistic variants that have little or no bearing on the meaning of the text, there are few major

Introduction

23

differences in content. In two instances, C is missing one line (v. 2770 and v. 3300), and in two other instances a line is omitted but reinserted within the next ten lines: v. 2250 is missing, but reappears after v. 2254; and v. 3796 is omitted, but reappears after v. 3804. In none of these examples is the meaning appreciably affected by the changes. All that being said, perhaps the greatest challenge to our ingenuity has been trying to retain key verbal repetitions, such as that of 'contrary7 (see comments on 7-9 concerning Machaut's emphasis on words used in the 'Prologue7 section). This was not always easy, or even possible; to speak of a lover's rewards as his 'salary7 today seems risible, even in the context of verse translation - a context that we hope will remind readers of the fact that the discussion is metaphorical, not literal. Retention of puns and annominatio?? was difficult, but we tried to introduce similar wordplay whenever the translation would allow it. An example from the opening passage is lines 3-8. Echoing word forms are here indicated by italics: there are four basic points to heed; and it is now the time and place to maintain all of these four points. He who would behave aright, and he who makes right use of them, will lead a much more upright life. The original reads: N7a seulement que .iiii. poins; Et il est ades temps et poins De ces .iiii. poins maintenir Qui vuet droite sa main tenir, Et qui a droit en useroit Plus justement en viveroit. Obviously, we could not duplicate the play of 'maintenir / main tenir 7 and we could preserve only two of the three instances of 'point7; so we partially compensated by choosing 'upright 7 to translate 'justement,7 thus reinforcing Machaut's effect with 'droite/droit.7 It is possible that there is also double entendre in some of Machaut's language, but we have not tried to suggest this, since here, as in his

24 Introduction dits amoureux in general, there is no explicitly sexual content. Rosemary Morris asserts that 'the dits (except the Voir Dit) avoid the question of sex so rigidly that it becomes conspicuous by its absence/80 James Wimsatt questions even the sexuality of the Voir ditf saying: 'In none of his works is there bawdry, nor even any unequivocal references to the pleasures of the bed, except for short passages in the Voir Dit, where the references are mitigated by the tone and brevity of the allusions. Thus his love narratives are generally applicable to all kinds of love situations, even the purest, as the earlier dits amoreux often had not been/81 Recent critics of the Voir dit have tended to see even the 'consummation scene' there as having more to do with poetry than with sex. Sylvia Huot suggests that 'as love and eroticism are transposed into the language of poetry, poetic activity comes to replace sexual activity' (285). Yet there may be some discreet suggestions of erotic possibilities in the Alerion', we have pointed out examples in the notes. Still another area in which Machaut has presented us with translation problems is the matter of the gender of specific characters in the narrative. Love as a god in the literature of courtly love is always male, as in the seminal Roman de la rose and in the works of poets directly influenced by Machaut himself - that is, various poems of Chaucer, Froissart, and Oton de Granson. There is a clearly masculine Love in Machaut's Dit dou vergier. Elsewhere in his dits, however, it is not clear that Love is a god, and it sometimes seems to be a personified abstraction treated in accordance with the feminine grammatical gender of the French noun. 'Amour' is the antecedent of the feminine pronoun 'elle' in line 133 of the Jugement du roy de Behaigne and line 72 of the Remede de fortune-, Wimsatt and Kibler, in their edition of these two poems, treat Love as feminine throughout. 82 In the Jugement dou roy de Navarre, however, while 'elle' is used of 'Amours' in line 2425, and is understandably translated as 'she' by R. Barton Palmer in his edition/translation of the poem, line 3807 tells us Amours is 'maistres et sires/ translated by Palmer as 'lord and master' (and thus presumably masculine.)83 And in the Alerion there are similarly conflicting signals. The feminine 'elle' is used of Love in lines 264 and 2846, but in line 2654, Love is the lady's 'true liege lord' ('son droit signeur') and thus masculine. Other readers of this poem have thought of Love as the more traditional 'god' (e.g., Brownlee, 75: 'Amour calls his followers together'), and we have followed suit, referring to Love with masculine pronouns throughout.

Introduction 25 Another basic gender problem here involved bird nomenclature. The birds of prey preferred by falconers, as remarked above, were always assumed to be female.84 Specific, different names were reserved for the male of each species; for example, the male sparrowhawk was called a 'musket/ a spelling that has come down into modern English unchanged but is one of several in Old French. 'Sparrowhawks' were preferred over 'muskets' in France as elsewhere. The Menagier de Paris, for example, explains how to distinguish Tespervier' from the 'mouschet' even as a nestling, and the passage makes it absolutely clear that it is the sparrowhawk, not the musket, which is desired (148). English writers of Machaut's general period did not have to take grammatical gender into consideration, so that Chaucer, among others, could simply assume 'falcon' meant a female bird. If he wanted to talk about a male falcon, he used the term tercel (proper for any male hawk, but especially the peregrine falcon). The situation was obviously more complicated for poets writing in French, with the result that we find a certain amount of gender confusion, just as in the case of 'Amours/ In Granson's Songe Saint Valentin, the presiding eagle is treated as feminine, e.g. in line 70, 'L'aigle tenoit son per prez d'elle' [The eagle kept her mate by her side]8^. The grammatical gender of the noun aigle was generally feminine at this time, but we might have expected a male 'king of the birds' here; Chaucer's royal eagle was a male ('tersel'). Machaut treats the noun aigle as feminine: for example, in the first line about 'his' eagle, he speaks of 'une aigle' (3043). But he immediately goes on to talk of the eagle as the king of birds (3044), and in this context uses the masculine pronoun 'il' (3047). In other contexts, the eagle is sometimes 'elle7 and sometimes 'il/ the latter usually when it has been referred to as a 'bird' since oiseau is masculine. Nevertheless, Machaut's basic metaphorical nexus throughout this poem is a comparison of falconers to male lovers and falcons to the desired ladies. We therefore found it most appropriate to use feminine pronouns in referring to all four birds, with one notable exception. This is, predictably, the eagle, which is mainly discussed in terms of its fabulous role as 'king of the birds' rather than as a working falcon - which, as remarked above, it never was, in medieval Europe anyway. Since it hardly seemed appropriate to refer to a king as 'she/ we were driven to inconsistent changes of gender in this section, where we use the feminine for the 'tame' eagle-as-falcon, but not for other stories

26 Introduction about eagles. This was evidently not a problem for Machaut. While he must have known that the birds preferred in falconry were female, his language required that the appropriate pronoun describe the gender of the noun, not that of the bird, so he did not have to choose between dramatic and grammatical correctness, as we did.

Notes to the Introduction

1 For example, a cassette recorded by the Early Music Consort of London, entitled 'Guillaume de Machaut and His Age/ is Capitol Records 4XG-66oi2; twelve of the fourteen songs on this cassette are by Machaut. This has also been available as the first of a set of three cassettes issued under Capitol's Seraphim label under the title The Art of Courtly Love' (4X30-6092). Machaut's musical works are characterized by the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians as 'the most impressive output of its time in range of style and form.' For further information on Machaut's music and full biographical details, see Machabey, Guillaume de Machaut, 1307-1377. 2 This influence is not limited to what used to be called Chaucer's 'French period'; see Wimsatt, Chaucer and His French Contemporaries. This important work draws on many of Wimsatt's earlier publications, such as 'Guillaume de Machaut and Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde/ but also contains much that is new. Our references to Machaut's relationship to, and influence on, others of the period, including Chaucer, will be kept to a minimum in this introduction since in most cases we can simply refer the reader to Wimsatt's book. 3 The best biography of Machaut is that of Machabey, cited above; see i, 1-83. 4 Ernest Hoepffner provides details on Machaut's titles and the historical documents in question in his introduction to Oeuvres de Guillaume de Machaut, i, xii and xxv. 5 The French word dit in its medieval sense is almost impossible to translate. Essentially, it means a verse narrative, but one in which lyrical and discursive components may outweigh the 'story line'; see Wimsatt, Chaucer and His French Contemporaries (e.g. 58, 69, 142) for discussions of the form.

28 Notes to the Introduction

6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14

Chaucer uses 'book' more or less to translate the term, as in the The Book of the Duchess and 'The Book of the Leoun/ perhaps taking his cue from Machaut himself: in the Voir dit, Machaut refers to his Dit de la fonteinne amoureuse as 'mon livre de Morpheus' (Le Livre du Voir-Dit, ed. Paulin Paris, prose passage 10, p. 69). However, 'book' seemed a confusing title for a twentieth-century translator to use. The expression dits amoureux might be glossed as 'stories of love/ providing that we bear in mind that the content of such 'stories' is at least as much lyrical as narrative. Volume 2, Ixiii. This is the standard (and only) edition of the Alerion; all quotations from the poem here are from this edition. More recent estimates of the date of the poem tend to place it earlier, c. 1342-9; see, e.g., Van den Abeele, La Fauconnerie dans les lettres, 229. Histoire des Lettres, in Histoire de la nation franc,aise 12, ed. Hanotaux, 465 Calin, A Poet at the fountain, 100-1. See Chailley et al. eds., GuiUaume de Machaut: colloque-table rond and Cerquiglini, 'Un engin si soutil/ See Calin, and Brownlee, Poetic Identity in GuiUaume de Machaut. Such as Poirion, Le Poete et le prince; Wimsatt, Chaucer and the French Love Poets; Kelly, Medieval Imagination; and Huot, From Song to Book. 'Est vrais amans li drois oisiaus de proie ... ' Etudes de Philologie Romane et d'Histoire Litteraire, ed. d'Heur and Cherubini, 358. 'The Powerlessness of Writing: GuiUaume de Machaut, the Gorgon, and Ordenance/ See also Deschaux, who comments on Machaut's remarkable originality here in 'Le Bestiaire de Machaut d'apres les Dits/ Hoepffner (Ixiv-lxvii), following other earlier commentators, assumes the poem is about four 'mistresses' of the poet. More recently, Cerquiglini, while not asserting that the poem is in this sense autobiographical, suggested (124) that Machaut represents himself as a lover of both birds and ladies ('lui qui aime les dames et les oiseaux'), and Wimsatt claimed that 'the narrator's lady-loves are figured successively by a sparrowhawk ... an alerion, an eagle, and a gyrfalcon' (Chaucer and His French Contemporaries, 138). Such views ignore the fact that all the passages about love talk about lovers and their beloveds in general, not in individual and specific terms, and that the 'narrator' never identifies himself as a lover of anything but birds. 'Falcon' is used here in the sense of a hawk trained to cooperate in hunting with human 'falconers.' In describing the types of birds concerned, 'falcon' and 'hawk' are terms that are apt to be used interchangeably in the literature on the subject of hunting with trained birds. Medieval terminology for the birds themselves was confused and variable, while today the term falcon is used for a 'long-winged hawk.' Eagles are hawks that fall in neither the long-winged nor the short-winged categories.

Notes to the Introduction 29

15

16

17

18

19

It is important to bear in mind that the falcons used for hawking were always assumed to be female - the males being much smaller and thus of less use. On the high social prestige of falconry, see Dalby, Lexicon of the Medieval German Hunt, chap. 3, 'Literary Sources/ especially xxvi ff.; and Cummins, The Hound and the Hawk, introduction, especially 1-2; chap. 14, especially 189; and chap. 19, especially 217-18. Van den Abeele's La fauconnerie also makes this point amply clear; it contains at least a thousand literary falconry references of the period, and even so it is not exhaustive. It does not, for example, mention the works of Oton de Granson (discussed page 20 and note 68). The art of the period also bears eloquent witness to the high social prestige of falconry in the late Middle Ages. Illuminations frequently depict kings and nobles with falcons. The August scene of the Tres riches heures du Due de Berry, for example, shows elegantly dressed noblemen and ladies riding out to the hunt with falcons. Several of the famous 'Minnesinger' miniatures in the Manesse manuscript show these noble (and/or royal) poets with falcons, and an extensive falconry sequence appears in the Book of Hours of Engelbert of Nassau, illuminated by the Master of Mary of Burgundy (Bodleian Library Douce 219-20), which appears in the splendid facsimile edited by JJ.G. Alexander. In this work the hawking scenes are interspersed among the Hours of the Cross (f. 47r-f. 68v: plates 102-10 in the Alexander edition). 'If you chastise it even once, it will never again love you/ Unless otherwise noted, page references herein are to the edition of Brereton and Ferrier in this instance, 49. All translations from French and Latin in this introduction and its notes are those of CBH. 'Falconry demands that one be suave and courteous and well behaved7 (Blomqvist, ed., 22). Medieval, Renaissance, and even modern falconry accounts are full of such statements; one of the latter is T.H. White's account in The Goshawk of training a goshawk, which points out that it is a fatal mistake to try to punish a hawk and includes many references to the love and courtesy between the keeper and the hawk. 'Reason/ seconded by the royal judge, gives advice to this effect in the Jugement du roy de Behaigne, 1744-1988; Hoepffner, ed., Oeuvres, i, 122-32. In the fourteenth-century German work Der Minne Falkner, the falconer/lover is also advised to forget his falcon and get another (Schmeller, ed., 170-85). The lover refuses to accept this advice, although, as far as falcons were concerned, it was apparently a commonplace in German falconry literature. Cf. Hieatt, 'Une autre fourme/ especially 112.

30 Notes to the Introduction 20 We have not been able to preserve all of these repetitions in our translation; we reproduce only twelve instances of the word point in these lines: 3, 5, 15, 62, 150, 237, 285, 319, 357, 358, 411, 423. In line 62 we have used a gerund, 'pointing/ which does not correspond exactly to Machaut's wording, but the shift in part of speech is akin to what he does with other words. Examples of Machaut's use that we have not echoed include lines 69 and 73, where he says of an innocent youth, 'il n'a encor point de science7 and 'Et n'a encor point de malice/ which we translate as 'for he, as yet, no knowledge has/ and 'No malice has yet troubled him'; line 221, 'Aus amiables poins discres/ translated as 'in amiable and discreet ways'; and line 425, speaking of two lovers' united hearts as 'Si a point et si justement/ translated as 'so much in tune with one another.' 21 Note that we thus disagree with Hoepffner, who described the prologue as continuing to line 118 (Ixiv); we note, however, that only the first 48 lines set forth general principles - and important vocabulary - that underlie and are repeatedly referred to in the rest of the poem. Lines 49-118 comprise the first of many extended examples of how these principles work. 22 Cf. Cerquiglini, 76-7, on the rhetorical importance of 'debut-milieu-fin' elsewhere in Machaut's works. 23 'Souffissance' in particular is a word with considerable significance in Machaut's work generally. For an example of the way it is used (with some ambiguity) as equivalent to the lady's 'mercy/ see Wimsatt, Chaucer and his French Contemporaries, 323, n.i6. 24 In The High Medieval Dream Vision Lynch maintains that in the 'philosophical vision' - a category in which she includes The Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius, Alain de Lille's De Planctu Naturae, and Jean de Meun's section of the Roman de la rose - the visionary (who may or may not be dreaming) always has a philosophical and/or spiritual problem, which it is the function of the vision's guide-figure(s) to heal. She sees the lover of the Roman as a hopeless failure because he refuses to listen to Reason - giving a slightly different rationale for a general agreement on this subject with the views of Fleming in The Roman de la rose (especially 139). All allegorical courtly poems of the period seem to show traces of the vision tradition, even when they are not exactly visions (as is the case with others of Machaut's dits, as well as the Alerion); one that is reflected here is the 'healing' function of the visionary sequence. But, as in most of the literature of courtly love, the Alerion narrator's problem is emotional rather than spiritual, and if Lynch is correct in her interpretation, Jean de Meun would have been surprised (and annoyed?) by the ending of Machaut's poem: this narrator regains the alerion, as the lover of the rose achieved possession of the

Notes to the Introduction 31

25

26

27 28 29

30

31 32

33

34

35 36 37

rose, but unlike that lover, the falcon-fancier achieves success by following the advice of Reason. As discussed and analysed in Hieatt, 'Une autre fourme,' especially 99-107. The main points made there about the structure of dream visions are summarized below. Exact quotations from that article are in quotation marks. The term 'break in consciousness7 was borrowed from Frye, The Secular Scripture, and amounts to much the same thing as what Lynch describes, on 48 and elsewhere, as a 'liminal state/ For example, 'splitting the Narrator and the Lover into separate personae' in the Dit de la fonteinne amoureuse and the Jugement du roy de Behaigne. The other poem is the Voir dit, which has both numerical and anagrammatic signatures. Hoepffner so explains the signature in 'Anagramme und Ratselgedichte bei Guillaume de Machaut/ He does not give a rationale (other than the necessity to make sense) for doubling some of the letters. '"Mon nom trouveras": A New Look at the Anagrams of Guillaume de Machaut'; the Alerion is discussed on 546-7. Oddly, de Looze says that 'the solution "Guillemins de machaut" is still only possible if one doubles the /, m, e, u'; in fact, i and a must also be doubled. Especially by Kelly, e.g. 56 and 96 Especially by Brownlee, 66, and 232, n. 33. Van den Abeele would seem to be in strong disagreement; he notes (229-38) the imprecision of the descriptions of the falcons concerned and (as we also do, below) the paucity of falconry terminology. Such as the tale of how a hawk captures a small bird to keep her feet warm at night, but then lets it go free and guards it against other possible predators on the following day. Machaut uses this tale as an example of the hawk's courtesy and, inevitably, the courtesy of a lady who does not harm her lover's heart (1285-1442). The story is a widely circulated one, although in England it was told of the merlin, not the sparrowhawk; cf. Hieatt, 'Stooping at a Simile/ 348. There are good reasons why Machaut's 'narrator' would prefer such a hawk (305-18), which would have begun to learn how to hunt but not be so well accustomed to caring for herself as to be completely unamenable to human assistance/interference. 'If your bird is a ramage, train it well and do not unseel it until it eats well on the fist and well knows how to go to the hand by itself (22). See, e.g., Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio, i, 180. For examples of the use of forms of 'geter/ see Gace de la Buigne's Roman des deduis, e.g. 9526 and 9532.

32 Notes to the Introduction 38 Note his application of the same vocabulary to a lover and his lady throughout: e.g. 207, 844, 2568. The Brereton/Ferrier edition of the Menagier glosses 'reclame' incorrectly as 'loud calling7; this misinformation is evidently drawn from Cotgrave's dictionary. 39 For information indicating that moulting could indeed cause this sort of problem, see, e.g., the Menagier de Paris, 163. 40 Wood and Fyfe, eds., The Art of Falconry, 2,2. Our references to the translated text, as against editorial material, are given by book and chapter numbers. The Old French translation, ed. Holmer, Traductions en vieux fran$ais du 'De arte venandi cum avibus,' does not limit the comment to the 'higher orders'; it says, 'Des oisiaus de proie li home n'usent point, ainsi com toutes meniers d'aigles, qui pour lor pois ne sont pas abiles ne legiers a porteir' (2.3, p. 65) - an accurate translation, but substituting 'all kinds of eagles' for 'the higher order of eagles/ This edition contains only book 2 and is thus of limited usefulness. (Note also that the chapter numbers are not always the same.) 41 Pichon adds in a note that it is dubious that such game as deer was ever hunted with any variety of hunting bird in France (2,321). Pichon also remarks that 'L'aigle n'a done jamais ete employe habituellement dans la fauconnerie' [the eagle has never been regularly used in falconry]. 42 See Wood and Fyfe, xl and 525. 43 Both had close connections to King John the Good and his immediate family (e.g., Duke John of Berry), but no documentary evidence proves that these two influential courtiers, both almost certainly born within the first few years of the fourteenth century, indeed knew each other. Machaut probably could not have drawn information from the Roman des deduis since that seems to have been written later than was the Alerion (see Blomqvist's introduction, 5), but it is quite possible that he knew some of its contents through direct or indirect oral communication. 44 See the Menagier de Paris, and Pichon's note (which cites the Roman des deduis and other evidence), 2, 296. 45 Volume i, 173-4 and 228 46 The Menagier de Paris tells us (152) that some of the falcon's feathers consist of 'bons cousteaulx,' and the Emperor Frederick tells us that the most exterior of a bird's ten primary wing feathers is called the saxellus, and that these feathers, and those just preceding them, are shaped like knives; we are told, 'It is for this, in our opinion, that they are called "the knives" [curtelli]' (i, 50; in the Old French translation, the word is given as 'coutiaus' [84]). But this does not mean that these feathers (to be found on any bird: not just falcons, or a particular kind of falcon) are sharp: only that

Notes to the Introduction 33

47

48

49

50

each of them is shaped like a knife and its handle. These statements, and others like them elsewhere in descriptions of falcons (and/or birds in general), might have misled Machaut, but that would not explain why he associated knifelike feathers with one particular bird, the 'alerion.' Thysiologus says that the alerion has great lordship over all the other birds of the world, and its color resembles fire. And its wings are as cutting as a razor; and it is little and small, and it is larger than an eagle'; Melanges d'archeologie, d'histoire ei de literature sur le moyen age, ed. Cahier and Martin (who refer to the author as Tierre le Picard'), 2, 162. On this bestiary, see also Sevan and Phillott, An Essay in Illustration of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, 30-1. Mermier is currently preparing a new edition: see Mermier's The Phoenix/ in Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages, ed. Clark and McMunn, 84-5, n. 88, and his edition of the shorter version (which does not include the passage about the alerion), Le Bestiaire de Pierre de Beauvais (version courte). He is, for example, the primary source of the Bestiaire d'amour of Richard de Fournival; see McCulloch, Medieval Latin and French Bestiaries, 62-9, 197-8. This Bestiaire's reference to an alerion has been frequently cited, e.g. by Hoepffner (Ixviii) and Tobler-Lommatzsch; but in fact Richard skipped the account of the alerion. His reference to an alerion is only a phrase or two in his account of the 'serre/ a sort of flying fish that follows boats; Richard decribes this fish as being as swift as an alerion chasing a crane; 'se lance parmi la mer plus tost ke alerions ne vole a grue, ki a le pene tranchante comme rasoirs'; (Segre, ed., 78). The phrase 'ki a le pene tranchante comme rasoirs' [which has feathers as sharp as razors], is obviously confusing, since the antecedent could be cranes, and is reported to be missing from three of the manuscripts. It is thus unlikely that the Bestiaire d'amour was a source for Machaut's information about alerions. The 'moral' is a long one, most of which is not really relevant to Machaut's use of those cutting wings; see Cahier and Martin, 163. The razor-sharp feathers of Machaut's alerion are also wing feathers, despite the occasional confusion of Machaut scholars on this point: Brownlee, for example, translates pelles as 'tail feathers/ 78. Machaut specifically says that the 'pelles' are 'parmis ses eles' (2553). These sharp feathers called 'pelles' (2554, 2830-1) are the basis of an elaborate metaphor in which Machaut suggests that the lover who lacks the good qualities associated with the right-hand knifelike feathers will be punished by being cut by the left-hand knifelike feathers. Machaut thus associates the right with goodness and the left with badness. False lovers would be on the left and true lovers on the right. Machaut elaborates on this by then comparing false lovers to rude gluttons who bolt the food of-

34 Notes to the Introduction

51

52

53

54 55 56

57 58

fered to them at Love's table in such a way that they can derive no nourishment from it ('II ne la fait que devourer, / car il ne la scet savourer' [2871-2]). True lovers, on the other hand, are appreciative guests who derive sustaining nourishment from whatever tidbits are offered to them. These 'n'ont chose qui bien ne leur plaise' (2899); if they do not gain merci, 'il prennent substance' from Love and Hope (2900-1). Pierre tells us that there is only one pair of alerions in the world at a time and that other birds follow and serve them; but that, unlike the phoenix, the pair of alerions reproduce in the normal way, laying two or three eggs. The parent birds then fly off to sea and are never seen again, while other birds nurture their young (163). Unless we see the 'aelion' described by Thomas of Cantimpre and other writers on natural history (see appendix A) as examples: but they did not say that this bird had razor-sharp wings, which is the aspect of the alerion on which Machaut particularly dwells. The Old French version of The Letter of Prester John' may have been the source of the information passed on by Pierre de Beauvais. No other source has been found for his account of the alerion, and the 'Letter' predates him; but since we do not know just when the alerion passage found its way into the letter, the influence could have gone the other way around. For the reference in the Bestiaire d'amour, see n. 48. 'A bird called a phoenix/ See Zarnke, Der Priester Johannes, 911. See Zarnke, 950, 960, 997. The only medieval reference to alerions found in an English (or AngloNorman) source appears to be that on the Hereford map (cf. n. 47). For further information on the French 'Prester John' version, see Slessarev, Prester ]ohn: The Letter and the Legend, which includes between pages 66 and 67 a facsimile of a fifteenth-century printed edition. This version's description of the alerion is identical to that printed by Denis (see n. 57), except that the spelling for 'wings' is a more conventional 'elles/ In Le monde enchante, ed. Denis, 188. None of the dictionaries of Old French mention Machaut's use of the word pelle. Under this spelling, they all give only cross-references to other words: Tobler-Lommatzsch refers us to 'paele' (pot) and 'perle' (pearl), for both of which 'pelle' is an alternate spelling. Godefroy refers us to 'pelleterie' (fur) and 'pesle' (bolt), and Greimas to 'pesle' and 'perle.' Actually, Machaut's 'pelles' must be modern French 'pelle' « OFr 'pele'), shovel or scoop, used here in the sense of what English speakers call a 'pie-slice/ 'fish slice,' or 'cake server/ which is one of the senses of 'pelle' in modern

Notes to the Introduction 35

59 60

61 62 63

64

65 66

67 68

69 70

French. See, e.g., Littre. This is an appropriate type of knife for Machaut's comparison since both sides of such a wedge-shaped utensil are equally sharp. Cf., e.g., Bishop Grosseteste's advice to the countess of Lincoln, in Oschinsky, ed. and trans., Walter of Henley, 404-5. 'Tant que juste partie baillent / A chascun selonc ce qu'il pense, / Dont Amours de droit recompense / Ce qu'on a fait ou qu'on vuet faire, / Et selonc 1'uevre le salaire' (2912-16). Libelus de natura animalium, facs. with intro. by J.L. Davis, under 'De Falcone7; the book was originally printed in Italy between 1508 and 1512. As summarized by McCulloch, 123-4. For a discussion of this work, see Beer's translation, Master Richard's Bestiary of Love, where alerion is translated as 'eagle/ and her 'Duel of Bestiaries/ in Clark and McMunn, Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages, 96-104, which further discusses the Bestiaire but concentrates on its satirical aspect, an aspect not seen in Machaut. See McCulloch, 211. The Aviarium is printed in Migne, PL 172, as the first book of the De bestiis formerly attributed to Hugo of St Victor; chapters 12 to 19 deal with hawks. A critical edition and English translation of this work by Willene B. Clark appeared too late to be consulted by us: Clark, ed. and trans., The Medieval Book of Birds: Hugh of Fouilloy's 'Aviarium' (Binghampton: MRTS 80, 1992) was still not accessible to us at the time we were going to press. For the derivation of 'east/ and thus Fr. 'est/ see the OED. 'Laeva sunt bona temporalia, dextera vero sunt aeterna/ col. 22. The other chapters on hawks here compare wild and tame hawks to laymen and monks (14-15) and discuss the perch, bonds, and reins of the tame hawk in relation to the rules of the monastic life, etc. Another aspect that may suggest a correspondence with Machaut is that the hawk's trappings are here limited to two basic items, corresponding to the 'longes et prolonges' with which Machaut's narrator equips his sparrowhawk; no mention is made of bells or other furnishings. See Van den Abeele, passim; examples on 303-4 are particularly relevant. Lines 128-9; m Piaget, Oton de Grandson: sa vie et ses poesies, 485. Here and in other works, such as the Songe Saint Valentin, Granson shows the influence of Chaucer - especially the Parliament of fowls - as well as direct imitation of Machaut; see Wimsatt, Chaucer and His french Contemporaries, chap. 7, especially 220-2, 234-7. Oeuvres completes d'Eustache Deschamps, 6, 147-67 Jean Froissart, 'L'Espinette amoureuse/ in Scheler, ed., Oeuvres, i, 87-97.

36 Notes to the Introduction 71 Cf. Wimsatt, Chaucer and the French Love Poets, 119-29, and Chaucer and His French Contemporaries, chap. 6. 72 While Chaucer was not the first English writer to compare a lady to a falcon (Guy of Warwick's Felice is said to be 'as demure ... / A s girfauk, or fawkin to lure, / that oute of muwe were drawe'; Zupitza, ed. [London: EETS OS 42, 1883] 7), he was almost surely the first to make repeated use of the analogy of the lover (or husband) as falconer. 73 For information on birds of prey in fables, see Van den Abeele, 242-7. On some of the ways in which Chaucer may show the influence of Machaut's poem, see Hieatt, 'line autre' fourme/ 74 See Hieatt, 'Stooping at a Simile/ This article includes a detailed discussion of Shakespeare's use of falconry metaphors in The Taming of the Shrew. 75 See Planche, 358, for a discussion of the reasons for the gradual disappearance of falconry metaphors in France. 76 This point is central to Wimsatt's Chaucer and His French Contemporaries. As he explains, an essential component of what Machaut's French contemporaries thought of as 'natural music' - i.e. metrical speech - were verbal echoings of the kind Deschamps calls 'equivoque/ This means using repeated sounds to produce different senses, which is something Machaut does constantly in the Alerion. In this connection, Wimsatt cites Deschamps' Art de dictier, in Oeuvres completes, 7, 266-92. 77 Epistola Ivii 78 See 'Machaut's Text and the Question of his Personal Supervision' in Studies in the Literary Imagination, and the introduction to their edition of Le ]ugement du roy de Behaigne and Remede de Fortune, especially 21-6 and 44-6. 79 For some of the instances of the latter, see Brownlee, 71-2, 78. A typical pun is the play on the meanings of 'amer' (love vs. bitterness) in 333-4, 553-4, and i483ff., a passage full of wordplay of both types. 80 'Machaut, Froissart, and the Fictionalization of the Self/ 554. Cf., however, Planche, 355. Along with other more recent critics, Planche notes the possibility of an association of birds with the phallus, and says that if we consider this connotation, the falcon penetrating the heart of its prey (an image Machaut uses in Jugement du roy de Behaigne) is a euphemism. 81 Chaucer and the French Love Poets, 74; cf. also 111. 82 Their rationale is explained in the introduction, 33-4. But they are not absolutely consistent about this: on 450 they refer to a miniature showing 'the God of Love/ The miniature they refer to shows a female figure; but like the rest of us, they must have been used to a male love deity. 83 The Judgment of the King of Navarre

Notes to the Introduction 37 84 Medieval and Renaissance English books on falconry invariably use feminine pronouns in speaking of individual hawks; see, e.g., English Hawking and Hunting in The Boke of St. Albans, facs., ed. Hands. 85 Wimsatt, however, in Chaucer and His French Contemporaries, 221, translates the pronoun as masculine: 'Presiding over them is an eagle, who has with him his chosen companion (69-73).'

Bibliography of Works Cited

I. PRIMARY SOURCES A. Literary works Deschamps, Eustache. Oeuvres completes d'Eustache Deschamps, ed. Auguste Queux de Saint-Hilaire and Gaston Raynaud. 11 vols. Societe des anciens textes franc,ais. Paris: Firmin-Didot 1878-1904 Froissart, jean. 'L'Espinette amoureuse/ In Oeuvres de froissart: Poesies, i, ed. Auguste Scheler. Brussels: Devaux 1870; rpt. Geneva: Slatkine 1977 Granson, Oton de. See Piaget, Arthur, under Secondary Sources: Literary history and criticism Machaut, Guillaume de. Le ]ugement du roy de Behaigne and Remede de Fortune, ed. and trans. James I. Wimsatt and William W. Kibler. Chaucer Library. Athens: U of Georgia P 1988 - The Judgment of the King of Navarre, ed. and trans. R. Barton Palmer. New York: Garland 1988 - Le Livre du Voir-Dit, ed. Paulin Paris. Paris: Societe des Bibliophiles franc.ois

1875 - Oeuvres de Guillaume de Machaut, ed. Ernest Hoepffner. 3 vols. Societe des anciens textes franc.ais. Paris: Firmin-Didot 1908-21 Der Minne Palkner. In Hadamar's von Laber ]agd und drei andere Minnegedichte seiner Zeit und Weise, ed. J.A. Schmeller (Stuttgart: Bibliothek des literarischen Vereins 20, 1850), 170-85

The Romance of Guy of Warwick, ed. Julius Zupitza. EETS ES 25, 26. London: Oxford UP 1875-6; rpt i vol 1883

Bibliography

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B. Falconry Adam des Aigles. Traite de fauconnerie, ed. Ake Blomqvist. Karlshamn 1966 [The Boke of Si. Albans.] English Hawking and Hunting in The Boke of St. Albans, ed. Rachel Hands. Oxford: Oxford UP 1975 Frederick II, Emperor of Germany. The Art of Falconry, ed. and trans. Casey A. Wood and F. Marjorie Fyfe. Stanford CA: Stanford UP 1943; rpt. Boston: Branford; London: Oxford UP 1955 — Traductions en vieux franfais du 'De arte venandi cum avibus' de lempereur Frederic II de Hohenstaufen, ed. Gustaf Holmer. Lund: Bloms 1960 Gace de la Buigne. Roman des deduis, ed. Ake Blomqvist. Studia Romanica holmiensia 3. Karlshamn 1951; rpt. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell; Paris: J. Thiebaud 1952 Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio, ed. Gunnar Tilander. 2 vols. Paris: Societe des anciens textes francais 1932 Le Menagier de Paris, ed. Jerome Pichon, vol. 2. Paris: Societe des bibliophiles frangois 1847; r pt- Geneva: Slatkine 1966 - ed. Georgine E. Brereton and Janet M. Ferrier. Oxford: Clarendon P 1981 Moamin et Ghatrif: Traites de fauconnerie et des chiens de chasse, ed. Hakan Tjerneld. Lund: Bloms 1945

C. Bestiaries, natural history, miscellaneous Albertus Magnus. De animalibus, ed. Hermann Stadler. In Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philosophic und Theologie des Mittelalters 16. Munster 1921 Alexander, J.J.G., ed. The Master of Mary of Burgundy: A Book of Hours of Engelbert of Nassau. New York: Braziller 1970 Brunetto Latini. Li Livres dou Tresor, ed. Francis J. Carmody. Berkeley: U of California P 1948; rpt. Geneva: Slatkine 1975 Fournival, Richard de. Li Bestiaires d'Amours di Maistre Richart de Fornival e li Response du Bestiaire, ed. Cesare Segre. Milan and Naples: Riccardo Ricciardi 1957 - Master Richard's Bestiary of Love and Response, trans. Jeanette Beer. Berkeley: U of California P 1986 Hugo of Folieto. Aviarium. In De bestiis, Migne, PL 177 John of Salisbury. Policraticus, ed. Clement CJ. Webb. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon P 1909 Libelus de Natura Animalium: A fifteenth century Bestiary. Facs. with introduction by J.I. Davis. London: Dawson's 1958 Neckam, Alexander. De naturis rerum libri duo. With the Poem of the Same Author, De

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laudibus divinae sapientiae, ed. Thomas Wright. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green 1863 Oschinsky, Dorothea, ed. and trans. Walter of Henley. Oxford: Clarendon P 1971 Pierre de Beauvais. Bestiaire, ed. Charles Cahier and Arthur M. Martin. In Melanges d'archeologie, d'histoire et de litterature sur le moyen age, 2. Paris: Mme. Ve Poussielgue-Rusand 1868, 162-4 - Le Bestiaire de Pierre de Beauvais (version courte), ed. Guy Mermier. Paris: Nizet 1977 Pliny. Natural History, ed. and trans. H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA: Loeb 1940 Thomas of Cantimpre. Liber de Natura Rerum, ed. H. Boese. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 1973 Vincent of Beauvais. Speculum naturale. Strassburg [1481], and Douai 1624

II. SECONDARY SOURCES A. Literary history and criticism Braddy, Haldeen. Chaucer and the French Poet Graunson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP 1947 Brownlee, Kevin. Poetic Identity in Guillaume de Machaut. Madison: U of Wisconsin P 1984 Calin, William. A Poet at the Fountain: Essays on the Narrative Verse of Guillaume de Machaut. Lexington: U of Kentucky P 1974 Cerquiglini, Jacqueline. "Un engin si soutil": Guillaume de Machaut et I'ecriture au xive siecle. Bibliotheque du xve siecle 47. Paris: Champion 1985 Chailley, Jacques, et al. eds. Guillaume de Machaut: colloque-table ronde organise par I'Universite de Reims. Paris: Klincksieck 1982 Curtius, Ernst Robert. European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, trans. Willard Trask. New York: Pantheon 1953 De Looze, Laurence. '"Mon nom trouveras": A New Look at the Anagrams of Guillaume de Machaut - the Enigmas, Responses, and Solutions/ Romanic Review 79 (1988), 537-57 Deschaux, Robert. 'Le Bestiaire de Machaut d'apres les Dits/ Cahiers de I'Association internationale des etudes franfaises 31 (Paris 1979), 7-16 Fleming, John V The Roman de la Rose: A Study in Allegory and Iconography. Princeton NJ: Princeton UP 1969 Frye, Northrop. The Secular Scripture: A Study of the Structure of Romance. Cambridge MA: Harvard UP 1976 Gaudet, Minnette. 'Machaut's Dit de I'alerion and the Sexual Politics of Courtly Love/ Romance Languages Annual 1993, 55-63

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Hieatt, A. Kent, and Constance Hieatt. "The Bird with Four Feathers": Numerical Analysis of a Fourteenth-Century Poem/ Papers on Language and Literature 6 (1970), 18-38 Hieatt, Constance B. 'Stooping at a Simile: Some Literary Uses of Falconry/ Papers on Language and Literature 19 (1983), 339-60 - 'Une autre fourme: Guillaume de Machaut and the Dream Vision Form/ Chaucer Review 14 (1980), 97-115 Hoepffner, Ernest. 'Anagramme und Ratselgedichte bei Guillaume de Machaut/ Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie 30 (1906), 401-13 Huot, Sylvia. From Song to Book: The Poetics of Writing in Old French Lyric and Lyrical Narrative Poetry. Ithaca NY: Cornell UP 1987 Jeanroy, Alfred. Histoire des Lettres, vol. 12 of Histoire de la nation fran^aise, ed. Gabriel Hanotaux. Paris: Plon-Nourrit 1921 Kelly, Douglas. Medieval Imagination: Rhetoric and the Poetry of Courtly Love. Madison: U of Wisconsin P 1978 Leupin, Alexandre. 'The Powerlessness of Writing: Guillaume de Machaut, the Gorgon, and Ordenance/ trans. Peggy McCracken. Yale French Studies 70 (1986), 127-49 Lynch, Kathryn L. The High Medieval Dream Vision: Poetry, Philosophy, and Literary Form. Stanford CA: Stanford UP 1988 Machabey, Armand. Guillaume de Machaut, 1307-1377: la vie et 1'oeuvre musical. 2 vols. Paris: Richard-Masse 1955 Morris, Rosemary. 'Machaut, Froissart, and the Fictionalization of the Self/ Modern Language Review 83 (1988), 545-55 Piaget, Arthur. Oton de Grandson: sa vie et ses poesies. Lausanne: Payot 1941 Planche, Alice. 'Est vrais amans li drois oisiaus de proie ... Sur une image de Guillaume de Machaut. In Etudes de Philologie Romane et d'Histoire Litteraire offertes a Jules Horrent, ed. Jean Marie d'Heur and Nicoletta Cherubini. Liege: Association des Romanistes de Liege 1980, 351-60 Poirion, Daniel. Le Poete et le prince: Involution du lyrisme courtois de Guillaume de Machaut a Charles d'Orleans. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France 1965 Van den Abeele, Baudouin. La Fauconnerie dans les lettres fran$aises du xiie au xive siecle. Mediaevalia Lovaniensia 1, 18. Leuven: Leuven UP 1990 Wimsatt, James I. 'Guillaume de Machaut and Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde/ Yearbook of English Studies 15 (1985), 18-32 - Chaucer and His French Contemporaries: Natural Music in the Fourteenth Century. Toronto: U of Toronto P 1991 - Chaucer and the French Love Poets: The French Background of the 'Book of the Duchess.' U. of North Carolina Studies in Comparative Literature 43. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P 1968

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-, and William W. Kibler. 'Machaut's Text and the Question of his Personal Supervision/ In Chaucer's French Contemporaries: The Poetry/Poetics of Self and Tradition, ed. R. Barton Palmer. Studies in the Literary Imagination 20, i (special issue 1987), 41-54

B. Bestiaries, Falconry, etc. Bevan, W.L., and H.W. Phillott. Medieval Geography: An Essay in Illustration of the Hereford Mappa Mundi. London: Stanford 1873 Clark, Willene B. and Meradith T. McMunn, eds. Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages: The Bestiary and Its Legacy. Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P 1989 Cummins, John. The Hound and the Hawk: The Art of Medieval Hunting. New York: St. Martin's 1988 Dalby, David. Lexicon of the Medieval German Hunt. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 1965 Denis, Ferdinand. Le monde enchante: cosmographie et histoire naturelle fantastiques du moyen age. Paris, 1845; rpt. New York: Burt Franklin 1965 Glasier, Phillip. Falconry and Hawking. London: Batsford 1980 McCulloch, Florence. Mediaeval Latin and French Bestiaries. U. of North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures 33. rev. ed. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P 1962 Slessarev, Vsevolod. Prester John: The Letter and the Legend. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P 1959 White, T.H. The Goshawk. London: Cape 1951 Zarnke, Friedrich. Der Priester Johannes. Leipzig, 1875 and 1876; rpt. Hildesheim: Georg Olms 1980

C. References, Dictionaries Chevalier, Jean, and A. Gheerbrant. Dictionnaire des symboles. 4 vols. Paris: Seghers 1973 Cotgrave, Randle. A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues. London, 1611; facs., Columbia: U of South Carolina P 1950 Du Cange, Charles du Fresne. Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis. 10 vols. Paris: Niort 1883-7; rpt. Graz 1954 Godefroy, Frederic. Dictionnaire de I'ancienne langue franc,aise. 10 vols. Paris: Vieweg 1881-1902 Greimas, AJ. Dictionnaire de I'ancien fran^ais jusqu'au milieu du xive siecle. Paris: Larousse 1969

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Hassell, James W., Jr. Middle French Proverbs, Sentences, and Proverbial Phrases. Subsidia Mediaevalia 12. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies 1982 La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Jean Baptiste de. Dictionnaire historique de I'ancien Iangage f ran fois, i. Paris: Niort 1875 Littre, Paul-Emile. Dictionnaire de la langue fran$aise. 4 vols. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica 1978 New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan 1980 Organ, Troy Wilson. An Index to Aristotle in English Translation. Princeton NJ: Princeton UP 1949 Oxford English Dictionary, ed. James Murray et al. 2nd ed., 20 vols. Oxford: Clarendon P; New York: Oxford UP 1989 Tobler, Adolf and Erhard Lommatzsch, eds. Altfranzosisches Wbrterbuch. 10 vols. Berlin/Wiesbaden: Steiner 1925-66 Wartburg, Walther von. Franzbsisches etymologisches Wbrterbuch. Bonn, Leipzig, Berlin, Basle, 1922-

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The Tale of the Alerion

PROLOGUE

5

10

15

20

Everywhere, throughout the earth, to enjoy this earthly life, there are four basic points to heed; and it is now the time and place to maintain all of these four points. He who would behave aright, and he who makes right use of them, will lead a much more upright life. To name them - that is easy; but adopting them is difficult. Yet, if a man should hold them dear, he may adopt them all with ease. To think good thoughts, speak and do good and to eschew the contrary: these four points, I have no doubt, will bring all that is good in life. To state in rather different form the matter that informs my thought, all things move through three fixed times, and if one starts, in proper time, the first stage, this prepares him for the second: then one sees the sign of the third stage, conforming to the task performed in all three times.

The four main points for success in life are to think, speak, and do good things, and to avoid the contrary.

The three crucial stages in life are beginning, middle, and end.

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The Tale of the Alerion I'll surely show what these three are: beginning; middle; and then end of these three he must be informed who wishes to perform good work. If one is prone to wayward thoughts, he must take care, to tell the truth, that he does not retard his start, for he can't do it tardily. But he who Wants tO do good work

One must do well in all

Cannot begin his work tOO SOOn,

three to earn any

because time always runs too short; and if one should cut short his work, in no way can I think or see that he is owed reward or fee, for fees must tally with the task: I know it can't be otherwise. But he who starts his task on time and sets out at the proper pace, as long as he does not stop short must surely reach the middle stage; and when this mid-time he has reached, and made himself more good than good, it would be hard for him to lose in the third stage sufficient fee.

reward.

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Now let us view another case which is in contrast with the first: take a child of tender years whose heart's by nature light and gay, perhaps at ten or twelve years' age, when Youth is stirring in his heart and who'll soon pass from childhood's realm; supposing no one holds him back, but all approve most heartily

A youth's character is

of all he does and wants to do.

determined in

To what will he apply himself in order to achieve good work? To this, one can quite well reply

childhood.

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by pointing to youth's innocence. Once the child is handled thus, as I have said, and turns his hand to pleasure's gain, one might foresee how he'll proceed in every way, from the morning of his life, once a certain way is taken: for he, as yet, no knowledge has, nor has he reason or conscience nor any means that he can use to win himself the slightest good. No malice has yet troubled him that could incline him to do wrong. I say in truth and certainty, and know it can't be otherwise, he acts at random, with his own true nature as his only guide. And thus one often may find out, when one allows a child to take whatever way he wants, he turns to doing wrong in every way;

If he is hostile and self-

he then becomes contemptuous,

ish, his next stage may

rude, silly, rather pitiful disdains, at times, his loving friends who maintain he's a dear, sweet child. From time to time he wants to fight and beat the other children up; if he can't have just what he wants he acts in such a savage way that he is hated everywhere. One ought to be alarmed at this and fear that without self-restraint his middle stage may be yet worse, that he may pull against the rein and grow more wayward day by day. But there are joyful children, too, gay, courteous, and full of life,

be worse.

lovely, Sweet, and amiable,

Gay, friendly children

in all their deeds agreeable: so full of noble qualities that they are friendliness itself

show a nature free of villainy.

48 The Tale of the Alerion

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no

115

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and do not even know the way to turn on others angrily nor how to play dishonest games, and they are always bright and gay. There are happy children, then, of tranquil mind and peaceable, who do enjoy themselves at play and seldom speak an angry word. If one sees children playing so, with no desire at all to be less than courteous in their games, it's amply clear that villainy does not lie hidden in their hearts: it would have been revealed by now if it was ever to be found. Now I shall speak of my own life, of how I played when I was young, and what my childhood showed of me. I greatly loved the little birds, gay, lovely, courteous, and fresh: and from the very first day on, when I would hold one in my hand, I thought I was a king indeed: no other passion troubled me. Thus passed my age of ignorance, until the state of knowledge came, my heart inspired with goodness. At that time my desire turned from little birds to larger ones, and I was eager and engrossed, preoccupied with ways to find how I might keep a bird of prey especially the sparrowhawk. I lost no time in learning how I might pursue this noble craft, for which I felt such pressing need: Nature inclined me towards this aim, and never ceased to press me on, and Love, too, with his sovereign force kept urging me most graciously,

I myself, as a child, was very fond of little birds.

As 1 grew up, I turned to falconry and especially wished to keep a sparrowhawk.

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inspiring my heart yet more to keep the company of those who were devoted to this craft, those who knew it best of all, and these were such as could teach me as much as I could ever learn. And so I kept them company, and questioned them on many points to find out what I had to know, but always took care to conceal my purpose, guarding myself well not to put them on their guard lest they should see how strongly I desired such knowledge; thus I kept from showing too much eagerness. Therefore that which I most desired they showed to me quite openly, and secretly I learned it all: for what they openly revealed I took and hid away at once underneath a strange disguise, encouraging their openness by responding to their words in a simple-sounding voice, and in such an absent way it seemed to mean nothing to me. I also had begun to use a certain game, inspired by Love: that is, the manner I assumed was one contrived to make my face appear to match my foolish speech. I thus proceeded furtively to gain from them their knowledge of the noble gracious sparrowhawk, and of the joyous nurturing befitting to her noble kind, until I knew well what to do nor had I lost much of my time, for quickly I had reached my goal. I went on well now on my own,

Love urged me to seek out falconers, to learn from them.

I assumed a humble demeanour to learn their most guarded secrets.

Love prompted me to act the fool, and thus I learned all that I could about the care of sparrowhawks.

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for afterwards I learned enough all by myself - nor did I tire of the task - helped by a noble sparrowhawk that I closely held, with subtle skill, in loving bonds. Of this Til speak in what's to come, and I shall here describe to you a model of true goodness there. When I had taken leave of those who gave the splendid tutelage that I had prudently acquired, as I have just described to you, something else came to my mind that I believe brought good to me: for while I followed that pursuit, I came to entertain some thoughts concerning love, and ladies, and lovers who know the art of love; I thought if a true lover, one who gives a lady all his heart, wants to frequent other lovers to gain more knowledge of the craft, if he would do as I have done, I think that it would do him good if he knew how to draw them out, so that he might learn from their mouths the key to open noble hearts; if he, then, knew how to disguise himself, in both his words and deeds, I think that he would learn enough to put him right upon the road of honour, solace, and of joy, by virtue of a life of love or such a life is but a lie. I don't say he should draw them out or cleverly manipulate, to surprise them and deceive them, but that he should observe and learn in amiable and discreet ways: not to learn their secret lore in every intimate detail,

My own fine sparrowhawk then helped me learn much more.

A lover could learn the art of love by observing other lovers.

To learn from other lovers, one must be discreet.

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but in general terms to learn what might quite properly be told to all good men in general; thus he may benefit from them without importunate demands. Another thing that he must know is that he ought to regulate his thoughts, his actions, and his speech in a form that hides them well especially in those tight straits where Love's close grasp wrings many hearts, while others freely speed in joy, gay and rejoicing in their love. At such points, he must be on guard not to draw regard unduly, and with care to guard his lady from other people's harsh regard. In this respect, what can he do? As long as he shall keep his peace, behaving with propriety, the matter should be so well hid that it will never come to light and be suspected or perceived. But even if he holds his peace, if his heart should him dispose to show his sadness openly when it intrudes upon his joy, in manner or in countenance, he makes his cause quite manifest to others: this can well be said. If he cries today, tomorrow laughs, how he behaves will be remarked and he can't be excused for it. In such behaviour danger lies as much as if he'd spoken out, for it may lead one to suspect, believe, imagine, and project just what was given or denied, the fleeting gifts and long delays that true Love uses to control

A discreet lover guards his lady from hostile eyes and never shows his emotions or confides in anyone.

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those he retains in his domain. But to have a joyous manner, an even one, without extremes, it's wise and proper to adopt a manner he alone can read: he who confides in no one else is endangered by no other. I'll say no more of this, but think that such a life gives peace and rest. My thoughts were long engaged in this, but it was time for me to think about the other sovereign cause that was, indeed, close to my heart, of the pleasure and the joy I awaited tirelessly from a noble sparrowhawk, come of a fully noble race: to care for her and carry her for both her pleasure and for mine. Thus I reflected on this thought, and in reflecting pondered much upon three points: which of the three would be the better choice for me? Thus I considered first of all what seemed to me the best of all, that is, a very beautiful courteous, well-bred sparrowhawk, in plumage and in body sound, in all respects raised properly and thought to be a perfect bird, and tested well in every deed those deeds that are quite proper for a sparrowhawk's perfected stage. Or should I choose another kind, much favoured by nobility, a bird that's not perfected yet, beginning still; but so advanced it can be said she'll prove herself quite well when she's put to the proof, a hawk that in her training has

J thought about sparrowhaioks, wondering which would be best:

a well-trained, tested bird, one in an early stage of training, or a newly caught promising ramage hawk.

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been flown four or perhaps five times. A third kind is the newly caught that has as yet no greater worth than to be called a ramage hawk; but from her plumage one may see as well as from her bearing, and the grace with which she takes her stance that she must be of noble stock. I quickly found that I was drawn to such a new-caught sparrowhawk, that I might share her youthful joy and her middle stage as well, which would lead me joyously to the most noble end of all, to her perfected final stage. Thus I halted at this point, for in my heart I thought and knew that I would gain much more delight from one I'd tamed with my own hand than from three others fully trained. I was quite well informed about how hard her nurturing would be: but one who willingly takes pain until the pain delights him too will find he has in his delight a payment quite spontaneous for all his pain, and so much so that he's not harmed in any way by pain he feels both night and day. Thus, I say, to love a lady will not cause pain or bitterness grievous to one's youthful welfare I mean, when one is innocent. It is still true that loving youth may often meet with a repulse from a capricious lady's whim, for in the sweet beginning time the lover must make humble pleas, which the lady may refuse or grant, just as it pleases her:

/ thought one newly caught was best, for 1 could then enjoy training her myself and nurturing her carefully.

Just so, a young lover must take pains to please his lady and give love proper nurture.

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The Tale of the Alerion the lover has no more recourse. And if it should occur, by chance, that Love is so good as to grant the lover all that he demands, since the favour is unearned he must consider carefully how he can guard and keep it well: because the lady's worth so much and he can only pay with pleas, so he must do much harder work for the state of love's imperiled if he fails to nurture it. Because youth may both cry and laugh at one and the same cause and point, at just this point it suits the case to nurture young love wholesomely with amorous, sweet nourishment. It would be well to note the time when youth may laugh and cry at once: lovers know it well enough. Many times, with no forethought, a lady who is young may wish (whether to guard herself from blame or simply since it is her whim) to take back everything she gave

A young lady may cause him pain, but if

tO her Sweet and loyal Suitor,

he perseveres, he can

whose misfortune calls forth sighs; thus she subjects him to reproach that she speaks to him with her mouth: yet when she utters this aloud, a sweet glance says the opposite, a glance that flows into the heart of her sweet friend, recalling him with soft retraction pleasantly. And he will willingly come back, approach, present himself again, beseeching as he did before. Thus such discordant deeds, I say, cause lovers to be reconciled and pay a generous reward,

earn love's sweet reward.

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providing consolations sweet with which the lover is appeased and feels himself to be well paid. Love can the lady's debt discharge so she owes nothing to her friend, while her lover's learned from this more than before and is more sure. Now I shall return to that which led me to put down these thoughts, by forming a comparison with those sweet gentle remedies that benefit the lover's state and nurture that estate of love that we can all agree to call Love, true lover, and beloved. It is a truth that a well-bred, splendid, and noble sparrowhawk wishes to be held and carried and courteously flown and fed at the properly fixed hours ordained for just these purposes: and as it happens that one should carry and hold the sparrowhawk, a lover carries, properly, his lady, and obeys her will in all she wants to do or say, with good will, and does not object or censure her on any point. And thus it is desirable that a lover should make response to his lady judiciously; he should indeed grant her request according to her spoken will, but strive still more to satisfy desires she has not put in words. And if the lover so behaves as I have just suggested here, then he may trust that Love will lead him to a point where he will find in a lady all the points that

/'// now compare the lover's duties with the falconer's.

One should fly and feed a hawk according to her needs.

So a lover should grant his lady's every wish, spoken or unspoken.

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The Tale of the Alerion show two hearts to be united: so much in tune with one another and so truly bound together, together they will always stay

Doing so will bring about a lasting union -

as long as it is possible,

unless chance should

and they may never separate unless the unexpected comes through no ill will of theirs at all, but through pure chance or nature's law. Now it is time that I describe the noble and melodious sparrowhawk I loved so dearly, most tranquilly, and without fear. Time and again I looked for one, in many quarters searched and sought: but I shall not describe them now save one that I did frequent most, a place where I could hide myself, prepared to take the sparrowhawk. And, in speaking of this quarter, I had intended to declare all the facets of its beauty and its outstanding loveliness indeed, I was at first inclined to describe it in great detail; but I restrained myself at once, for I considered in my heart that I would have to show too much in order to describe each part. So that, to cut the matter short, and to avoid prolonging it, making the story far too long, I say no king or duke or count would not have found this quarter fair: sufficient to provide him joy, so nice it was, so fine and gay. And I was so much charmed by it that my choice was to frequent it

separate the two.

I found the perfect place to search for my own sparrowhawk.

at all hours, at my pleasure,

The place so charmed

for none forbade the place to me. Thus when I placed my body there,

me that 1 spent many happy hours there.

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it experienced such solace it couldn't tire of the place; and when my body took its leave, my heart, which shared the solace there, would have liked to stay forever, for it could never get enough of that quarter's sweetest pleasure, which it had in sufficiency. Thus there I lingered a long time alone, and without company, until one day that I'll describe, as faithfully as possible. It happened late one morning when the sun had risen in the sky rather than at the dawn's first glance that I was there in great repose at just about the hour of tierce the day's divided into three, if one would make three parts of it; my mind there took to wandering, considering many events that had already come to pass, then turned to those now taking place, exploring many different paths. It then went on to what might come and what the future might contain. These were the sort of thoughts I had, which much to my enjoyment came: for this quarter pleased me so since there was no disruption there to trouble me in any way or interrupt my reveries. Thus I amused myself some time, for I was not bored in the least in this most beautiful of spots where the daylight seemed to gleam. Thus I explored it many times, crossing that spot and coming back, and when my wandering had ceased, I sat down and inclined my head to give myself some slight repose -

One day, while spending a morning there, I was deep in many reveries;

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I had a great desire to rest because of my long wakefulness. Thus straightaway I fell asleep. And just as I began to drowse, before I was quite sound asleep, I heard above in a small tree many branches, large and small, stirred by a small bird's rustling, and I felt that dew was falling,

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which Caused me tO wake Up again

tree above awoke me; 1

and inspired me with wonder: for when I lifted up my face and opened up my sleepy eyes, I saw nothing but butterflies; the multitudes of little birds who had surrounded me with song had suddenly all gone away, flying off in great alarm. I hadn't any notion how or why this now had come to pass, or what could have become of them; because of this I felt quite sad, and surely I had cause to be. I pulled myself up to my feet and then directed my regard towards the tree, which kept on stirring, where I saw fluttering on top a noble ramage sparrowhawk: and I also saw her plumage showed not a sign of having been groomed by anyone but herself, most noble though her manner was. And I, engrossed in pensive thought, also observed that she had fed a little on a new-hatched bird, which she had taken for her food. And then I found myself much moved, by the true beauty of her form, which was endowed with every grace, and gracefully she bore herself,

saw small birds and butterflies fly off.

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then 1 began to fall asleep.

Dew falling from the

In the tree 1 saw a very fine ramage sparrowhawk.

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smoothing her feathers busily and preening herself splendidly. All this filled me with such wonder that I was struck with love for her, and therefore raised my plea to Love, saying, 'Love, this is your doing! For nothing else has force or power to foster love in anything which up to now has not known love, unless it emanates from you. This I believe with certainty. If you have brought me to this point, that I'm enamoured with the bird, allow me, please, to satisfy my love, and make my heart rejoice, for I shall suffer great mischance if I can't gain my goal today. And this is all that I desire: fulfil, now, my desire for her, Love; you can make it come about I've no doubts to the contrary/ I made debate to this effect with Love, and thus enjoyed myself; yet throughout this whole diversion Presumption was indeed at work, convincing me that Love had deemed that right away she would be mine. Presumption overcame my mind. Then Reason made it clear to me that it could never be quite so, and that my thoughts were foolish ones. And I thus held myself deceived when I began to see the truth. I thought of several other ways of different kinds to take the bird; I fixed on one way I would take, for I could see that my laments would not help me to capture her, and that I therefore must await a future time, when I might be

Love-struck, I prayed to Love to grant me her that very day.

Reason taught me this could not be: I'd have to lay plans to capture her.

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The Tale of the Alerion more ready and more well prepared, the more adroit in taking her and suitably equipped with tools to reach up higher or reach out to catch this noble sparrowhawk. Then other thoughts occurred to me, quite upsetting to my heart, and they very sorely pricked me and they urged me very strongly that I had best avoid this place and quite forget the bird herself, for once I had departed hence, I'd never more set eyes on her. But then I formed another thought that I locked close within my heart. I thus cast bitterness aside, so that I would have liked to say, 'Oh Love, where should I turn to now? From here I shall not take my leave unless I know where she will go when she departs and leaves this place/ When I had then declared this thought and locked it up within my heart, I softly told myself, 'Enough!' and sat down in a hidden place where I could watch this sparrowhawk who knew how to adorn herself, to see which way she would fly off when she departed from this place. For quite a while I stayed right there and kept myself as quietly as I best could, and it was right for my pursuit, in every way. It was a solitary place. Thus, sitting quietly and still were the tWO Sufficient points -

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the contrary would surely hurt. Well I observed the sparrowhawk, but kept myself from being seen, and this was of necessity:

fearing that if 1 alarmed her 1 might never find her again,

I hid and kept very still until 1 saw her fly away in a southeasterly direction.

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for some good counsel came to me to show me, as a certainty, that if I acted otherwise I would lose her by a feather, and I might well discourage her from coming back another time. Thus I left her undisturbed a while, until it came about that she must needs depart from there 'needs' in that she was so inclined, for nothing else caused her to go. And when time came for her to fly I watched her as she took her flight, and towards the east I saw her fly; but she flew quite consistently a southern, not a northern, course. I made a promise to myself that I'd come back on the next day and in this spot I'd watch for her. It is the same for one who loves and claims to be a loyal lover, and he might prove that very well if someone put him to the test, if he is taken ardently with a sweet and noble lady who sets herself upon the tree

So, too, a lover cannot win a lady by force, and must wait to see

of Wisdom, honour, COUrtesy,

where she wants to go.

and moves so freely on that tree that she can flit from branch to branch causing gentle dew to fall through her own noble qualities. If he does not feel loved by her, he must avoid her due reproach if he should force himself on her, for she cannot be won by force. Without delay she'd fly away, and soar so far in just one flight that he would lose her anyway, and never could recover her. He should conduct himself so well

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The Tale of the Alerion that he holds honour in his hands, is humble, amiable, and calm to everyone: and in that place where he reposes peacefully, he must, by needs, suspend his heart in a true amorous suspense, and faithfully he should await Love's approval, and his lady's, which he must wait for patiently. For if he does, then he can see the way in which his lady turns, and when he sees her take herself along the higher eastern way

If she takes the honourable south-eastern course, she will come

where honourable people dwell

back in greater honour.

who'll help to keep her honour bright, and he perceives that she prefers the southern, not the northern, course, which she rejects and flies far from because she feels a deep disdain for those who lead a darker life and have no care for honour's lure disdaining not for disdain's sake, but to make mock of all their work, reject them and eschew them all without appearing to do so. And in the south of which I speak - I trust my word may not prove false there everyone is amiable, honourable men and ladies who all appreciate the light of reason and of truth and peace, honour, wisdom and courtesy, and all the points of a good life. Such people will grant honour to an honourable lady's name. And when he sees her drawn to such, he may well think, when she departs, that she will come back that same way, and that he will see her again in every way better endowed,

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with wisdom and honour adorned so that he may await her there. Then he must so prepare himself that when she comes back to that place, on the small tree, there she will find the trap that he's adroitly placed that is, with all his heart and will he strives to serve and honour her, driven by true love and passion. A fine and noble sparrowhawk might be taken in this manner.

When she returns, he must be prepared to set a loving trap in which

Taken? How? At her Own pleasure,

he may capture her and

to share true and loving nurture with her lover, with no constraint except for Love, who holds the the bond with which he links two noble hearts, unites and reconciles them both. I stayed with this thought quite a while, but with so much tranquillity that I was joyful all the time because my thoughts took such a turn that I could hope I might now take the sparrowhawk I so desired. When I felt taken by this thought, then I departed joyously with no more wish to linger there.

convince her to stay.

It does not matter at which hour

leaving my heart be-

I went my way, nor where I turned: my heart in any case arranged to stay behind in sweetest joy, enjoyed with due moderation, for I ordained it in my heart. And thus, from this time on, I passed the rest of this day pleasantly; the day had dawned most beautifully and it had done much good for me bringing honour and profit, too. But though it was a joyful time, I needed to be thoughtful now, to watch and work most carefully

hind me.

I left that place happily -

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The Tale of the Alerion preparing for the task ahead: but I did this so willingly my joy increased at every step. Thus I contrived to get a trap which I found in a certain place, for so one of my friends advised; and inside it a bird was placed, which was well trained and very tame. At that point I was satisfied; fulfilment lay within my grasp, to my delight and profit fit as it was proper that it be. I thought that I would benefit, for I was sure that I would have a good beginning in all ways. The next day, then, I went my way, but I was there much earlier than I had been the day before: the time and route both suited me so that I could perform my tasks, arranging my trap properly,

1 got myself a trap and a tame bird to put inside it.

J went back early the

and I Contrived to Set it Up and put it in the proper place

next day and arranged my baited trap, driving

before the sparrowhawk might come, for otherwise I would have had to start again another day. And I did well to start so soon, for that was how it came about that I arrived in ample time. Now I must tell you something else that follows what I've just remarked. There were some birds assembled there, which had come from every side; these birds I had to put to flight so that none of them remained. I thought that if the sparrowhawk came with ravenous appetite and took her nourishment from them, she'd then desire nothing more, and thus would likely take no heed

off smaller birds so they would not distract her.

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of that small bird that I had set to lure her, in a friendly way, with shrewd and subtle courtesy; and should she thus her hunger sate, without ado she'd go away. And in that way I would have lost all that for which I'd set the trap. In this way should a lover act who would, in his own interest, set up a trap in such a way that it appear agreeable, arranged the customary way to give the proper reverence to his own lady first of all, and then to ladies generally. It would contain the noble bird used by most young gentlemen known as the 'amorous sweet glance,' nurtured with the greatest care; but there's another nobler still, one that pleases many more, as it well should: and it is called 'eloquent and courteous speech,' which has been trained and nurtured by diverting games and merriment, and well arranged, for friendship's sake, in fashion sweet and debonair. And when he feels her in his grasp, consenting with wholeheartedness to stay in his grasp willingly, it's fitting he should seek to find how he may then retain her so.

So should a lover act, using the bait of sweet glances and courteous speech.

He must drive away

And thus he OUght to look about

'birds' that might

to see if there's a strange bird that might make the lady feel estranged, afraid of moving towards the lure, for fear of these strange birds' reproach. What birds are these? Deceitful words, rude slips, lies, and frivolities, all arranged and subtly phrased

frighten her, such as lies and boasts.

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The Tale of the Alerion and counted off maliciously: ruses and gross flattery, presumptuousness and idle boasts and every kind of flighty word. For in so far as prudence rules a merry lady's joyous heart when, for love's sake, she gladly would approach the noble, gracious bird, if she should see contrary signs in those strange birds described above when they appear in front of her, she'd recognize them very well as soon as she caught sight of them; she might get such a mouthful there that she would be disgusted soon and hastily make her retreat, avoiding capture happily. With what bow can the lover then shoot to attain the lady's heart, peacefully, within his trap, not Stumbling On an obstacle?

The lover must not talk

My advice will suit the task And properly accomplish it: to hold his peace and mind his task for too much talk, they say, does harm. I say, whomever it annoys, that he whose custom is to talk may find himself, to his dismay, discomfited by excess talk, his song changed to a sad lament; and rightly is this often so one sees it happen many times. I'll say no more; who wants, may ask, for now it's time for me to turn back to the hawk, and to that place I turned to when I set my trap. Alone I found myself to be, and glad: I'd not have welcomed those who might have wished to come along; they would have hindered me too much. There I reclined, and leaning back,

too much,

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I listened and I strained my eyes towards the south-east, where my heart pined, awaiting the beloved hawk. I had a very long sojourn, but my stay was much enlivened by a very gracious pleasure that brought some peace to my desire: that is, the counsel of good hope, which held me with the promise that, by dint of resolution firm, I would achieve all I desired. When I had been there quite some time, although this was in summertime, my body shook and trembled much: but this sensation pleased me much, and pleases still in memory, for my thought was, 'If she should come -!' For that, I trembled fittingly. I had, then, no desire to sleep and kept my open eyes on guard. Unceasingly they kept their watch and while my body waited there my heart, full of desire, reached out in the direction whence I thought to see the sparrowhawk approach, which I sought out with piercing glance. Indeed it was just as I thought when finally I saw her come, flying, as her wings embraced the air through which she made her way, enjoying her delighted play, performing many a proud feat: to such great altitudes she soared I often quite lost sight of her, but soon I saw her once again. Then, when she had flown back and forth, she courteously took her descent,

Alone, 1 waited for the hawk for a long time, trembling.

until she lit On that same tree

Finally she came and lit

where she had sat the day before. Most gladly I beheld her there:

again on that same tree.

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I saw her come in health and strength of body, wings, and plumage, too; and then, within my bosom, I felt marvellously deep desire, my heart eager, my body slow my body didn't dare to move, while my heart, if it could fly, would have flown right to her feet; and if the hawk had wanted to, she could have struck a mortal blow and split my unresisting heart, so deeply was it struck with love. Whence often in my heart I said, 'Beloved, if I can have you, I'll never strive for other gain/ And she, the charming, very sweet, noble, and loving sparrowhawk, began to move her head about, and I was moved with sad concern, thinking how hungry she must be, for she did not appear to tire of searching for a spot where she might find a bird to prey upon. There were no others but herself in all that place, except that one that had been placed within the trap, where it had hardly rested much, but had for some time chirped away, amusing itself merrily. The noble sparrowhawk heard this: I think it gave much joy to her; they also are accustomed to enjoy themselves, at risk of harm: but, indeed, if she was harmed, she soon was all the better off. She did not tarry very long she knew just what she wished to do. When the sparrowhawk had flicked her head from side to side, in search, she soon began to think about

Looking for food, she heard the bird within the trap.

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just how she could catch sight of it, and in a sudden flurry thence she flew up in a certain tree, to the very highest branches, and I, for fear of losing her, watched very closely with my eyes; with bated breath I saw her rise: but in a way exactly right well can I say she did not miss she turned her face right towards the trap, which had been placed in such a way that it was perfectly prepared, and covered so with foliage she could not see the trap at all. It was good thus to deceive her With this COUrteOUS deception,

Courteous deception

for such deceit may benefit the hearts of many, when it turns them towards the good, away from ill: thus she who finds herself deceived in such a way is no whit harmed. And he who takes a sparrowhawk, if he teaches her and trains her in the courteous, noble craft that does much good to noble hearts when she has been both tamed and taught, she is far better off for it than when she hunted on her own, pursuing her prey in the fields. The trap was covered up with leaves, but it was open underneath; no one could see the opening

benefits its object: a tame hawk is better off.

The hawk flew into the trap, but the small bird

because of that dense Covering.

was safe behind a par-

The sparrowhawk did thus stop short, her glance well rooted on that spot. She heard the small bird hop about and saw the way the leaves were stirred by all the noise the little bird was making, bold as it could be; though that wasn't very prudent,

tition there.

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it was being rather noisy, as if it could not be content 990 unless it constantly was heard. Then when the sparrowhawk perceived its little wings among the leaves, she rose in flight so skilfully that with no warning, rapidly, 995 within the trap she launched herself. The little bird still felt no fear, for that trap was most skilfully set up and carefully prepared, with a partition in its midst 1000 that held the two parts separate so that the hawk could not reach in. In any case, I heard a click and knew that she was in the trap the noble, worthy sparrowhawk. 1005 Then I got up and went towards her, and thus addressed the sparrowhawk: 'Dear friend, for you I've laboured long. Though I've remained awake and toiled already many nights for you, 1010 henceforth I'll spend more sleepless nights, for from this day my pain begins, but that is pain that brings me joy

to my enjoyment and delight: thus I can bear the pain with ease/ 1015 Then I took apart the structure that was put together there, and in the trap I carried off the sparrowhawk, which gave me joy, until I came to my retreat 1020 rejoicing, and, when I was there

1 vowed to toil and spend many sleepless

nights with her.

began tO train her, joyously.

1 carried her off and

First I set to work to make the hawk accustomed to my touch.

began to train her, providing her with all her

When Td done this without a hitch, 1025 and I could hold her on my fist, I could see by her behaviour, by her plumage and her manner,

needs.

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she would be easy to instruct, for she learned all things easily. Then I took thought of how I should provide for all that she would need, so that at once I then arranged that she should be provided for. Then quickly I procured for her lunes and creances of leather. Then I abandoned every trace of melancholy for her sake: no other creature mattered now, or any other enterprise, not past or present, or to come. I now took care for all her needs: to furnish her with nourishment to feed her in the proper way, all properly proportioned, just exactly right and regular, neither too little nor too much, at one time more, another less, and all to pass through my own hands; but I had learned this long ago I couldn't be mistaken here. And, as was natural for her, she set about to take her food precisely so no part was left: for which I thought she was well worth a hundred times her weight in gold. This brings into my mind a saw that I invoke on Love's behalf: 'My love for my horse sets its worth': indeed, the more I value it, the more my horse is worth to me. Its worth is measured by true love, not by pretended sentiment, which is too often bought, they say. A lady's value is defined the same way, when one says, 'My dear, you cannot be too dear to me, for in my heart I cherish you/

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So I possessed entirely the sparrowhawk I cherished so: 1070 I valued her that much and more.

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She was all a hawk should be, so I valued

Valued? Why? It Was quite right

her more and more, as

for, from the loving point of view,

one cherishes a beloved

it's clear from what I've told of her that she was good in every way. Above all, she was noble, true, and possessed of every grace expected of a sparrowhawk that holds to its nobility, in plumage elegant and sleek, in manner gay and beautiful; I've never seen a sparrowhawk more noble or more well behaved, more joyful or more generous, less greedy or less difficult, or one with less presumptuousness: but always all the courtesy one might find in a sparrowhawk all these things one could find in her, so that I kept her joyfully. And I was very careful, too,

lady.

1 did all I could to

never tO do the Contrary

please her and never do

of everything that seemed to please, while never being negligent, but always very diligent 1095 in every way to bring about as best I could all her desires whenever it was time and place, at any reasonable hour: late or early, day or night, 1100 for never did I tire of this. Thus many times, for very long, I'd hold her before daybreak came most happily and tranquilly, because this was the proper way 1105 to find my comfort and my joy. Why should I have grown tired, then, of all the pain that I endured,

the contrary.

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though its duration might be long? For I still hold to my belief that in my pain I found repose. Now, having held her in this way, most joyfully and with good cheer, I knew the time had come for her to learn to fly in open fields;

When it was time to fly

for this I gladly Carried her,

her, she much enjoyed

and very graciously did she participate in this fine art no sparrowhawk that I have seen could better make her point than she, from hour to hour, from point to point. I'll give no long account of this, but wish to speak of something else. She quickly came back to my wrist, so delighted in her flying that she would not have wished to have any but this noble calling, given the great delight she took in the quarry she could capture. Thus she learned quite fearlessly all of the habits of her prey, to take her flight both high and low, or how to meet her prey straight on and to track her quarry closely when it tried to flee from her. In all this she was so well trained that it was simply a delight to see her given to her joy. Never could the hunt have bored her, for she mastered all the tricks, dodging, crossing, and returning after the game to capture it. Since people often prize the game more than the birds whose prize it is, it's well to learn about all this. And since from me she learned so much, she never thought me in the wrong. However long a flight she made,

her sport, but always came right back.

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still, on her own or at my call, no matter how far she had flown, she always did come back to me. So may it very well be, Love, according to your gracious nature, when a lady is well loved if she has bestowed herself in good faith to him who loves her and who finds her a sweet lady, when she may turn away from him and choose to take another path towards people of good character, where she may thus most joyously and pleasurably take her place, there to amuse herself and take joyful diversion amiably. When her path is so courteous she gladly is both seen and heard, and she takes pleasure in her deeds, then she is like the sparrowhawk. For together there may gather birds in a great multitude, lovers' hearts, which, charmed by her, will pledge themselves henceforth to love and which reach out to gain her love. Now these birds become her quarry, for all of them torment themselves to serve her and to honour her just as their love for her demands. Love, who'd wish her to be pleasing to each one, could make it so. And when they serve and honour her, by doing so, they win her grace, which she must render then to them, and thank each one for doing so. And when she therefore gives them thanks, each one of them goes off to where it pleases him to seek solace for he has cause to say 'alas!' when he has left his heart behind.

]ust so, a loving young lady may amuse herself elsewhere.

She may have many admirers, but always returns to her lover.

Part i 75 But when she takes herself from there, wherever she may turn to go, 1190 she turns her heart towards her true love, entirely devoted and desiring him with all her heart. Of all this I shall say no more; one who wants to hear the rest should 1195 wait, in courtesy and honour: such and no other I intend. Now I have adorned this well when to the lady I've compared the sparrowhawk, which always did 12 oo unfailingly what pleased me best. My pleasure, I may well believe, was nurtured by sufficiency, for she was never once inclined to do what might have displeased me: 1205 at least, it so appeared to me, she carried off my heart so well. And she was then the more inclined to let me hold and carry her. Indeed, Such gracious Services

1210 were an easy burden for me. Thus I enjoyed for a long time this sweet state of joy and bliss, until a certain moment came when nature made it clear I must 1215 take notice from her plumage that I had to put my sparrowhawk, that noble creature, in the mew. For as nature changes seasons, it nOW Was a necessity

12 20 that she moult and shed her plumage so that she would have new feathers for new seasons and new joys. As soon as I had noticed this, about which I made no mistake, 1225 I let her fly about a bit to see if in her eagerness to fly, the feathers that hung loose

My hawk and I lived happily in perfect joy

until she began to moult.

I put her to moult despite my fears that

moulting might change her for the worse.

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might put themselves to right again. But very clearly I could see that it could not be otherwise, and I must needs put her to moult, whatever problems this might bring. And when I saw it was the case that she was just about to moult, whether or not I wished it so, I granted it, like it or not. Like it or not? Shall I say why? In truth, my secret thought was this. Though I was forced, then, to comply, I did so shuddering in fear that as her feathers moulted off perhaps her heart might also moult and she might be more difficult and not so loving as before. But I could not prevent it, still, and had no wish to hold it up. Thus, acting as a lover should, I had her quickly put to moult so thoroughly and carefully that it could not be better done, and I attended to her needs as she might wish at any hour. She therefore moulted very well, and the moulting thus took its course till she had moulted every bit: with all her former plumage gone, in elegant new plumage dressed. But she was so much changed by this that she now turned away from me, and I was very desolate since I had lost her through her moult. Pain now seized me in its grip, pain that my heart had to endure, and it endured for all too long. For when I saw that she was lost, I found myself at such a loss I asked what would become of me;

When she finished her moulting, she had changed in every way and turned away from

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so then I turned to Memory, so that she might repeat for me matters that were now all past, and she recalled them well to me, and rightfully she should do so. But never hence could I have more than a memory of my hawk which made me full of grief and pain. Nevertheless I still would tell the truth about the sparrowhawk, in justice to her nobleness. But there remains a single point that at this point comes to my mind, not regarding this one alone, but in regard to all that share the name of noble sparrowhawk, and rightfully are prized and loved. I have good reason now to tell a tale not difficult to hear. A sparrowhawk, most certainly, by nature always has cold feet. Thus when she wants to make herself ready to take her rest, towards dusk, if she can find another bird that she can seize upon and take, she will, then, sometimes have in mind to take it to her resting place. As quickly as she can, she takes it there, and gains delight from it, not to abuse the smaller bird, but to use it to warm her feet. Beneath her feet she holds it close, and treats it just as gently as she can, to keep from harming it. But in spite of this reprieve provided by the sparrowhawk, it is, in fact, in terror, which torments its heart unceasingly because it's so afraid of death. In this way will the sparrowhawk

I had nothing left but a memory of past joy.

Now I'll tell a fact about sparrowhawks, one that shows their nobility.

A sparrowhawk will take a small bird prisoner and hold it under her all night to keep her cold feet warm.

She does not hurt it, but the bird is in terror all night.

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keep it all night, till nature brings the dawn; and then when day has come, 1310 the sparrowhawk, who is not void of courtesy and nobleness, is careful not to wound the bird in loosening her grasp, and this does credit to the sparrowhawk. 1315 Then just how does she let it loose? She simply lets that small bird go, which lies there right between her feet, and if it cannot fly at once, Since it has suffered quite a lot

1320 and it may thus be tired out, it may get right up on its feet and straighten all its feathers out, there right beside the sparrowhawk, who gently casts a glance at it 1325 so that she'll recognize this bird, and all the day that follows, she will guard it well and peacefully. For from the moment that day dawns she'll always recognize that bird 1330 and never do it harm that day, though seeing it a hundred times. In doing so, the sparrowhawk loyally keeps her faith with it, respecting the integrity 1 335 of that small bird that served her well and justly earned reward for this. And thus she keeps her promise well: it's not a vow thrown to the winds but one fulfilled in every jot. 1340 If every vow of loyalty between a lady and her friend were kept as well as that one is, without a jot of fickleness,

the royal court of Love would be 1345 the better off, and not decline, and peace would longer be maintained between a lady and her friend;

In the morning she lets

it go and watches over it all day to guard it from harm.

Love would be the better off if all vows were kept

so well!

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there'd be less cause to sigh 'Oh dear!7 Now let us see how it might be that a lady could be much like the sparrowhawk, which takes a bird and carries it away, towards dusk, to keep her feet warm through the night, treating it as valuable. When a lover serves a lady, this alone does not entitle him to gifts from his beloved, granted to indicate her thanks which he has asked expressly for if true love does not sanction it. Thus if he makes his heart a gift to his lady, who accepts it, this heart that he gives away and freely trusts to her alone, that is the noble little bird that is held tight and used to warm the very coldest part of her. But a lady may be cruel towards the feet of her affection in making her intention clear and opening her heart to him, for she dares not unseal her mouth, although he may be loved by her: then the noble heart is stricken by the lady in this fashion, though she is good and true to it since she does not dare show her love. And that is why the heart is held enclosed within her secret thought, where it remains the whole night through. Oh dear! What sort of night is this that so torments the lover's heart? The time, however long it lasts, in which the lady is as hard as you'd expect from what's been said. He cannot hope for good from it, which makes it a dark night indeed

If a lover gives his lady his heart and she holds it to keep herself warm, but he does not know what her intention is,

this is a dark night for the fearful lover's heart.

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where he finds nothing but duress, for he is pinned between the feet of the noble sparrowhawk, and lies in terror of refusal, which would destroy him utterly; yet there remains to him good hope, which sustains him with the promise that this night will turn to day and that will draw him from this pain. After the long-enduring night in which he has endured such grief, the day, he hopes, may dawn for him when the lady may rescue him, after he's uttered sweet complaints that he makes as a sign of love, and she no longer will endure his suffering: and thus she gives a gentle, loving glance to him, or another sign of favour in her manner or her words. Then the little bird arises from its place between the feet where it has lain in dreadful fear, and up it rises on its feet right beside the sparrowhawk, leaving terror quite behind him, flying into sweetest pleasure on that day that he has entered, which has gained all this for him. And this clear day of sweetest joy is lovely, and it promises that if the matter should proceed so that it pleases each of them, at Love's good pleasure, to maintain with all their might and to sustain this estate of amorous life, amiably, without envy, then there's nothing that could harm them or might make them lose this day, for this state could be unending,

He can hope for the day when she'll give him her favour, a day that may last for life.

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giving delight throughout their lives. Why should I talk yet more of this? There is so much nobility, honour, honesty and good sense, enjoyment and true gaiety, in both lady and sparrowhawk, and in true love void of disgrace, and in a lover rapt with love whose heart is in a lady's hold, that he who'd wish to list these things would find it far too much to do; such joys are beyond numbering. Such a life is free of shadows, and bright with light at every hour, as long as one keeps loyalty. But henceforth I shall say no more, for to my subject I'll return, recalling for the second time some part of my unhappiness, which caused a sorely troubled heart since I had lost my sparrowhawk, which moulting took away from me. Thus one could now say, 'Mark it well!' - for, from that time, I met no good, no joy, solace, or benefit.

One may lead a joyous life with a lady or a hawk, as long as both parties are loyal;

but 1 recall my sorrow when 1 lost my sparrowhawk.

PART 2 It is indeed a certainty that I can state assuredly 1455 that when I was abandoned thus I found myself so filled with pain that I did not know what to do, and nothing was to come of this except for sadness and distress, 1460 which came in every sort of hue. Of this I shall not speak at length, but rather, now, come to the thought that caused me to be comforted, transporting me from grief to peace.

1 long mourned my sad loss, until at last 1 prayed to Love to relieve my misery.

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1465 It is true I greatly missed all the joys that I had lost, and thus I was, in my laments, still full of ardour and desire, recollecting pleasures past 1470 in which I had encountered joys that now had all been lost to me. Thus constantly I found myself assailed by cruel and painful thoughts that nullified all joy for me. 1475 But at the height of suffering, I made an effort from within through which I turned away from grief and turned my face back to true Love, thus leaving my laments behind. 1480 I made a proclamation thus, while complaining very gently: 'Love, how sweetly by your art, you made me love the sparrowhawk, which now costs me much bitterness 1485 love's sweetness turned to bittersweet: love has quite overturned my heart. Overturned? It has already tumbled in this bitter turning and will sink into its tomb 1490 if you do not retrieve it soon. I beg you, then, to turn it back in such a way that it returns from the distress that tumbles it, for it is sadly overturned/ 1495 Then Love, who won't forget his own, and pledges good things to the good, that very hour gave me relief and bound me to a new idea, to which I pledged my loyalty: 1500 for, in good faith, Love showed to me that there were birds enough for all, and I should not at all give up

Love counselled me to

my searching among all the birds for one that could renew my health.

seek another bird.

Part 2 1505 It's Love's advice one should so do, for there is nothing wrong in it when one cannot, by doing good, recover that which one has lost. As soon as Love thus counselled me, 1510 my heart knew I was in the right. And when I saw myself advised by Love, my heart, which had so toiled in thoughts of utmost painfulness, immediately set about 1515 to enter into courteous thought that put me on the path to peace not to repose or simply rest, but to regulate and order my memories and other thoughts 152O

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J resolved to follow

SO as tO leave the past behind

Love's advice, and went

and enter into newer paths such as things of the present time or others that are yet to come, removing from my memory and banishing from conscious thought that which could no longer help me. I was agreed on this new course, and it was right to reconcile myself to it, since Love had shown, to make my suffering the less, the causes, and was helpful in directing me to leave behind my lamentations and complaints. I set out to associate w ith some agreeable young men who were concerned with training birds, so I could watch them, hear, and learn for one can never learn too much. Thus I saw and heard such things as could fill my heart with joy, for there I saw some lovely birds, some large, some small, some medium, all very noble birds of prey, and this was what I most desired;

to keep company with falconers.

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1545 and thus I overheard much talk quite eloquent and in accord, as to how one ought to keep, to carry, guard, and care for birds, to regulate their nourishment, 1550 train, perfect them, and show each how to go about her calling, just as one might wish her to: and I enjoyed this very much. To relieve myself from pain, 1555 I stayed long in such company, which was agreeable to me, and gladly I enjoyed myself. Thus one day it happened that 1560

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One day a falconer

I took my place among a group assembled for the Sake of birds.

spoke of the birds called alerions and praised

There I was welcomed very well, and they answered many questions, comparing birds and ranking them according to their nobleness, until all fell in one accord to give a very full account involving much discussion of the birds known as alerions, a very noble race of birds, lovely, amiable, and gay. They were very highly praised, and very well informed was he who was the first to speak their praise. For, as I could well understand, all there listened readily to the way in which he praised them, grateful for his commendation since this was so strange to them, of a surpassing novelty, because it was indeed a marvel

them in all ways.

to hear all the information

Alerions are a very rare

given about alerions. They're not at all like common things, but are very much like creatures

species, much sought after for their novelty.

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1585 of a very different kind; thus their praises are more likely to be pleasurably heard, since their condition is the strange one that is known as novelty, 1590 but strangeness is the term I use because this state could certainly engender pleasure new to me. For, with anything that's new, if it be good and beautiful 1595 and thus the subject of great praise, most surely what one has to say about it will be gladly heard and welcomed by the listeners. And when it first comes into sight, 1600 it's viewed more eagerly by far than would be any Other thing,

Since there are few

however good and beautiful,

birds of this kind, one

which can be seen quite frequently by anyone who so desires. 1605 And it is true, most certainly, one very seldom freely sees alerions, and what they do. Since there are few birds of this kind, it suits the case to take great pains 1610 in study, labour, and expense, for a long time, unceasingly, if one should wish one of one's own. Possession would not come by chance, as if one, adventitiously, 1615 came to a place with no request, making no command or prayer, yet it happened he obtained saying, thinking, doing nothing, without delay or waiting long, 1620 and without spending anything something much to his advantage; of this I am quite confident. It may be, if he made a search, he might find one, despite the odds:

must work hard to get one.

86 The Tale of the Alerion 1625 it's possible that without work one might get an alerion, but that very seldom happens. Thus by necessity one should, if he would undertake this task, 1630 work very hard and strive at it, for he may have to work quite hard before he can reap a reward. Or we could look at it this way: if we consider in detail 1635 the case that I am arguing, I'll demonstrate with clarity, based on all I've said before, the conclusions that I have reached, which my examples demonstrate. 1640 It's said that we will prize the more a thing we have desired and chased, pursued and sought, and only gained after great hardship and expense, much study, many careful plans 1645 over the one we quickly gain as unconditionally ours without privation or hard work, and worst of all, without desire. But some maintain the contrary, 1650 so that I wish to argue here the two sides of the argument, and the advantages of each, to show that each one is worthwhile and valuable in itself. 1655 Thus I'll inspect them one by one in order to bring everything back to a path of peace and rest: at least, to my own way of thought. Thus, in the first place, I shall speak 1660 of that extremely costly prize that would be difficult to win, that I thus call formidable, that one would find hard to seek out and even harder to acquire:

They say we prize the more what has been hard to get;

but there's something to be said for the opposing view.

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1665 it's true that if it were well sought and were acquired with due right, he who acquired it would have had so much to do his heart would ache because of the anxiety 1670 induced by such a long delay, which would torment the aching heart pulled by desire unbearably, because it waited for so long and stretched itself beyond its strength 1675 so much that it would be near death unless it somehow came about that a healing grace descended that would relieve him of his pain so that he might be delivered 1680 and recover from this strain, with all that he desired gained, his heart at last in perfect peace. Those who Say this is the Case

It is true that great joy

affirm it as a truth, and Say

comes when reward fol-

1685 that in such joy perfection lies; nothing else can be so precious anywhere in this earthly life, and it could not be otherwise: and they show well why this is true. 1690 I would therefore agree they have just cause for praising it so well. But when it comes to scorning those who hold another point of view, I can't approve maligning them. 1695 They say - and they are quite correct, those who counsel to this effect that he who's turned his back on grief and feels himself caught fully up in the great joy that he has found, 1700 provided so sufficiently: he knows far better what he feels about the joy that falls to him than one who's never known great pain or suffered grief within himself;

lows a period of suffering:

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1705 for Reason, to increase his joy, has taught him through the pain now past to recognize what he feels now. From winter he to summer moves, from poverty to richest wealth, 1710 from tumbling hut to a firm fort, from utter darkness into light, from fear into security, from bitterness to sweet liquor, from fragility to strength; 1715 from rough waters to peaceful shores, from war into serenity. Thus he's freed from anxiousness because the truth has freed his heart and emptied it of vanities 1720 and put in their place confidence to trust others as they trust him with neither conquest nor defeat. Thus moving through contrary states he senses his advantages, 1725 and is aware of qualities that can both heal and nourish him, gained from griefs through which he's come but now all turned to joyous gains, part of a joy so perfect that 1730 it could not easily be lost. All the points set out above are held by those I have described. That this is good, I well agree, in full agreement with their view, 1735 but to blame those who don't agree I won't agree to that at all. Those who insist and reaffirm the former view firmly believe that if one should hope for a thing 1740 and, in the moment hope is born,

he who has not had such pain can't imagine the joy when pain turns to its contrary.

But it's wrong to think

right at the point One wishes it,

that a wish granted at

have it at once without constraint,

once is worthless be-

without experiencing pain

cause unearned, and

or any hindrance of one's will,

should be thus let go.

Part 2 89 1745 its value, then, will be the less because it comes to one too soon, and thus it can't endure for long when one's endured no pain for it. It is a gift of Fortune, who 1750 showers her favours forth on some like torrential rainfall, which leaves devastation in its path. Another case in point might be a little piece of sharpened wood, *755 planted in ground that is too soft. More quickly could it be pulled out than one with difficulty set in ground that is both hard and strong. And, most displeasingly to me 1760 thus I will not debate it long they say that he who to his taste has quickly reached the ultimate of his desires, easily, not meeting any obstacle, 1765 is best advised to let it go and then pursue it with true toil so he can the more firmly plant it in himself, right from the start, ensuring thus that it endures, 1770 whatever pain he may endure. With this I don't agree at all, for I well know another point that thoroughly belies this point; there he speaks false who this maintains, 1775 and I for my part soon shall prove as Reason dictates it to me, that I am right and he is wrong, for wrongly he rejects the truth. I earlier gave an account 1780 of which I need not be ashamed (since it contains no low excess) and to the subject I return of that most rightly famous bird 1785

which we Call an alerion.

Having heard about

Rightfully, it was highly praised,

alerions, I yearned to own one myself.

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so that when all this had been said, desire grew so great in me that I long thought about the way that I might gain one for myself 1790 for part of all that I possessed, or for such pains as might produce honour and profit, both, for her from whom I'd gain those qualities that she alone would then possess. 1795 Let us suppose that right away, without travail, without delay, I thought of an alerion, and just as soon as I began this thought, that one were shown to me 1800 in every way superior, beautiful in all respects, and well proved in her excellence, and that it just might come to pass that in that hour she be mine: 1805

If my wish for one had

according to the foolish view

been granted at once, 1

expressed before, I then must needs chase her away, and purposely

would have been mad to lose her in order to

loose her SO I COuld pursue her

make her harder to

when I should see her fly away, 1810 chasing her to call her back crying through the fields for her. That would be too much to bear, and if one acted in this way I believe it would be folly, 1815 and not mere folly, but far worse; for it could be quite plainly said that this would be insanity, implying total loss of sense. Now let's stop speaking of the bird 1820 and speak instead of some young man who, nobly born and debonair and courteous in his affairs, among the ladies takes a place, and there disports himself so well

obtain.

Part 2 91 1825 that he is pleasing to them all. And so well calculated are the honours that he there bestows, and those that he derives therefrom, that, without impropriety, 1830 he'll surely gain great pleasure there. Because of this, it may befall by a true amorous accord that the wisest of these ladies may conceive within her heart a 1835 sweet and amorous sentiment, which lodges, by her own consent, a gracious dart within her heart which this young gallant will have shot from so close by it will not miss; 1840 instead, she'll be his friend at once, within her heart in secrecy, so that she will keep enclosed her secret, not revealing it, except one point that she can't hide 1845 where her demeanour is involved. For in her face there will appear a somewhat animated look: just as a little wisp of cloud may seem to pass across the sun, 1850 it might appear upon her face. This he'll be able to perceive, and from it such joy to conceive that he'll be captured quite by love and will become Love's devotee. 1855 Then Love, who binds his followers to the performance of good deeds and often turns them back from ill, can so contrive that, without help he summons all his courage up 1860 to speak to her in humbleness: enough that he approaches her and tenderly suggests to her the way in which she's loved by him -

Suppose a young man pleases ladies, and wins the heart of the wisest of them all -

and she shows this just enough that he dares to approach her, declaring his love discreetly;

92 The Tale of the Alerion none others present, but apart, 1865 for he will choose a time and place apart from people of that place. At that time they will be concealed, but they'll be able openly to speak in private, by themselves. 1870 And if the others are discreet, they'll pay no heed to them at all, but will converse of other things. Now he can make honest requests both beautiful and courteous, 1875 so mercy may be granted him out of her own sweet courtesy. This is the grace all lovers wish, which some of them may count upon - to their misfortune - for their lives, 1880 for they will never find it theirs. Now it possibly can happen that the lady may refuse him, not because she is capricious or really wants him to depart, 1885 but for the sake of Reason, which leads her to know that Abstinence, seated next to Moderation, will allow her liberty provided that she guard herself. 1890 If the lover understands this, he won't feel himself dismissed, but take refusal with good grace, if he possesses loyalty. This is because he knows the truth 1895 that on the lips sobriety surpasses other qualities. Thus she is sober in her speech so that no one may hold her mad to give relief to him too soon 1900 when it comes to granting mercy. And it may be that she's fearful, and with her fear is shamefast, too: when for this cause he is refused,

she may at first refuse him grace, for good reasons. But if he persists amiably, they may soon be in sweet accord:

Part 2 93 he will not hold himself deprived 1905 of a reward that he deserves; he knows which path leads him aright, and thus he cannot lose his way, but sweetly will beg grace again invoking Love, source of all good, 1910 once more: which is the second time because it comes after the first. And if his prayers are not answered, he begs a third time, and a fourth. And thus he can, before he leaves, 1915 through amiably renewed request, bring it about that they agree, and put, for loving friendship's sake, both of their wills in unison. Indeed, nobody could beseech, 1920 pray or command a greater boon. But note that there is certainly no question of command involved. However faithfully he's served, no man has ever earned the right 1925 to lay claim to a lady's grace as due reward or salary until Love has ordained it so, giving with free and open hand. Thus the lover is deserving, 1930 not servile, as a servant is. When he is granted all he asks, as in the case described before, the lover will be much enriched and quite free of the servitude 1935 of those who aren't inspired by Love, yet foolishly proclaim they are. A great good will have come to him and become his within the hour: such a good, born at that hour 1940 and given at the proper time, may take shape just as properly and be as firm within the heart as if he'd taken ten long years

not because he has earned it, but because Love grants it.

He receives as great a good as if he'd laboured ten years and would be mad to refuse it or to choose to lose it and try to regain it.

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When 1 gained an aler-

the virtues of alerions, especially the Case of One

ion, I already knew all about these birds, and

such bird I had at my command, which had been well reclaimed and trained, and in which I took great delight. It's very true, without a doubt, 1980 that I knew everything about alerions, and all their ways the learned ways and the natural; the charms of hunting with these birds; and all the art of training them,

had set my heart on one.

Part 2 95 1985 as this had now been shown to me by those who spoke to me of them, mostly masters of the subject, well equipped to speak of this. Nothing was left I had not learned 1990 before I left their company; so well was I informed about this art, and ardently informed, that into it I put my heart, my body, mind, and keen resolve. 1995 Indeed, to tell the truth, I had resolved to stake my honour on advancing on the proper path to that delightful special place towards which my whole heart was inclined 2000 and given dedicatedly. For truly I knew there to be one alerion that I had most gladly seen there other times; my heart was wholly in this place, 2005 in order, first of all, to see the bird, and secondly, to hear her well praised in a goodly way: by this my joy was made complete. I set my course with certainty 2010 and with yet greater happiness to seek that one alerion to whom my whole heart gave itself. I came there, and was well received by those I prized and held most dear, 2015 who frequented this lovely place in which my thoughts had taken root. But I had something hard to do: it's true I could see very well the worth of this alerion; 2020 but of one thing I took great care: not to attempt to buy the bird, for it was clear I never could make her my own in such a way. For she was such a precious thing 2025 she was, indeed, worth double price,

I knew 1 mustn't try to buy so valuable a bird or be so bold as to ask for her.

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and in keeping with her status, this superior bird was kept and carefully attended to in a most honourable place suited to her nobility; to ask for her would be most vile. For courtesy demanded that I act with caution and with care, for I still felt a great desire to undertake this enterprise embarked upon with all my heart. But there was yet another thing that gave me cause to hesitate when it came to my attention: with a bird of such high status, of such rank and of such worth, nurtured in this noble garden, as I have earlier described, how could I be so overbold as to step forth confidently asking them to give her to me? It would be difficult to bring myself to dare ask such a gift. So it may be with a lover who serves Love and loves a lady:

Just so a lover may not

it seems to him tOO great a thing

dare ask a gift he hasn't

that he should dare ask for her grace when he's not served her long enough to merit such a precious gift. 2055 Thus, to my thinking, this is not a bird that should be up for sale, for it belongs to a great lord who carefully attends to it and keeps it from all servitude: 2060 with noble freedom it's bestowed. Now I shall speak about the task that did so touch and grieve my heart. It's true that I had formed a plan and locked it closely in my heart, 2065 concerning the alerion:

earned.

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of nobody would I request that she be sold or given me; but if it could be granted me to see her when I wanted to, I would take great pleasure in this and I would gain vast enjoyment and at once find ample joy there; and I had sworn within my heart that I would often visit her. But if it had been possible in any way for me to dare to try to buy her openly, would anyone accept my fee, I gladly would have paid much more than what a fair price might have been. But it could not be done like this; thus I turned to another way. I therefore let Love have his way: for it may often come to pass that Love allows one to possess what one can't buy at any price. This time I'll put it to the test and through pure reason prove it so with a well chosen case in point, which pleases all who love what's good. Once there was a king in France, a valiant man, most powerful; my lord Saint Louis had no taint of either avarice or greed, but led a just and upright life though none knew it, a saintly one; justly, thus, it came about that as his deeds were saintly ones he was so truly justified he's now in glory sanctified. This saintly king had such a horse that no one could have bought it for a valley full of finest gold: and never would he give it up, not for love or for the price

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My plan was to ask only to be allowed to see the alerion.

1 left the outcome up to Love, since Love may make one a gift of what cannot be bought.

An example of Love's gifts: St Louis, king of France, had a fine white horse he would not part with for anything.

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his very kingdom might be worth not even in the face of death. This idea suggests to me that it was thus a cause for life: for one cannot evaluate by any measurement in gold what any man's life may be worth. This horse was white, without a spot. And since I do not wish to add more than reason here demands, I'll now go on to talk about a noble knight then in that realm, valiant and courteous and wise, and of a very high renown: William Long Sword was this man's name, a very perfect, able knight who'd proved himself in many deeds. And there was nowhere in the realm another knight in arms and helm who had more knowledge of a horse or who could better speak of one; and he commended notably this white horse, and in such a way that he would ceaselessly expound, to anyone who'd care to hear, in words of matchless eloquence on the perfections of the horse. And when he had described in full all aspects of its excellence, he used to heave a heartfelt sigh. We can suppose that he believed he would have much preferred to have a horse like this than any wealth, so much he prized and cherished it. But in his heart he didn't dare to even hope that it might be that it could one day be his own. In this regard it was well known that this white horse had touched his heart every time he thought of it:

A knight called William Long Sword knew more about horses than anyone else; he valued that horse above all others.

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this was the way it had to be, and it could not be otherwise. I think it certainly is true that he most deeply loved the horse when he recalled it in his heart. It happened that this noble king, whom no one challenged or attacked, set off against the Saracens to put his barons to the test, and went straight on, without a stop, until he came, a certain day, to a certain destination, where he had vowed he would besiege a castle fortified and strong. His men set camp in front of it, and laboured long to set up tents in great numbers to house the troops. And when this army was well lodged, and this great castle under siege, then there came unto the king a piece of news most threatening, and aimed at hurting him alone by maligning him most vilely. Though nothing had occurred as yet, which might serve to dishonour him, a great misfortune was in train that in no way he could avert. It was a really dreadful thing, and very perilous, as well, which made him quake from head to toe. He called his council, for this cause, and told them this entire affair to ask their counsel and advice. At this assembly were produced lengthy speeches of all kinds, until at last a knight arose, addressing to the king himself words of warning and good advice; the king attended to him well. The knight said, 'Listen to me, sire!

William longed for the white horse.

Once when the king was at war with Saracens, bad news came that he had been maligned.

The situation was perilous, so he called on his counsellors.

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The Tale of the Alerion To attain the goal you wish for, force would not be suitable, and it is folly to use force when wisdom's all you really need, along with love, good conscience, and a mix of daring and finesse, and one man is enough for this. If your wish is to gain this end, then look no further into it, for, at the best, to my belief, yet more confusion would result. Among your subjects, there's one man who's never been surpassed, I think; there is no knight who's more renowned among all those who bear that name, and in the days his fame was won, we knew him as William Long Sword. He is now banished from your realm, but holds himself in readiness to love you in all loyalty: now he serves you all unbidden. In any place where he might learn you were dishonoured, he would go most joyfully, with good intent, to put an end to injury and to restore your honour well. For never has a knight done more than he has done, and he would do, whenever you had need of him. He names you as his rightful lord, and honours you in every way. I counsel that you send for him, and put your mission in his hands. Have no doubt: he'll accomplish it, and carry it out fearlessly.' The king responded, with soft voice, 'Indeed this is to be well loved, since he is right now a true friend to me, who was his enemy: he has well merited my love

A wise knight advised him to send William Long Sword to settle the matter for him,

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since he has served me well this way. I do believe what you have said, and I won't turn from this belief. I must, then, put my trust in him. Thus from this moment I will swear to love him well, and promise, too, that I'll love him forevermore/ The king sent off for William, then, and put the mission, in which lay his shame or honour, in his hands. There is no point recounting this at length; therefore I shall return, to my main point, as suits the case. William undertook the mission uttering no reproach at all; his words were only, 'Dearest lord, however hard the task may be, in truth, I will accomplish it or otherwise will not return if you will lend me your white horse. Now have the horse prepared to go. And if God grants to me the grace to ride it back, my task complete, you may take back your own good steed: it is not right to give me it. I will accomplish your commands most happily, with no demur/ 'My horse, William/ the king replied, 'I won't deny you, certainly. Most gladly do I make the gift, and pardon you all your misdeeds. Now use it as your own, and know we'll also give you other gifts when you return, so much as will ensure you'll never lack for wealth. But certainly, as to the horse, it's yours to own from this day on/ William bent his energies to carry out the king's desires, and so well did he do the task

101

The king agreed, and sent for William, who asked to ride the white horse on this mission as a loan, and not a

gift.

But the king gave it to him outright, to keep as his own.

102 The Tale of the Alerion the king was well pleased with his work and paid him very well for it, so William gained a great reward.

William did his task

I'm not afraid tO State this fact,

well, winning many

22 jo for there was nothing wrong in it, nor did the matter go astray, for William straightened matters out. Now I shall finish William's tale and state to you the reason why 2275 I undertook to speak of him. He greatly loved that priceless horse, and in his heart he longed for it, which often caused him sad distress: not that he ever entertained 2280 the thought that he could ride that horse. Now there might well be those who say that Fortune gave this gift to him; but I maintain the contrary, and say that Love, the debonair, 2285 decreed it without Fortune's aid, since it was given by the king, most fittingly, of his Own Will.

For Fortune, acting on her own, is often guilty of mistakes, 2290 and seldom gives a gift without an error, of whatever sort. In giving wrongly, she deceives. The good man falls through Fortune's hand, and all the good things that he had 2295 do often fall into bad hands, once the good man falls from grace. But anything that is Love's gift, and that Love guards and watches well, maintains itself in seemly style, 2300 as long as Love remains with it. If one should lose it by mischance, good Love sustains it all the same: it's safe within the heart of one who treasured that gift as a good.

great rewards.

The horse he loved so much was the gift of Love, given by the king's free will

Part 2 I trusted in this reasoning and thus relied so well on Love that I had certain hopes of him that he could well, of his own will, arrange it so that I might have 2310 the bird that I desired so. I therefore gave my services I don't mean serving bodily,

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Subjected in a servile way, but in accustoming myself tO doing Others honour, SO

I might endear myself to them, and especially those who kept and so honourably cared for that noble alerion, 2320 the object of all my desire, and I became well known to them. I was the more agreeable, endowed with gracious knowledge, which the laws of good Love gave to me; 2325 I was acquainted well with them, and was disposed to honour them, so they responded readily, and showed such true respect for me that I was given liberty 2330 and allowed, without restraint,

J trusted Love to give me the bird I desired, and set out to make myself agreeable to her

caretakers.

tO Carry this alerion

They allowed me to

for my amusement and delight whenever I SO wished to do -

carry her whenever 1 wished: but 1 was not

that is, whenever I might feel 2335 I wished to spend my time with her, to take her, carry her, and then to put her down when I would leave. Since no one wished to give me her, she couldn't have been better shared; 2340 of such a gift I dared not speak for fear of irritating those who might help me achieve my goal. I always had to be on guard and careful to avoid mistakes,

so bold as to ask for her as a gift.

104 The Tale of the Alerion 2345 and strive to so behave myself in such a way that they would see no reason not to just agree that they should give the bird to me, without my asking, willingly. 2350 I feared that I could never make amends for such a grave mistake as asking outright for the bird. My high esteem and vocal praise of her would surely guarantee 2355 my access to her all the time, so this appeared the better way to bring my purpose to the fore without arousing scorn at all. Why wouldn't I have valued her 2360 when I could see her with my eyes? I couldn't help but gaze at her; she kept herself so beautifully, and her gay and noble bearing made her most beautiful to all, 2365 as much in plumage as in form. I thus determined in my heart that it was right to value her, and show in every circumstance all the outward signs of love, 2370 deeply sighing with sweet sighs when I would take my leave of her: I could not keep from doing so. And the keepers of the bird, who used to see and hear me so, 2375 behaving in this loving way, met in a council privately to consider whether or not to give me the alerion; the discussion was quite lengthy 2380 and there wasn't much dissent. This turned out very well for me, for finally they all agreed that it would be most suitable that they should give the bird to me; 2385 and, as they told me afterwards,

I admired her constantly and sighed when 1 had to leave her.

Her keepers took note and met to decide whether to give me the bird.

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nobody was opposed to this, except for one who counted least, who was so stupid and perverse they paid no heed to him at all, refusing to be swayed by him. But, in any case, a lady may Love save her from dishonour! considered his words to be false, and therefore gave him such a blow he fell right down before her feet. Thereafter, he would not have dared to speak, for fear he'd be rebuked, and he indeed felt most ashamed of his objection to my gift, the cause of his humiliation. In the same way a lover might achieve a gift he dared not ask if he's free to meet his lady, speaking with her when he pleases, without any interference, and in all honour in this way derive great pleasure and delight and all the joys of love from this. But still love's favours are withheld, concealed behind the firmly closed door to the room where mercy lies. And yet this certainly can't mean the lover's doomed always to serve but never earn the lady's grace as the most perfect of rewards; thus he who serves a lady would be wise to serve also the ones who guard her and who honour her. Who are these guards of ladies fair who spy upon him and observe all the lover's amorous games, rewarding him when he does well? First and foremost is Love himself; Reason's also seated there, in a high seat right by Love's side, with Grace, Peace, Honour, and Judgment,

They agreed to this, except a vile one no one heeded. An angry lady slapped him down, so he dared not object

Though he hasn't gained love's favours, a lover may be allowed to speak with his lady.

To do so he must serve her guardians: Love, Reason, Grace, Peace, Honour, Judgment, Generosity, Faith, Truth, Temperance, and Humility.

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and Generosity and Faith, Truth, Temperance, Humility, and also many others, too, far too many to name them all. Then Love assembles this whole troop, and they are all in full accord that this truly loyal lover deserves the lady's mercy soon; but then vile Danger comes along disdainful traitor, merciless, who'd gladly slaughter and destroy the lover Love has brought to life and curses all that company, not wishing that such courtesy reward the loyal lover so. Then, a lady whose great virtues are desired by all true lovers comes forward, Danger to oppose, and destroys his opposition, and slaps him so, right in the face, that he lies prostrate at her feet and cannot make himself be heard, for none will listen to him now: thus he perforce takes to his heels. This lady, she who has the power to chase Danger from Love's secret, is the one we call Sweet Pleasure; she's a very valiant lady, in whom Love trusts with all his heart; Love has given her the power to decide in what direction he should turn to grant his mercy. Sweet Pleasure chooses who shall gain from all the riches Love bestows and be enriched by Love's largesse, in freedom and in purity. Upon distributing this wealth, Sweet Pleasure makes both parties free: first those from whom the favours come, then those who are enriched by them,

When all Love's court agrees he should soon have the lady's favour, vile Danger disagrees;

but a lady slaps him down so he can't be heard again. Sweet Pleasure thus declares who will win Love's gifts.

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for amorous behaviour means to give with generosity, and also receive graciously 2470 the gifts of Love without deceit. I thus gained the alerion. She was granted to me through the order of Good Love, and those who gave him Counsel On this point 2475

to give me the alerion.

Sweet Pleasure made the gift to me, which I, with pleasure, did receive. I thus could say: 'Now I have reached the state that I did so desire 2480 by following the path of love/ If I had tried another path, I never could have reached my goal. Good William's case was much the same when he received the fine white horse 2485 which the king of France had owned: no silver, fine gold, myrrh, or balm, no silk brocade or precious gems, no learned supplication, or the influence of bosom friends: 2490 none could have brought him to the point that he could mount upon the horse and take it for his very own. But Good Love granted it tO him

by placing in the king's own heart 2495 Sweet Pleasure, who made it a gift from the king's mouth, at the same time marking the king as humble, kind, and fully wise and capable. Thus I affirm and claim as truth 2500 and firmly hold to this idea: Love has greater direct power than either Nature or Fortune. For this reason I was joyful, since the alerion was not 2505 denied to me, and I had gained her through the just decrees of Love.

Sweet Pleasure gave me the alerion, at Love's

order: I'd not have won it otherwise. So WilHam won his white horse

when Love put Sweet Pleasure in the heart of

the king.

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In order to gain my desires and carry out the rites of Love, my first care was to show my joy, caressing the alerion and carrying her with due care, gaily acceding to her will. I now could hold her as my own, and so I was obliged to do by the laws of Love, which teach that one who gains a gift from Love must do all that he can do to merit it and render thanks to those from whom these riches come: what's necessary must be done. I know Love asked no better thanks than that I entertain the bird; nor was I slow in doing this, but my desires were so fulfilled that those who'd given her to me considered it a gift well made. I'll say no more of this affair, for now I wish to tell you more pertaining to alerions, describing them in all details. It's not a bird that's very large, and it is very keen to fly, just as a noble bird should be. It takes its flight so very high that one can quite lose sight of it: this is a fact that is well known. Thus when it's mounted up so high, after it's fully grown and trained, the other birds perceiving it will follow its flight with their eyes and, greatly fearing its descent, become so seized with dread of it, when they see that it turns towards them, they do not know where they can turn, but try to flee and hide themselves: they try to flee, but they cannot.

Now that I had my alerion, I took care to act so as to deserve her and thank those who had made me the gift.

The alerion's not large, but it flies so high no eye can follow. Other birds try, but are terrified by its flight.

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Those it seeks are in its power and powerless to flee from it. Its beauty, grace, nobility, its gaiety and colouring are qualities much sought after by one and all in unison. Also, it has, among its wings, feathers that are called 'the blades/ as sharp as keenest razor's edge: I have no wish to be accused of slighting truth, for it's been proved by those who put it to the test. Now let us stop right here a while to tease the amorous appetite by making a comparison that very well might serve to heal all those who are sick with despair and in a weak and feeble state. Let's take the case of one who loves a lady held in high esteem, who loves him, too, with a true heart. He calls to her to come to him because he prizes her so much, and if she lets him, he will try to make himself desirable, offering his heart to her; when she perceives how good he is, attracted by humility, she, too, adopts a humble pose. Thus Love binds their hearts together so that they have, by this accord, perfect trust in one another. When a lover thinks of this, he knows that he must take great care to think, note, weigh, evaluate his lady's courtesy to him, and her intrinsic honesty; in turn, the lover pays heed to humility, by prizing it and at all times desiring it,

It has feathers in its wings called 'the blades,' which are as sharp as razors.

Compare this with a lover who loves and is loved by a lady.

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The Tale of the Alerion because to him it must appear he's unworthy of his lady. Then, in his imagination, he seems to see his lady rise, ascending through humility to the highest elevation of sublime nobility; and he who sees this in his mind's eye, is enraptured by these thoughts, but mind and heart do not agree, for virtues that the heart holds dear may not be those the mind prefers. The Will that's proper to the heart is so completely bound to Love that it will fly up instantly to where his lady towers high: it can't rest or cease its movement; but Memory's disturbed by this, and her sight is troubled greatly, as is that of Intelligence, who simply cannot understand what the Will is undertaking. And what thing can the Will demand that may achieve its final goal and obtain the lady's mercy? For some maintain without reserve, that a Will so powerful can never be quite satisfied. It's certain Love brings this about to aid the lover in his quest, for thus he cleverly prevents false Artifice from entering. For if the Will's every wish is satisfied, quite to its taste, then true Desire must depart and Artifice will take its place, chasing all the virtues out and in their place enshrining there many vain and empty things, causes of pain and suffering,

He may feel unworthy of her and imagine that she ascends to a dizzy height of nobility.

His heart's will tries to follow her, but he must stay in a state of desire: they are both Love's prey.

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resistant and contrarious to what is sweet and amorous. And he who's been assured by Love that mercy now is in his grasp as long as he's content to take it at the lady's will, in peace: should he desire yet more than this? Yes! He must be well aware that Desire should never cease in one who finds great good is his; it always must grow greater yet, more artful, more affectionate, in a heart caught up by honour, praying, with the best intent, that Love will cast a spell on her and that Good Sense will then make him her guardian; and when a lover honours and loves a lady so, he is Love's prey, and so is she a capture most agreeable: for, just like the alerion, the lady is adorned the more with honours, due to the esteem with which the lover values her. He is ordained to see her thus: as an alerion, raised up into the highest spheres of grace with Love, who is her true liege lord; so high the lover's intellect, and his ability to judge cannot shed light upon the truth. For the lady has such store of noble qualities and virtues, her person is richly adorned with the riches that she finds there,

The lady rises up adorned with good qualities given by Love;

all of which Good Love allots her.

the lover's will and de-

But Still her loyal lover's Will

sire follow - under her

and true Desire, which occupies 2665 her lover's heart, fly after her, and they follow her so closely

governance.

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she recognizes them at once, and thus she gains the power, then, to lead them and to capture them, to govern them as she may choose. Although the Will may move ahead, Desire would like to take the lead; Desire, though, so honours Will it will not move in front of it, and the two proceed, it seems, as one, in perfect harmony: each one does just what it should do with no ill will and no misdeeds. The Will's wish is to persevere, although Desire wants to prove it governs perseverance; yet Desire has great respect for Will: for true Desire cannot be feigned, and must be coupled with Good Will. These are two courageous birds; once they are made bold by Love, they have no fear of rain or wind or problems Love may have in store. Now there are other noble birds who are handsome, gay, and lovely, but who do not have the courage to approach, in this bold way, the debonair alerion, however gentle she may be: these birds are memories and thoughts, of joys and pleasures in the past; also there are reflections there, which, in passing through the mind, cause hearts to tremble many times, for they bring on the state of fear. These birds can't make a fast ascent or gracefully embrace the air; thus they must, of necessity, be moderate in all they do. Yet one may win a victory by using Memory alone,

Some 'birds' - memories and thoughts dare not follow the 'alerion/ and flee when they see her coming.

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and this is a true victory, since as needs be, it's brave and quick: to feel, see, hear, and understand, to resist fully, and beware of all that's bad and mischievous, in the present or in the past or in the future yet to come we may agree that this is so. All of these birds may well take flight when from her towering height they see how the alerion descends, when she wishes to grant grace. Then there are other sorts of birds that, when grace has been bestowed, can fly up to their heart's desire and they'd be foolish to hold back: Good Conduct, Sweet Speech, and Sweet Looks; with all these must be joined Respect, which must give to the eyes restraint and to the mouth maturity, so that it will not say a thing of which Reason cannot approve; Good Conduct must be evident in both one's body and one's face, and one's expression must be gay, and never prone to telltale change. Now, it seems to me, I've said enough of the alerion in terms of a comparison with a lady and a lover who'd like to love without disgrace. Now I shall briefly speak about my life with the alerion that was given to me gladly. I took it with the greatest joy, such great joy that I didn't know how to contain the joy I felt; I knew well how to occupy myself with meeting her demands.

Others, like Good Condud, fly up just as they may wish.

My alerion was given to me gladly; gladly I received it.

H4

The Tale of the Alerion Then I could very clearly see she was indeed a perfect bird,

She proved to be a per-

as she showed me in her deeds.

fed bird in every way,

In deeds? Why surely, perfectly, 2750 at least, as far as I could judge, and all of those who saw her fly judged her to be a perfect bird. Quite perfectly she took to wing and soared up, towering so high 2755 that everyone was awed by this; I found her yet more beautiful, for when she was prepared to stoop, she didn't rush to take her prey the moment that it came in view; 2760 she would amuse herself with it a while, or sometimes quite a while. And she enjoyed herself so much and took such pleasure in the hunt that I Could never have tOO much

2765 of watching her take such delight. And when she wished to launch herself upon her prey, to snap it up, the quarry just could not escape, for when she wanted to take prey, 2770 she was so rapid in her flight no prey could possibly escape unless it pleased her not to pounce. Thus, in accord with Nature's law, a multitude of other birds, 2775 however lively they might be, were overcome by panic when they saw her drawing near to them, flying at random or in hunt; and she so terrified them that 2780 they'd never dare try to attack. Then when her quarry had passed on and she had played quite long enough, she willingly Came back to me

each time she was required to come. 2785 Likewise when a pretty lady -

as all who saw her fly agreed.

I delighted in the pleas-

ure she took in the hunt.

Whenever she approached, the other birds were terrified.

When she had played

enough, she always came back to me.

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playful, merry, joyful, gay swoops into a festive place where people live an honest life, her most courteous speech and acts are so agreeable to all that she is borne aloft by grace into the realm of good repute: she may fly in all directions as long as her good name's intact. Then Love provides her with her prey as she applies herself and strives to keep her honour and good name: and she soon takes a lover's heart, and Love, without demeaning him, takes him under his protection, and helps him act more nobly still. And if there should be anyone in all this noble company of which the lady is a part, that is to say, a person who has any but good thoughts about her nature, or who foolishly leads others to mistaken views, Love, who cares for nothing but the lady's honour, and persists until he drives off obstacles, makes it his business to ensure that all bad thoughts are put to flight. These are the birds that anger Love and can be very damaging if they should be allowed to stay when Love has claimed an amorous heart. They can't remain there anymore once Love takes matters in his hands, for they don't dare oppose his power. So far, I have made many points that I consider ornaments adorning the alerion, which I've likened to a lady. While I could not adorn it more

So, when a lady, borne up by good repute, takes as prey a lover's heart, Love protects him and helps him act nobly;

but if anyone maligns her, Love drives off such bad thoughts as 'birds' he hates.

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than to make this comparison, its adornment's not completed when I haven't yet discussed, as Reason tells me that I should, the blades, those feathers that can cut as any well-honed razor can, and that are found on either side that is, on each wing of the bird, one on the right, one on the left. The right-hand one betokens sense, due courtesy, and honesty; the left one means the opposite. Thus one should turn towards such a dart as on the right, without deceit, if one would make good use of it: that is to say, with loving care and quite devoid of negligence. I would say that loyal lovers who come to the right royal court of Love, and come at his command, when he summons them to come, come promptly to the right-hand side to desire and love a lady; there they can ask the lady's grace, since Love commands that it be so. But as for those who falsely claim they're lovers, and will carry on with many pleas and great laments, if Love perceives that they speak false - for Love can see their inner selves and knows that they lie through their teeth, he sends them to the left-hand side, where they can be liked, but not loved. Love wants to say, so it would seem: 'False supplicants, I'm not your friend when you seek mercy from the ladies, praying for it without my help; if they grant it, then so will I, but I'll grant it in such a way

As to the alerion's 'blades': there's one on each wing; the righthand one means courtesy, and the left, the opposite.

Love calls a loyal lover to come to the righthand side;

those whose claims to love are false must go to the left, where Love will not help them.

Part 2 117 2865 it won't do you a whit of good. Do you know how this can be true? If any pursue and catch prey for which they have small appetite, when the meat is served to them, 2870 nicely cut in proper pieces, they will merely wolf it down, not knowing how to savour it. It passes through their mouths indeed, but it doesn't reach their hearts, 2875 and thus they gain no benefit. The same thing happens with my grace which those who aren't true lovers seek when they demand a lady's grace, which, if obtained, they cannot use; 2880 it can't displease or please them when they do not know what they've received. Within their hearts will come to life some crazy, covetous ideas, bereft of any good at all. 2885 In their hearts are so many faults that they don't know just what they need. If one gives them curt rejections, they can't but be confused by them. Rejection just enrages them, 2890 for they are drawn to the left side. And since they're so drawn to the left, they're drawn indeed to what is bad. There is no lasting joy for them; and when there's pain to be endured, 2895 they don't know how to handle it, which makes it hurt them all the more. Those who don't stray from the right and act as loyal lovers should take pleasure from all they receive. 2900 If they gain mercy, they're content, and if they don't, they are sustained both by myself and by Good Hope, through which they gain such nourishment that they are always satisfied.'

Like gluttons who swallow food with no appreciation, they can't use a lady's grace well, nor understand her rejection.

Loyal lovers are satisfied by what Love and Hope may give.

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One who understands these points and wishes to pay heed to them should now perceive with clarity that Love pays a sufficient fee, as shown in this comparison I've drawn from the alerion and the blades that sharply cut and dole out to each man his due in keeping with his private thoughts. Thus Love gives proper recompense for what one does or wants to do, for fees must tally with the task. If those who're on the right are paid their fee without undue delay, then those whose place is on the left also receive what they are due: the reward that they deserve is one they don't like to receive since they've attempted to deceive the ladies: and I think that's true. Of these blades I've said enough, and, to make my tale less long, henceforth I'll say no more of them, and gladly turn back to the task I undertook especially by bringing this discussion now, without delay or further pause, quickly to its conclusion here. By the power of courtly love I tranquilly came to possess the alerion, and therefore I now took special care of her and often carried her about. With her I much enjoyed myself thoroughly and at my leisure; thus in return for my efforts all my will was faithfully fulfilled and carried out, as it had been ordained in that good place, so that I now can rightly say my heart endured no pain at all

As if with the alerion's sharp blades, Love cuts for each man the portion that is due him -

those on the left won't like getting what they deserve!

I took good care of my alerion and was very happy with her,

Part 2 119 as long as this good time endured: it was a time that I much loved. But I fell into great dismay

but when 1 lost her, 1

as SOOn as she was lost to me,

suffered

terribly.

2950 and found myself assailed by grief. The time has now come to describe the manner of my martyrdom. PART 3

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It is certainly quite true that it cost me grief and pain to win and artfully acquire the alerion that I sought, but I lost it very quickly, and was completely lost myself: she was lost and that was that. But I was in such misery that I might easily have died, except that my friends helped me find Good Love, and he referred me to Good Counsel, who advised me thus: Triend, you loved wholeheartedly the noble, worthy sparrowhawk. You lost her, that's beyond a doubt, through the moulting of her nature. Now you've lost the alerion; don't lose heart because of this, but carefully take thought about where you might find another one; as soon as you're in the right place, you'll surely find salvation there/ I trusted in Good Counsel's words, and acted wisely, I am sure, for I went just where he had said, for there Good Counsel led my heart. Love, who gives guidance to good men, came on the path I went along,

When 1 had lost the alerion, Love referred me to Good Counsel, who advised me to search for another bird again.

J took the path he ad-

and kept me Such good Company

vised, and love came

as he accompanied me there, he never left my side at all,

with me, saying:

120 The Tale of the Alerion and condescended to me so 2985 that he began to chastise me to keep out error from my heart by his good teaching: Triend, you lost the sparrowhawk; and thus your heart had to endure pain and despair, 2990 and I blamed you for such folly. It's true: and you believed me well, so that your grief completely passed. You know more than you used to know when you lost the sparrowhawk: 2995 now put your wisdom to good use and let your conscience be at rest, banishing all doubts from it. You must learn, once and for all, that if you lose something you prize, 3000 you should be wise and skilful too, so that you can, by working well, recover fully all you've lost,

'When you lose something you prize, you

or something that's equivalent.

must work to get it back

You Cannot fail if you do this.

- or something as good.

3005 Take things when the time is ripe! What I advise, then, you must do, or such great grief will come to you that you cannot sustain it all, grief that is so overwhelming 3010 you will never shake it from you. Be bold enough to turn your thoughts in compliance with my order. If you should lose, I'll make amends. Now hear the words I wish to say: 3015 if any fine bird pleases you, however noble she may be, you must not fear that you will fail for not deserving her enough. If you have a desiring heart, 3020 one always filled with good intent, you will deserve her well enough. You need not pay attention to this fear. I'll say no more of it.

Part 3 121 Think of what you have to gain; 3025 turn your attention to Good Hope, and pay heed to my great power, which will allow you to rejoice and to take joy in owning her/ When I had heard Good Love's advice 3030 I did not wait at all, but at the bidding of my counsellor I took the better of two paths and left behind the troubling thoughts that had preoccupied me so 3035 and prompted me to lead a life apart in silent solitude. I now resumed the company of those young men who loved fine birds, which helped chase melancholy off 3040 and turn my will towards joy once more. I found what I was looking for, which made me joyful once again: I saw a splendid eagle there, that noble sovereign of birds 3045 in carriage and in manner fine. Why do we call the eagle king? Because it mounts up high above all other birds, to tell the truth. I will have more to say of this 3050 as I unfold my narrative. I saw this eagle when I wished, and this filled me with great delight. Then Love came there to chastise me and to make my heart the purer, 3055 by showing I should not allow fear to deter me, but approach courageously the thing I loved. It is foolish to be frightened by power, force, and mastery, 3060 nobility or great estate; one's better off in such a place than in one void of all such things. And so I acted, and approached

Do not fear failure, but trust in Hope and Love.'

1 went back to my falconer friends, and found what 1 wanted at once: an eagle.

122 The Tale of the Alerion the bird, and handled her so well 3065 that I was gladly listened to, which made me glad and full of joy. Full of joy? I should have been, for my position quickly changed; at first I just admired her, 3070 but then I had her as my own. Now, it may be that one might ask, by entreating or demanding, how I came to possess this bird: whether I paid for her or not, 3075 was she a gift to me, or sold, or was abandoned in some manner, and just how did it come about I gained possession of the bird? I would make a brief response, 3080 and tell the truth disguisedly, if one really wished to hear. Perhaps I paid a price for her, but, none the less, if I did pay, nothing was spent but my own self. 3085 It's hardly worth discussing this. It's true there was a price to pay not one involving currency, but one that was so debonair that every party was well pleased 3090 with how the matter was arranged. I shall say no more of this, except to say she came to me in such a way that no one could have any cause to challenge it. 3095 Since I obtained her in this way, I needs must praise her all the more, and thus I shall advance at once to what was the best part of all. The honoured eagle, none the less, 3100 is praised enough in its own right everywhere where knowing people judge nobility and honour; thus I can be more brief with you

To my joy, she became

mine.

One may ask how this came about: I'll only say 1 paid a price, but not in currency. Everyone was happy 1 had

her.

Part 3 123 who understand such qualities. 31O5

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The eagle's of a noble kind

The eagle is so noble a

in many very different ways, so that it makes the heart rejoice whenever it is spoken of. While a description of it pleases, it is, of course, more pleasing yet to see an eagle in the flesh so that the memory won't fade. The memory of such a sight indeed brings pleasure and delight, compelling one to act with honour towards one's neighbours and one's lord, and so honouring all ladies as to enamour noble hearts. Now I'll state my thoughts about the eagle, very eagerly. It is a courtly, noble bird, gay, lovely, strong, and powerful, and has a subtle skilfulness that it can use to good effect. Nobility is in its heart, and in its eyes enormous power has very often been observed. So sharp and piercing is its eye, so sure and steady, free of fault, that such great power is not seen in the eyes of other creatures who are members of Nature's realm. The eagle can, for a long time,

bird the very thought of it makes one behave honourably.

in the most brilliant light of day,

The eagle can look right

direct its glance right at the Sun,

into the sun for a very

and stare with such intensity its eyes won't move from there at all, however long it looks at it, and it will stare for a long time, 3140 intensely and with energy. The more it stares into the sun, the stronger do its eyes become, the more clear and more sparkling.

long time;

the longer it does so, the clearer its eyes become.

124 The Tale of the Alerion And thus they have a clearer grasp 3145 of what is true about the sun than do those who cannot endure the clear rays of the sun this way or offer up their eyes to it. On this point, it is my belief 3150 it would be helpful to describe

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how Good Love in his loftiness

Love is also a bright

is a bright sun: and so much so that if wisdom, thought, and other forms of human understanding were not purified and cleansed, with every error purged away, no one could look into the rays, and the more one tried to do so the more one would be stricken blind. Love's beams can shine out everywhere, but he whose vision can't endure should be careful not to look. He may be handsome, strong, and wise, but if he doesn't follow Love's conventions, he will soon repent it; for his sight will be afflicted when he attempts to gaze into these rays. Nor can he fend them off, because the rays are precious things, while the eyes are ruder matter, reflecting defects in the heart, when the heart is inattentive to Good Love, and fails to carry

sun: human thought cannot look at Love without being blinded, unless it's free of error.

The eyes reflect defects of the heart; one can gaze into the sun of Courtly Love only if

OUt Completely all Love's bidding.

one's heart is clear.

3175 One must commit oneself this way if one desires to have a heart that's clear and light, and that has eyes open to true enlightenment. Only then is one enabled 3180 to direct an amorous glance at the sun of Courtly Love, which enlightens all loyal hearts, and only then can one receive

Part 3 125 the rays that make it possible 3185 to see unveiled the sun of Love, without a single obstacle. Of this authentic sun of Love, delightful to the heart's own eyes, I do not wish to cease to speak, 3190 but, rather, to describe it more, and Til elaborate a bit by making a comparison, one that applies, with no disgrace, to ladies and to men as well. 3195 For as to sovereignty,

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Although the lady has

awarded by authority, that is decided by Good Love

sovereignty, she and her lord should honour each

and rightly is the lady's right, although a true companionship may come about from great friendship, without honour's diminishment for lady or for gentleman. The king may honourably keep a man or woman by his side, if he so wants. Sometimes he asks those who are under his command, in a manner that shows true love, 'Where is my lady dear, the queen?' The queen's thus given honour by the king and, by unquestioned right, if she would act without a fault, she ought to say, 'My lord, the king!' Quite rightly these two points confirm their true affection, and the words and signs and deeds are thus revealed, as spoken, done, and shown by Love. I'll speak further about this point, since it now seems appropriate: when thus the king honours the queen, and, with no hesitation, she does as she should do right away to honour her lord and receive his honour with humility;

other.

126 The Tale of the Alerion I argue, and I shall maintain, 3225 that honour isn't lost thereby, nor is companionship disturbed when that which is above stoops down or that which is below is raised, for Love is the just median,

3230 a close and an appeasing bond that reconciles the high and low, a judgment Reason can confirm, for Reason plays a leading role when she desires to lend a hand: 3235 for very well she understands how to make matters come out right when honour fittingly is borne to someone by express command. Now Good Love has commanded me, 3240 abjured and made express demand, that I consider at some length the grace and the nobility of the eagle, a noble thing, and to embellish this account 3245 by making a comparison between a lady and this bird. Thus if I do it willingly

I'm right to do so, for this is the path both great and small must take 3250 in order to attain honour: the path of those who strive towards it, and carefully attend to it. A lady of the highest rank, who has, I say, addressed herself 3255 to loving Love with loyalty, and to whom misdeeds are vile, along with scorn and churlish words, and falsehoods and frivolities, so she's called courteous and wise: 3260 such a lady becomes adorned

In true companionship,

Love reconciles higher and lower.

Love demands that I compare a lady with an

eagle now.

A courteous lady, loving Love, can be said to

with the honest eagle's plumage;

be adorned with an ea-

and when the wings of loyalty are there, she is nearly perfect; indeed, perfection also lies

gle's plumage, with wings of loyalty and a tail nobly held.

Part 3 3265 in a shapely tail held nobly to win the praise of all good men. For it is true of every bird, and never could be otherwise, the tail is what we find behind. 3270 So for a lady who's inclined to act with honour, courteously, attracting joy and merriment, for which she cannot be ashamed, one makes much less of her affairs 3275 than one might of others' doings. But those who see her bear herself so beautifully never tire of praising her; and those who hear her praised so highly all agree. 3280 Thus in agreement they all say she is deserving of great praise; as she is honoured in this way, her tail is raised and ready there to attract all those behind her, 3285 who speak of her with such regard that, as her tail moves through the air, it embraces it with honour. Her flight brings her more honour yet, and pleasure everywhere she turns 3290 that is, if all her other parts, feet and beak and all the rest, are well disposed to those who come. For my own ends, I'll tell her now, to make my meaning very clear, 3295 she shouldn't be too ruffled up, nor use her beak for chattering. But certainly, I do not blame a lady who speaks to the point or flies to where she needs must fly, 3300 or anywhere where need may drive; but there is measure in good things: he who is moderate is wise. In my example I've compared the plumage, body, wings, and tail 3305 of the eagle to a lady,

127

Such a lady attracts the praise of all, since she embraces the air with honour.

She must never be too ruffled

up or chattery.

128 The Tale of the Alerion

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and embellished the bird's state by describing well the lady's: one can't give it a nicer cloak. By means of this description, then, a lady in an eagle's place, one in whom grace and honour glow and who is quite removed from vice, has mounted quickly, as I say, to the highest plane of goodness. There the sun of Love shines bright, so clearly and so perfectly that it is never nighttime there, and the rays that shine on her do her no harm in any way. Her eyes await the rays so well, and they're so well prepared for them, they enter in without arrest; those eyes receive them very well, so that they cannot disappoint, and from now on her eyes can see clearly, and with enlightenment the sun of Love's entire path, and this will cause no weakening of her vision, which will, instead, be soothed and find true nourishment to give the two eyes of the heart. The first eye, Understanding, smiles; a lovely, gay, and sparkling eye, it's neither too big nor too small. Together with it, Will smiles, too, and this affirms the courtesy of the two eyes, it would appear, since they are both in harmony: if they were not, people might say their vision was at variance. It's fitting that a lady glance so that she focuses the eye that is her Understanding on loving both well and loyally, for then 'beloved' she'll be called. And then the Will, on its behalf,

The lady may be compared to an eagle who mounts to the highest plane of goodness.

Her eyes receive Love's rays without flinching. These eyes are the two eyes of the heart: Understanding and Wz7/.

Part 3 129 rightly directs its glance this way, so straight a glance it cannot fail. 3350

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The tWO eyes are, thus, uniform,

These eyes can stand

SO true, SO Steady and robust

ardent rays - although

that they can tolerate all rays, however ardent, when they look at some of them in order to comprehend what they may show, but shield themselves from other rays. Those others, I don't wish to cite: for there are rays that come from Love that ladies don't find suitable, and they don't care for them at all. And therefore I won't linger here. These eyes, of which I've told the truth, achieve perfection when they are glowing with true humility, for true humility brings forth the undertaking of good things, and these goods are so well advanced they're almost ready to arrive at a perfected final stage. I won't speak longer of these eyes, but my discussion now will turn to something that moves me so much I've put it in my heart and mouth: it's how the eagle takes its prey, a fact that shows and demonstrates the mighty power of its state, a noble and a royal one. I say an eagle, in full flight, makes many other birds despair, for when they see an eagle fly, they have no idea where to turn, they are so terrified of it. It isn't just the simple birds that are affected in this way, but even other birds of prey themselves have such a fear of it that there's no bird that doesn't fear its power and nobility.

they shun some that ladies find unseemly.

The eagle in flight strikes all other birds with fear, even other birds of prey.

130 The Tale of the Alerion

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And such a fear comes over them, in keeping with Nature's own laws, because a bird, however strong, would not be acting naturally if it defied the eagle's strength; if it should think that it can crush an eagle, Folly rules its acts: against its will, it may well fall. And thus misfortune may well come to one who acts mistakenly. In this respect, I shall recount a tale told in a certain place where all who heard it listened well. Once there was a king in France who one day gathered up his suite for sport along a river's edge. There were birds there of many kinds that he had brought along with him for his amusement and his sport; and one such bird he had with him, brought there by a young nobleman, was one that all who knew her prized as worth more than five hundred pounds, indeed, more valuable in sum than five gold marks to a rich man. For something without parallel, and to which nothing else compares, in supreme beauty and goodness, could not demand too high a price from a man who has great riches and desires to possess it. This priceless bird had proved herself, and had proved herself so well that none of them had ever seen a bird of such great excellence in everything that one could want, however closely one might look. She was the first bird to be cast, and she flew up so very high one could not see which way she turned;

It would be folly for any bird to defy an

eagle.

Once a king of France went hunting by a river; one of the birds he took with him was supremely valuable.

This priceless bird the first one cast - flew back at once,

Part 3 131

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but she came back almost at once, and in her prompt return she caused enormous pandemonium. For as she flew back down, she swooped and fixed an eagle in her grasp. It's said the eagle was surprised, and for that reason met its death, for the attacker had performed this act with great malicious force. When they beheld the eagle there, struck down this way and put to death, several people gave great thanks and to the emperor brought back glad tidings of the incident. However, this king's mind was not dull and bestial in its nature; he had no wish to celebrate, but within his heart took note of each suggestion made to him, and, with secret purpose, said: 'Loyally, my lords, have you given such great praise to the bird because of the strange, awesome deed that she has executed now, and she's won great favour for it, as it appears from what you say. I don't ask you to take this back, but wish to hold her now myself, and you'll see in my holding her, her actions towards the captured bird, and you may judge her value then.' The bird was properly prepared and in the king's own hand was placed. He quickly took her in his grasp, and some might say that he did wrong, in acting in the way he did: he swiftly severed off her head from her body in an instant (at least, that's how the story goes), then, without pausing, threw her down

but as she came, she swooped down on an eagle, killing it.

When the king heard of this great event, he was displeased at his men's praise of it, and asked, to hold the bird.

He said, 'Yow may judge her value by the way 1 treat her.'

Then he cut off her head and threw her off contemptuously.

132 The Tale of the Alerion

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upon the ground with great contempt. All those who saw him do this deed marvelled at its severity, weighing the damage that he'd done. And there were those who spoke of it, without accusing him of wrong, but much regretting that great loss. The king then clearly answered them, enlightening all those who heard, for the pronouncement that he gave was a grim and frightening one: 'By all the faith I owe my friends, and by all God has given me, I wish to see all of those men who are intent on bringing harm and shame upon their rightful lords, like this same bird who killed her lord and delivered him to his death, delivered unto death themselves. By virtue of what she has done, she has received her just deserts/ After these words the king began to speak of the eagle's estate and of its high nobility, and how it has authority to govern all the other birds, who fear it when it flies above. 'It can be said that any bird that doesn't fear the eagle's power, shows lack of sense and sanity, or loss of all that's natural, just like a man out of his mind who might, in his insanity, dare to attack a king or pope, and, taking either in his grasp, would then deliver them to death unless someone prevented him. It is this way with noble birds who, in their own affairs, defer to the eagle, which Nature has

All who saw this were struck with horror at such a loss.

He said, 'May all who betray their lords meet such an end! The bird killed her lord, and this is what she deserved.

A bird that doesn't fear the eagle lacks sanity, like a man who attacks a king or pope; Nature made it king of birds.'

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133

ordained their lord: and Nature makes the birds feel great fear for their lord and quake in awe before his might. The noblest birds especially have such tremendous fear of him that one who comes upon an eagle will not fly from that day forth, unless one forces it to fly; and if one tries to force it so, it won't do anything worthwhile, for Nature gives it such good sense. It seems that as a sign of love it wants to cry out in its calls: "Since my sire hunts hereabouts, I must not hunt above his hunt!" Nature has thus instructed it so that it understands this well. This bird, then, was unnatural to overstep her bounds this way and take the eagle unaware. I showed my ire on this account: I see no wrong in what I've done. He who would gain must pay the price/ I'll cease to speak here of the king but shall elaborate instead on other thoughts that one may well attribute to this famous king. I'll now compare that sweetest life a lover and his lady lead to the state of an eagle's flight: it slays and maddens slanderers

The life of a lover and

who

lady is like an eagle's

enviously fly about,

3540 all feathered in dark felony. This eagle is Honour, and it controls Love's folk, both great and less. in all its noble royalty, in peaceable companionship. 3545 But then those faithless traitors come who, with their tongues, most basely strive to slay the eagle, and destroy

flight: the eagle, Honour, rules Love's dan and srikes down traitors.

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the state of Honour. Certainly, one will succeed in killing it, that one that makes its tongue so strong that some believe in all it says, but those who won't believe it act to take revenge for this misdeed. What comes into their minds at once is thoughts of Love, and Love in them, since Love is loyal to true lovers, honourably protects the good, chastising those who good oppress. This king demands the traitorous bird who, opposing his command, had the eagle, Honour, put to death by wounds inflicted with its tongue. He rends its body from its head, inflicting it with mortal pain: the head, then, represents its words, which are much worse than frivolous because they're words of calumny that ruin people utterly. This head is quickly severed off by words that very well restore the honour of the slandered one. For good words, spoken loyally, act so the slander is no more believed, but held as perjury, ev il/ deceitful, false, and bad. The slanderer's still not excused, but must now drag himself away, reviled and quite devoured by pain. Now it is time for me to tell of one more of the eagle's traits beyond that which I have described: and that's what I shall speak of now. When the eagle, who's crowned above all other birds, has mounted up to search and take aim at its prey,

If one of them slays Honour with foul words, the king avenges it, ripping off the evil head with loyal words.

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it seeks that prey with all its might, with strength and right and diligence, and so behaves, up in the air, soaring high and low, without regard for any bitter wind, with so much pure enjoyment that it is a joy to look at it. And if a quarry should appear that another bird has raised, the eagle takes it happily as its by right: it is its due. Moreover, if the other bird that raised the prey advances forth, the eagle leaves the quarry's path and will attack the other bird, capturing it if possible. There are two truths to learn from this; as to the first, I cannot fail: a backwards step can often help one to leap forward rapidly. Now, while this truth is beautiful, the second one is nobler yet: when doing one's work may require that someone else won't get his due, I say and think that it is best to cheat one who's himself a cheat, by outdoing his trumpery, rather than cheating somebody who never deals in trumpery. One would do well to stick to these two truths if one must ever cheat. Now I have other points to prove, since both the time and place are right. The eagle, in virtues supreme, led and attended by Good Love, is Honour, which duly adorns a lady decked with so much grace that all good people give acclaim

I/ an eagle in flight sees a quarry raised by another bird, it seizes it, and if the other tries to claim it, it attacks.

This teaches us two things: a step back can help us to leap forward the better;

and, if you can't get what you want without depriving someone else, it's better to cheat a cheat than someone honourable.

136 The Tale of the Alerion to her as one worth honouring. 3625 Her honourable state can seize the simpler birds so pleasantly that he who's not On guard is lost

when he looks at the lady's face a lady such as I've described. 3630 And when the eagle's spotted him, it captures him and bears him off to that most entrancing place, where courteous and loyal lovers govern themselves by loving well. 3635 But there are other birds, who tend to search out prey and wait for it, who do their courting openly and aren't in any way ashamed, but boldly tO the ladies go,

3640 to play and to enjoy themselves, and make themselves most pleasant there, with merriment and amorous smiles, with gracious airs and humble prayers, to see if, by these stratagems, 3645 any lady might be taken. But Love prizes the ladies so that it then brings the eagle forth, which makes them fail in every point. Meanwhile the eagle, in its hunt, 3650 is taken by the lady's worth. What worth is that? The ladies have much honour, and both high and low are beyond blame and of great worth. Among the greatest and most high 3655 in honour, and not otherwise, the eagle flies, high overhead. Now at this point I wish to bring this description to its finish, and return to my true subject, 3660 which it is time I recollect. I say that the mighty eagle, which I have been comparing to a valiant lady in these ways,

A lady adorned by Honour may captivate simpler 'birds' - whom the eagle carries off to

the paradise of lovers.

Other 'birds' court ladies openly, but Love sends the eagle, which

checks them.

Part 3 137 was gay and well disposed to me 3665 as long as she remained my own. None the less, I never ceased to do her honour courteously in all events, and keep myself from crossing her in any way, 3670 so that love would draw her to me. I took the greatest pride in her and kept myself quite free from vice; for when a man has met his match, if he isn't free from vices, 3675 his relationships are worthless so I would judge, in any case. I distanced myself thus from faults, behaving honourably and guarding myself from every vice 3680 and from setting malice loose. The eagle well deserved this care, so much so that I did my best. And I think I acted wisely, for we set up between us two 3685 our habits in such harmony I still recall it happily. In a noble, courteous way, she was always at my command and at all hours well disposed, 3690 and it was with the greatest joy that I enjoyed my sport with her every time I carried her. Whenever I wished to go out in search of game, and let her fly, 3695 she would prepare herself to hunt in such a very gracious way that all who saw her in this state greatly admired and valued her. She never flew so far away 3700 or hovered in the air so high, towering as she searched for prey, that she did not make her return back to my hand most amiably,

As long as 1 had my eagle, 1 took pains to honour her and keep myself free of faults, and thus we lived in harmony.

Wherever she flew, she came back to me happily, and 1 received her courteously.

ij8 The Tale of the Alerion and it was always joyfully 3705 that I received her courteously. That was the proper thing to do. And such would be a lady's case if she should love, body and soul, a dear friend who returned her love: 3710 they'd never stray apart so far they wouldn't reunite again that is, not love each other just as much as ever, or yet more, for it's a point of loyalty 3715 that helps to maintain loyal love: absence makes the heart grow fonder.

So it is with a lady who returns to her dear friend,

the fonder after absence.

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With this high-flying eagle, then, which never disappointed me, I acted with such courtesy that I brought both myself and her to a conclusion to her taste in perfect loving harmony. As a humble, solitary lover, I recalled to mind a common saying, which is that there is no court, however fine, that one will never have to leave. Thus when Love wished to part us and brought about a separation, I parted from her so well that no one could blame me then at all, since I made use of that good sense that Love had taught me at the start when I had first begun to love the sparrowhawk, most loyally, then the alerion, in turn: both beginnings were very good, so good they pleased me very much, and it was thus that they were mine. But when we separated, bonds

In time, Love parted us, but I had learned to take this well and soon searched for another, not succumbing to melancholy.

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of sorrow strongly fettered me and grievously tormented me, until Good Love instructed me and freed my heart from that time on from thoughts that torment many hearts and bind them with great sorrowing. I thus directed all my thoughts to freeing my heart from those fears and putting in their place sure peace, which gives assurance to good hearts, by thinking that if I should love a bird, and I should lose it then, and grief assailed me for this cause, all I then would need would be to see how I could find myself another one without delay, the sooner to relieve my pain and turn back from the peril of senseless melancholy, which strikes lovers down and drives them mad. Now it might well be good to hear what my intention here may be,

139

Melancholy is a worth-

and it's my wish to tell yOU this

less state that drives

to show that melancholy is a condition of no value and one that can cost far too much. As for my beloved eagle, every other other bird I saw seemed nothing in comparison, so much enriched was I by her, by her plumage, deeds, and body, and gracious tokens of her love that she gave to me so often. And knowledgeable fanciers often remarked, in fact, that they had never seen a better bird, one more noble or more lovely, more well trained or swift than she was. Now when it happened that I lost the eagle, I was seized by pain,

lovers mad.

140 The Tale of the Alerion so that my heart in torment lay. This should not be astonishing, for I was very sure indeed I never would see her again, 3785 which was a great wound to my heart. Thus I looked for the shortest path

that could lead me (and not mislead) away from mourning and from grief, from torment and disturbed desires 3790 that can only lead to folly. My thoughts first turned away from these, as wise and well formed thoughts should do, and when my mind had broken free, it turned at once as it came out 3795 onto the nearest path to joy; when it had entered on that path, and had advanced a little way, Pleasure came forth to welcome it, and led it very lovingly 3800 into the realm of Courtesy. There I was beautifully chastised, for Reason said, 'I warn you: if

you vow to put your trust in me, then through me you must now forget 3805 what you can never have again, not through riches or through prayer/ I bowed to Reason's reprimand, and for Love's sake accepted it. Then, very sweetly, I begged Love 3810

that he nobly and willingly

agree to give me such good sense that I might be consoled by it. So much did I beseech Good Love that the eagle was forgotten: 3815 but not lost as a memory of past goods, for I never tired of thinking of the gracious acts which, with her, I had accomplished. But I assented to the point

When I lost my fine eagle and looked for a

path away from grief, Pleasure led me into the realm of Courtesy.

Reason warned me not

to wish for what was gone forever,

and Love gave me good

sense, so I did not grieve for long.

Part 4 141 3820 that I would cease to grieve for her, which made me joyful, light, and gay. I thus began to look about the places where there were fine birds, so that I could find out if 3825 my eyes could choose a noble bird that might be truly to my taste, and that might now become my own, joined in a loyal covenant. Thus I chose to spend my time with 3830 those who had noble birds galore, all kinds of noble birds of prey, medium and large and small. I was now known to almost all of those who cared for all these birds, 3835 and they received me willingly. They very well knew that the craft of falconry was dear to me, so every one of them made haste to welcome me with courtesy. 3840 I did not turn my back on this, but thanked them very well for it, and acted just the same towards them. Then, with a burst of laughter, one of those most keen on falconry, 3845 who was seated there, stood up, and addressed these words to me, saying, 'Good sir, what do you need?' At that, I chose a gerfalcon, which I saw there upon a perch, 3850 and I replied to him, 'My friend, I do not have that which I need, but I swear to this company I'd like to have it very much, either for money or for love. 3855 But if I should gain it for love, be sure I would exert myself to deserve it in every way: if not, I would disgrace myself/ I ceased this talking then, and to

Looking for another bird, 1 went among falconers, who made me feel most welcome.

When one asked what 1 wanted, 1 chose a gerfalcon, to which 1 offered my love at once.

142 The Tale of the Alerion 3860 the gerfalcon offered my love, desires, thought, good sense, and wit, at once, and without more delay, secretly, within my heart: I dared not do another thing 3865 other than simply gaze at her. From this, I couldn't stop myself. Thus those who had the care of her regarded me with wariness, for I looked longingly at her, 3870 and from this I would not refrain; they therefore drew aside to speak. I knew well that they were agreed they should give me the gerfalcon, or trust her to my loving care 3875 so I might always have her near while giving me the loan of her. About this, they were all agreed, except for one who disagreed; he made his opposition known, 3880 and spoke out with well chosen words, explaining in his speech just why it wouldn't be correct at all for them to give me it so soon, or turn it over to me so. 3885 Not casting any blame on me, he spoke both well and wisely, thus: 'He has not asked us for a thing, nor has he begged or ordered us. How do we know he wishes this? 3890 Why give him what he's not asked for? But I advise that if he asks, she should be quite at his command, and we should make him instantly a generous and courteous gift 3895 of everything that we can do. In this we can't do any wrong.' And it was done in just this way, and I was grateful: yet I would have much preferred it otherwise -

Everyone saw me admiring her.

They agreed together to give the gerfalcon to me - all but one, who said it was too soon since I hadn't asked for it.

Part 4 143 3900 I couldn't bring myself to ask in plain words for this special bird. There was no way I could avoid the torments that I suffered there, until a point came to my mind, 3905 from which I did conceive a thought that came most pleasantly to me, which, in my mind, does follow from those other things I have just told to you about the gerfalcon; 3910 I'd better speak at length of it. Let us suppose a man begins to love a lady of true worth. He easily can play and smile in front of her, but dares not speak 3915 to beg her grace in any way; he never ceases looking for occasions for delight and joy in which he might enjoy her grace. This lady would grant mercy well 3920 if, out of love, he asked for it. On this point, there's a great debate, for when the suitor smiles and plays and asks for mercy with his looks; then there comes a prudent glance 3925 because the lady's taken thought to guard herself from infamy; she's forced into the willow bed, where her heart says, 'I do not dare accomplish what I so desire 3930 to satisfy the lover's will/At this moment all parts of her are perfectly disposed towards him and might well grant him mercy sweet without his asking, if they dared. 3935 The Will would like to give him this; Desire's in accord with this, and all her heart is drawn to him. The mouth's about to say as much, but when that glance is summoned up,

I didn't want to have to

ask!

A lover may love a lady but dare not ask for her grace.

So the lady doesn't dare to give him what he hasn't asked.

144 The Tale of the Alerion 3940 it almost breaks the lady's heart, for it erases all those points and by its force prohibits them by speaking wisely to them all: 'Why do you have the secret wish 3945 to give a lady's most prized gift when he's not asked for it at all? You grant your love too easily to give it for so little cause. If pressed for it, look carefully, 3950 and still be well on guard against the one to whom you'd give regard: for you would hardly gain at all if you gave hope, well in advance, of favour when he had not yet 3955 inspired you with confidence by telling you of his great love.' The prudence that calls forth this glance may often warn a lady to withhold her mercy for a while 3960 until that certain time arrives when Love encourages her friend to make petition, in good faith,

and the lady is wise enough to give it, and in such a way 3965 that she cannot be blamed for that, and Good Love can be praised for it. I fixed upon this line of thought, and was determined in my mind 397O

She must wait until Love encourages him to

ask.

that I'd ask for the gerfalcon

J resolved to ask for the

just as SOOn as I might do SO.

gerfalcon soon, but

But first I had to well Consider,

started by asking only

and in considering devise how, and why, I might possess her without a move that might be wrong. 3975 Therefore I acted first of all by asking, as a first request, permission to frequent the place and offer service courteously; then also, as a suitor, whose

to visit there;

Part 4 3980 heart is given to a lady, who values her and praises her, I gladly took the route of praise, as best I knew how so to do. It was the way that best sufficed 3985 to gather favour, when I asked for that which I did so desire. When it was time for the request, I made it very courteously and asked them humbly for the bird, 3990 which made my task the easier, because humility attracts

145

then, when the time came, 1 asked for her

nobility in those it serves.

very humbly, and they

Nobility and humbleness

gave me her at once.

breed noble generosity, 3995 which leads to beneficent acts. In acting so I gained my point; they made no effort to renege, but gave her to me joyfully. I said and did so much for them 4000 that they were all well satisfied. The gerfalcon was truly mine, and I cared for her joyfully, for I was joyous in my heart when I took my pleasure with her 4005 when I enjoyed her, that's to say. Most greatly did my heart rejoice since I had heard her greatly praised. And, to recognize these praises, along with those who praised, I praised 4010 her every time I heard her praised, and in SO doing, I dare Say,

I gave her praise so thoroughly that all of those who heard her praised by me, praised me in turn for that. 4015 And I could not praise her enough; at least, it so appeared to me, for I could never keep from it, I loved her so much in my heart. In this respect, the saying goes,

She whom I'd heard praised was mine, and 1

kept praising her.

146 The Tale of the Alerion 4020 there is a time for everything to be well praised when praise is due, but when something has been so praised and it falls from praiseworthiness, misfortune falls on him who praised, 4025 so that he may seem blameworthy, the less valued and the less loved, for he has been deceived too much: once people know the contrary of all the praise he had put forth, 4030 they may confront him with the truth, in a manner that's reproachful. In this I am reproached myself because I praised the gerfalcon, paying heed to others' praises, 4035 before I put her to the test, indeed before she could be proved. By this, my folly then was great. But, in my certainty, I followed a precept of contrary kind 4040 that states a truth quite opposite, one that in its own right I hold as quite correct, which teaches me and certainly, it is most true that one can well say and believe 4045 each creature, male or female, is good in its own intrinsic self until the contrary is proved without a doubt in any case. Thus if the gerfalcon was prized 4050 by me, and raised in dignity before I came to know her well or had yet put her to the test, this saying should be borne in mind: I had a right to call her good, 4055 from faith in her, and meant it well, and think that I did nothing wrong for which I might deserve the blame of those whom nature draws to love, yet every one of them was sure

When that which is praised is found unworthy, the praiser may be blamed in turn.

I reproach myself for praising the gerfalcon before I had put her to the test.

But one should think the best of every creature until the contrary is proved;

thus 1 did nothing blameworthy and all agreed I'd acted well.

Part 4 147 4060 the contrary was true of me. Now let's see what my heart intends, considers, thinks, and understands about the gerfalcon I loved. I thought I'd live a carefree life 4065 gay and loving and full of grace from the moment that I knew her, every moment of my life, as long as she remained my own. But it was just the contrary. 4070 In the beginning, she displayed a seeming amiability, but soon she took to plaguing me with many kinds of strange demands, rebuffs and acts of violence, 4075 gestures and signs of arrogance that I found most astonishing. And when I cast her up to fly at any kind of certain prey, if flying chanced to suit her mood, 4080 she came back too reluctantly. She would instead, in her strange way, go gladly to a substitute. I had no notion what to do when she behaved in such a way, 4085 but still I waited patiently in hopes she would amend her ways, just as a loyal lover does who has always loved his lady with a perfect and noble heart, 4090 and she, with manner welcoming, has received him as her lover; she has become quite dear to him although he finds that he's repaid with bitter, painful words and deeds, 4095 which grow out of melancholy when his lady becomes upset and in a melancholy mood. Yet, should she sweetly call to him and beckon him back to her side,

I thought I'd have a happy life with my gerfalcon, but almost from the beginning, her actions were contrary.

If she wished to fly at all, she came back reluctantly, or left her proper prey to pursue something else.

1 waited patiently for her to mend her ways, as a lover who suffers his lady's rebuffs, returns when she beckons.

but

148 The Tale of the Alerion 4100 then he who loves her loyally is gladly drawn back to her side, quiet and in tranquillity, because his heart is full of love. He relishes this moment, which 4105 gives to him comfort sweet indeed, but it is to his detriment, for this behaviour doesn't last, and soon she's just as difficult as she was sweet to him before. 4110 Then he sees nothing certain there; so pain afflicts him once again and will affect him all the more than if that sweetness hadn't come to him, then quickly disappeared. 4115 He'll have the worst of it again when he believes or comes to know that she cannot be true to him, but has a most unstable will, a flighty and inconstant heart; 4120 for this, she's called duplicitous since she's not tied to just one man but never ceases to exchange yesterday's suitor for the next. When she has one in hand who's good, 4125 she leaves him for a lesser one, which brings dishonour to her name; and he who loves her loyally is in great pain and misery because his heart is sadly grieved, 4130 and because she's fallen so from honour: that's the painful point, the one by which he is most struck within his heart. It grieves him so his heart could almost break in two. 4135 There's reason for this when he sees a lady whom he loved so much and prized and praised beforehand, fall from honour into disrepute, and it is clearly obvious

He may learn she is unstable and flits from one lover to the next.

This brings to her dishonour, to her loyal lover's grief: her loss of honour grieves him more than their separation.

Part 4 149 4140 that this is why he's losing her. Two things may emanate from this that will assail him both at once, and he must struggle with them both before they can be left behind: 4145 first is the loss that he has had, but then there is that other fact, namely, that his lady's fallen into disrepute from honour. Both things weigh heavily on him, 4150 but what weighs him down the most is all the good his lady's lost, and his heart is afflicted more by the great loss to her than by the separation that results. 4155 But if that separation came through a retreat of gracious mode, in which the lover could perceive Love presenting to his lady another lover, who could be 4160 consoled by her, so fine a one a better one could not be found, and if his lady loved him well and clearly made him her beloved, while he himself was cast aside: 4165 I say that he would be relieved in that he would be well consoled by the honour of his lady, the state of honour she'd retain. And surely such honour would be 4170 a comfort to him, and of use to help him to forget his pain, for in his heart he'd know of it, and this would mitigate his grief every time he thought of it. 4175 And if he could take comfort so, sufficiently and peacefully, he would not have to suffer pain of a long-enduring nature. I've said enough to suit my tale,

He would be happier if she had left him for a better love that brought her great honour, however much he missed

her.

150 The Tale of the Alerion 4180 in keeping with the form I chose, to serve the purpose I intend, if what I've said is understood. Now I'll turn back to my main point, so that you may recall it well. 4185 I'm saying that the gerfalcon, which made me both rejoice and grieve rejoice when things went as I wished, but grieve about her temperament, which was bizarre and strange to me, 4190 both ill-intentioned and perverse caused me such endless misery that I could see no end to it, until Love offered me some help, and sweetly came to rescue me. 4195 It happened, on a certain day on which I sought to while away my time in peace, enjoyably, with nothing that might interfere; I knew about a pleasant place, 4200 noble and pleasant, very nice for the pursuits of gentlemen who fancy hunting dogs and birds. I therefore set out for this place with my gerfalcon right away. 4205 Soon after I had reached the spot I saw a quarry near at hand, honourable and to my taste and proper for the gerfalcon. Without delay I cast her off, 4210 and she began her flight so well that there was no fault to be found; she struck her prey ferociously, yet it seemed she couldn't hold it, but I believe this was pretense, 4215 because she quickly left her prey and then she flew down towards the ground, and quickly turned herself around,

My gerfalcon gave me joy when she acted well, but much pain when she didn't: until Love come to my aid and. rescued me.

One day 1 flew her at a quarry proper for a gerfalcon, and she seemed to set out well -

Part 4 151

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4240

4245

where, much to my astonishment, she set upon a tawny owl, a vile and stinking ugly bird that noble birds do not desire, because it has so vile a nature they all hold it in great contempt: and do not deign to come near it. My cursed gerfalcon was bent (I curse the day when she was born!) on it, and would not let it go. I therefore had to let her go, because I couldn't follow her, although I called to her aloud using the customary cries, as falconers must often do. But she was so preoccupied she thought of nothing but her catch, and she would not return to me. I left her following her will, like a lover who can't dissuade a lady bent on folly's course. And there I left the gerfalcon, but this was caused by her own fault: I'd have been glad to take her back if such, with honour, I could do, but now I was no longer sure I could, with honour, take her back; therefore I was so full of rage that I was at a loss to know quite what to say or do or think to keep my heart from grievous pain.

but suddenly she turned away and set upon an ugly owl, a prey all noble birds disdain.

I had to let her go. She would not come to my call.

I left her like a lover whose lady misbehaves - through her own fault - and 1 was furious.

I didn't know what to do to relieve the pain I fell.

EPILOGUE I thought, as consolation, then, 4250 that certainly, in former times, I had been troubled just as much, a state from which I had escaped. And this began a train of thought

152

The Tale of the Alerion as I reflected on the past,

4255

4260

4265

4270

4275

engaging in a COUrtly Sport

Seeking consolation, 1

that led me to the proper gate

went into a garden

where I Could pass from pain to joy,

where I knew my pain

as I had done in former days. Once I felt this sweet transition, my heart consented very well to this consoling train of thought: I knew where consolation lay. Thus I set off without delay to where my thoughts directed me, a shaded garden, in which I might quickly end my misery. In great torment I entered there, but it was so agreeable, so beautiful in every way, that my pain fully disappeared before the time came to depart, whatever pain I might have felt: for something happened to me there that brought great rapture to my heart perhaps it came about by Chance

could be cured.

Or Fortune, Or by Nature's gift.

tune, and Nature all

It may be that all of these three

were present there, to grant me peace, since Love was surely working there 4280 and sweetly brought me aid in this. For Chance was there, it is quite true, since I regained some of my joy that was so pleasant and so sweet, and that was mine so much by Chance 4285 I did not know, when it arrived, from which direction it had come, and very sweetly did my joy come back to me by purest Chance. And that Nature was present, too, 4290 I can assert without a doubt, for Nature had ordained the place and had adorned it very well with brilliant colours of all kinds,

Perhaps Chance, Forhelped: but indeed Love

was at work there.

Chance brought me great joy,

in a place adorned by Nature

Epilogue

153

the brightest and most exquisite 4295 of all of those Nature creates, and of course the field was green, with all the colours well set off against this background brightly green: but I will not describe them now, 4300 for there would be too much to say. And Fortune surely brought me there, and chose the moment when I came; the hour was Such a timely One

4305

4310

4315

4320

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that all was as it should have been. There I sat down to take my rest and to straighten out my thoughts, which were so very much confused and so besieged on every side by thoughts of a contrary kind some sweet, others full of grief so that I often didn't know to which of them I ought to cling, for I was grievously disturbed by this gerfalcon, which now had so shamefully abandoned me, and all her honour thrown away when she discarded honesty and was so drawn by ugliness that she forsook her proper prey. She could not lower herself more. These points displeased me even more than any others could have done, for they humiliated me. I thought that anyone would be greatly outraged, without respite, if he had been abandoned thus. Now as I sat and pondered there, and held debate within myself about so many diverse points no other poet ever did however deeply he might be engrossed in making thoughtful verse engage in thinking more profound,

where Fortune brought

me.

I thought about the gerfalcon, which had behaved shamefully,

154 The Tale of the Alerion or hold debate all by himself 4335 in the way that I debated, when I thought of that gerfalcon, for it distressed me very much. So in my heart I sweetly begged that Love deliver me from this 4340 and set free other, different, thoughts. Then Love, who won't forget his own, sent to me some good company: Reason, who turned herself to me to draw me off from all my griefs, 4345 and in so courteous a way

4350

4355

4360

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43 70

and begged Love to help me.

Love sent me Reason, who told me I was not

I think that I Can See her Still

to blame for the gerfal-

when I think back on all of this, and on the lasting good I gained. Reason began to lecture me, leading me to the right point, which I have already described, to find peace and security, and she described this point so well in a most loving, kindly way, as if she wanted to say this: 'Friend, you retain your rage too long. You have been much too badly grieved, and by the gerfalcon deceived. But this was not through fault of yours, but wholly by her own misdeeds, for which cause she is soiled and shamed and rightly punished with disgrace. There is a consolation here, as one quite well known saying states: "He doesn't throw away his time who learns from other people's deeds." There's no man who knows if his wife will give herself to infamy through her own folly and excess, which brings her shame and injury; nor can a lover surely know if his lady might come to be defamed, as has been told above,

con's grievous fault.

She said, 'No man knows if his wife or lady may bring shame upon herself.

Epilogue 155 as I have been describing thus. 4375 Some men, with good intentions, try to improve this situation. But such women won't be turned towards good and wish to be perverse. If this should cause these men remorse, 4380 why should they therefore kill themselves? To do so would be foolishness. They should, instead, take leave of them, as best they can, and courteously. This would be right, and nothing else, 4385 since there is nothing they can do. I urge you to retain this point: so fix it in your memory so that it's stored there perfectly and so that it cannot be lost, 4390 for it could be worth much to you if Good Love doesn't find you lax and it can help you pass the gate that leads to solace, out of grief. Now listen well to what I say, 4395 as much to one word as to six: pay heed to where you find yourself, considering what you may see. You have your sight; you have a voice; and you can feel and you can hear. 4400 If you would have a joyous heart, heed my advice: act wisely, and you'll always live a happy life.' I agreed to Reason's counsel, and sweetly I importuned her 4405 henceforth to keep me company so I might never go amiss, but follow all her precepts and thus live in wisdom and in peace. Reason then responded frankly: 4410 'I will do it, but I tell you, when you come to know me better, you'll know all about my power, and know how I'm received, and how

Bad women can't be turned to good. One must thus take leave of them.

To be happy, act wisely.'

I asked Reason to stay with me, and she agreed to help me as long as 1 would help myself and not give in to melancholy.

156 The Tale of the Alerion well I pay those who pay me heed; 4415 all goodness I receive as good: but treat as ill, if such it proves. For goodness I give my reward, but badness earns severe reproof, for I am judge of everything; 4420 and I give you my promise that I am a friend to everyone, but show no pity at all towards a man who suffers punishment when he deserves his chastisement. 4425 He who waits on Melancholy, unhappily, deserves rebuke. You've served her; if you serve her more, then more and more you'll be her slave, and I myself will be right there, 4430 and I will always punish you. But if you swear to move ahead, I will help you to recover; help yourself, and I will help you: shame yourself, and I will shame you. 4435 From now on, do just what you please. I'll lecture you no more on this.' Now I moved well beyond that point; I had good reason not to flag for I had suffered quite enough. 4440 Therefore, when I had passed beyond Melancholy's sad, cruel path, Reason gave Gaiety to me, and Joy, Peace, Solace, and Delight, whose escort I was glad to have, 4445 for they in no way enslaved me, but served me very merrily. Thus I now put my eyes to work so I could see how Nature works, and also made use of my ears 4450 to listen to the melodies; and I used my intelligence so that through it I might discern the good things that I saw and heard,

Thus, when 1 had left the path of Melancholy, she gave me Joy and Peace, and other comrades.

Epilogue 157 which I had simply overlooked 4455 until Reason had drawn me out of grief into a realm of joy. It's true I used to see it well, but I did not know just how much there was, nor did I know its worth, 4460 because I lacked true knowledge then. But now I saw the beauties well, the amorous pleasures of the place, and saw them with such ready will that all my heart was wholly bent 4465 on considering every part. And thus I made my catalogue of every feature, one by one, reflecting on them carefully. I smelled a very pleasant scent 4470 and saw resplendent greenery, adorned with flowers everywhere, red, and yellow, and violet. And on all sides it was enclosed which made it the more sanctified, 4475 more gracious, noble, beautiful, sweet-smelling and melodious by lovely hedges of all kinds, some new, some of a well grown size, dwarf apple trees and rose-bushes, 4480 bushes of hawthorn and wild rose, and currant bushes were there, too, which were quite suited to the place. What further could I tell you now? Yes, there was so much beauty there 4485 that at no moment in my life had I seen any better hedge in every detail, better formed, more elegant or well arranged; it was so lovely and well planned 4490 that one could not, it seems to me, better arrange a thing than this. And underneath the hedge there were

I now considered Nature's gifts in this fine place:

flowers of all colours, hedges,

158 The Tale of the Alerion

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4515

4520

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plants of many different kinds, all precious, good, and beautiful, including clove pinks, violets, mint and stock and strawberry plants. And there were planted all around a multitude of graceful trees, well set apart and neatly spaced (I measured them out, step by step): hazel and fig and chestnut trees, and almond trees and mulberries, all ornamenting the nice hedge because they looked so splendid there. Scattered around the garden were most elegantly everywhere trees and dainty little bushes, and on the branches there were birds, which pleasantly amused themselves and sang with all the gaiety the pleasant weather justified, every one in its own way. And, while I was relaxing there, I proposed within my heart that if one could stay there forever, that would truly be paradise, and that I surely never would have in the world a greater joy: or so it then appeared to me. However, Love increased my joy more than a hundredfold, in truth, without dispersing it at all, and now my joy was close at hand, as you will hear in what's to come. When I had rested for a while, I was in peace and well disposed, so that, much to my comforting, I listened most attentively to quarrelling among the birds. I think that they were fighting then, for suddenly some twenty birds all fell right down into my lap,

small plants under the hedge, and many graceful trees and

bushes full of singing birds.

As 1 rested, I heard birds quarrelling: a group fell in my lap and flew off, except one green linnet, fainting there.

Epilogue

159

but right away they all flew off in all directions as they fled, 4535 except for one green linnet, which remained behind the others there; it stayed there, fainting, in my lap. When I saw it remaining there, I very gently picked it up

4540 and put it very carefully inside my garments for a while, to help it regain appetite for joy, for since the day was cold, it could have died in this green place. 4545 When its poor little weary heart had regained just a little strength, it then began to shake a bit, and I, who felt it come to life, took it up in a friendly way 4550 and carefully, with a silk cord,

4555

4560

4565

4570

J picked it up and held

it gently.

When it began to move,

I tied a loop upon One foot.

I tied it with a silken

And while I thus secured my loop, there came to me an amorous thought that I much savoured in my heart, because of a sweet memory, for now I started to recall the noble, gay alerion, which always did me so much good. The linnet brought it to my mind, and since the linnet's coming had brought to my mind so great a good, I was most grateful it had come. I now recalled that when I had my own alerion, I would watch the way she caught green linnets happily when she would spot them. It was natural to do so, since, for her, they were choice morsels. Then I got up from where I sat and saw, right in my line of sight, a bird of prey in flight above,

cord and thought of my alerion, whose favorite prey was the green linnet.

160 The Tale of the Alerion

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4605

4610

flying along a southern course, and hovering up in the clouds as if she were attached to them, but of this I declare in truth, before one could have said six words, she had landed right on my wrist, which astonished me completely. Astonished? Rather, wild with joy; why then astonished, since I felt I was accomplishing my goal? For it was an alerion, so beautiful and so alert I'd never seen so fine a one, except the one that had been mine. My heart at once leaped to my throat: I wondered if it might be she. Then I called out to her by name, a name she understood so well that she held out her beak to me in token that she understood. At this point I was confident that she was truly my own bird. But still, I tried another test, one of a more decisive kind that wasn't difficult to do because I had her in my hands. I wanted to inspect her feet, for long ago I'd taken joy in attaching to the foot of the alerion that was mine a lovely oriental pearl, set in a case of purest gold. I put that pearl there on her foot in case she might be found somewhere if she were ever lost to me for long, as might needs be the case, before she could return to me; then if I had her back again, I'd recognize her by the pearl. I found the pearl I searched for there,

Then I saw a bird of prey flying on a southern course: and she landed on my wrist.

1 was wild with joy: it was a fine alerion perhaps my own!

1 called to her by name, and she turned her beak to me.

Then I looked at her foot, and found a pearl 1 had put there.

1 had her back; 1 told her I'd never found a better bird.

Epilogue

4615

4620

4625

4630

4635

4640

4645

4650

and quickly I reproached her thus, and said: 'My sweet and lovely friend, I put this pearl upon your foot that I might honour you the more and recognize you easily. Don't fret if I reproach you now, for, in reproaching you, I prove you're loyal, good, and faithful, and well worthy of a royal court. Thus I am taught by courtesy. And I delight to tell you this: I couldn't find a lovelier one.' Now perhaps someone might ask how this reunion came about, one that increased my joy so much. But anyone who asked me this would find it just a waste of time: to tell the truth, I do not know. I've tested myself many times, trying to ascertain the truth, but I can't seem to learn a thing that might help to determine this, no matter which questions I pose or in what area I probe, in my conscience or otherwise. Thus I was filled with happiness; now all complaints and sorrows were cast clean behind me and quite gone, and I remained determined on retaining the alerion near me as long as possible, that is, as long as I might live or just as long as she might wish; and also, if there should be need for her to separate from me, then I would have no other bird again, as long as I should live. And, on these statements, which have been set out above, I now can well draw out a small comparison,

161

How did this happen? 1 don't know, but 1 was overjoyed, and vowed 1 would have no other bird but her ever in my life.

162 The Tale of the Alerion

4655

4660

4665

4670

4675

4680

4685

4690

as best I can and not go wrong; the case makes it desirable, and my heart is much drawn to it. When a lover and his lady, united by their mutual will, have come together out of love and made a firm commitment to each other, in true faithfulness, that they'll proceed in happiness and so trust one another that they never falter in this trust, it can, however, come about that sheer necessity demands that they must separate and part, and each must bear a share of grief that causes great pain to them both. Each one of them must now depend in secrecy upon Good Love; and thus discretely they will live, enduring sober suffering. Yet in this state they will find Hope, which they will be provided with when they arrive at just this point. And also it may come about this lover will embark upon adventures of a diverse sort, some pleasant and some quite perverse, where he'll encounter hardships and new obstacles; but he'll persist until each hardship's overcome sometimes in ways he finds at fault, as I found with the gerfalcon in whom I found so many faults. Then he won't know which way to turn, except towards courteous, noble Love, there where sweet Reason welcomes him and will conduct him sweetly towards the amorous and sweet garden, so pleasant and agreeable. This garden, which I speak of here,

So when a lover and his lady are parted against their will,

they must depend on Love to bring them back together

While they're apart, the lover may find good times and bad - as 1 did with the gerfalcon;

Epilogue 163

4695

4700

4705

4710

4715

4720

4725

4730

about which my account is full, is Love's garden, a special place that sweetly summons loving hearts to come to its enclosing hedge on paths the lover follows well: these paths are good deeds and good words, devoid of vain frivolity. Beyond the hedge are scented plants that every peaceful heart holds dear, and these are sweet thoughts held in mind in keeping with the art of love. The trees that then perfect the place, if one should contemplate them well, these are the excellent virtues that must array the lover's heart; and as for all the little birds that perch among the branches there, these are the various events including sorrows and rebuffs, along with joys, which quarrel there against the sorrows, fighting them: and many may fall in his lap. The linnet that remains right there is his outstanding good repute, by which his lady is informed that he's conducted himself well, and never lost his honesty: thus the more gladly she returns to him, along the amorous path. Indeed, that fine alerion, which flew along in skilful sweeps, can be his own sweet lady, who has mounted upwards without shame in honour's highest atmosphere, for which the greater and the less pay homage and revere her much, and to the true lover bring back tidings in their words about her that are good and favourable. And when the lady now consents,

but Reason will lead him to Love's garden, full of good deeds, words, and thoughts.

The trees there are virtues of the lover's heart; the little birds, events - sorrow and joy in conflict there.

The linnet is his good repute, which draws his lady, the alerion, to return to him.

164 The Tale of the Alerion

4735

4740

4745

4750

4755

4760

4765

4770

drawn by the linnet, to descend beneath clouds of humility, Good Love, who safeguards loyalty, unites them in a noble way; when they find they're reunited they'll rejoice together greatly, and will show it in their glances. Then he'll be able, in his speech, to address her by that sweetest of all names: 'my own sweet lady/ and she won't be afraid of this, but will reply to him at once. This answer tells him she's unchanged (and thus not like a moulted bird) and she remains his own true love. He's even more assured of this because of a related point: that is, that she does not object to what he wants to say and do (where Reason makes it possible of course I don't mean otherwise), and thus she's constant in her mind, not fickle and not mutable but keeping faithful loyalty by virtue of her truthfulness: which is the pearl he bound on her, when he first took his joy in her, at the foot of her affection, so the intentions he declared might be more fully recognized as need might be, in either way. I won't explain this more, for he who knows will see my heart's intent. I now had the alerion, by right, as I've explained before, at my disposal and my call, through her grace and nobility. I therefore kept her happily, gazing at her most lovingly, and she also returned my gaze

Love reunites them, and her words prove her unchanged - unlike a moulted bird.

She'll do all that he may ask, as long as Reason approves.

Her loyalty is the pearl he bound on the foot of her love.

I kept my alerion happily, gazing at her lovingly, and she returned my loving gaze.

Epilogue 165

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4785

4790

4795

4800

and took much care in every way never to anger me, while I took every care to honour her. Because of this she still is mine, and I won't cease at any time to seek to please her at all times, completely, never holding back, as she seeks always to please me, and certainly can prove it well: indeed, wherever she may turn, she always comes right back to me. I love her for this, and shall love her every day throughout my life. I tell all ladies, young or old, maidens, widows, or noble wives, all men and women, great or less, all who are eager to do right: you ought to love as I have loved! You will not be rebuked for that, but given all the highest praise by those who know the ways of Love. The lover should remain one, and the man who's not one, aim to be; while he who cannot be one should remember that he should seek out the companionship of lovers; in such company, he can gain much wisdom of a noble kind, which will assist him to do well.

She's still mine to this day, and I'll always love her.

Thus all ladies and men who are eager to do right should love as 1 have loved. One learns the ways of love from the company of lovers.

THE POETS SIGNATURE If you would know, without a doubt, who has composed all of this rhyme, it's easy and quite plain to see; you will not find it difficult, 4805 if you wish to amuse yourself with 18, 24, and 2, 40, 10, and 22, but divide them into two;

If you want to know who wrote this, add 18, 24, 2, 40, 10, and

22, dividing them in

two;

166 The Tale of the Alerion 4810

and 13,7, and 18,

then add, without ad-

19, 4, and 3 and 8, without adjusting them at all. By this means, you will clearly see if he's a clerk or a young knight who wrote this 'Tale of the Four Birds/

justment, is, 7, is, 19, 4 , 3 , and 8. Then you'll know whether a clerk or a noble knight wrote this 'Tale of the four Birds.'

Notes to the Translation

29-31 Machaut here states the idea (common in the Middle Ages) that some people are naturally 'good' and others are inclined towards evil. In the following section, he applies this to children - e.g., 52 and 78 - and speaks of the dangers of failing to correct those who have errant impulses. (Compare the advice to parents and guardians in Chaucer's Physician's Tale.) The person whose success in life depends on getting a good start may here be presumed to be male, but Machaut also applies the good-inclinations-vs.-bad-ones distinction to females, both falcons and ladies, giving the gerfalcon of part 4 as the type of lady incorrigibly inclined towards waywardness. 39 This line is cited as an illustration of a proverbial saying in Hassell, 181. 80-91 Cf. note to 29-31 above. 127-8 Machaut equates the first stage with a kind of Eden-like innocence in which the child has not yet tasted the fruit of knowledge; thus, for Machaut, this first stage of innocence is also one of ignorance - but none the less an important time of preparation: cf. Remede de Fortune, 1-60. 129 In stating that his heart was inspired with goodness during this first stage, Machaut claims to have been among those children inclined to good from birth (like Chaucer's Virginia). 307 On the term ramage, see introduction, 13, and n. 34. 355ff. 'Nurture/ 'nourishing/ and other words having to do with food, appetite, and eating occur quite frequently throughout the poem: this is largely another metaphorical nexus drawn from falconry (although, of course, we also speak of a sexual appetite, an 'appetizing' young woman, etc.); all falconry manuals emphasize the importance of properly feeding the tame falcon. 429ff. Note that Machaut raises the possibility of involuntary separation at this early point. 443-55 This passage constitutes a very elaborate brevity topos.

168 Notes to the Translation 469 Machaut seems to have a more realistic bent than Chretien de Troyes, for example, who undoubtedly would have played on the topos of the separation of the heart from the body, allowing the narrator to leave his heart behind! 476 This is an assertion of truth typical of Jean Renart or Chretien de Troyes. 481 Tierce': The third hour of the canonical day, ending at 9 a.m/ (OED). 482-3 Perhaps Machaut is here thinking of the three 'times' he has pointed to in 17-48. 5o8ff. The falcon fancier 'falls in love' with his sparrowhawk in much the same way lovers often fall in love in courtly literature: in a paradisaical garden, where the lover listens to the song of many small birds, he falls in love at first sight of the beloved, and pays homage to the God of Love. This will all sound very familiar to anyone who has read the Roman de la rose: but in this case, it is at the same time firmly tied to the natural world of falconry, in that the little birds depart in terror when the hawk arrives, and the hawk is seen to be munching on a newly hatched bird. 514 There is a parallel dew-from-the-tree awakening in the Dit dou vergier: whereas here the sparrowhawk shakes dew from a tree onto the face of the sleeping narrator, the narrator of the Dit dou vergier is awakened by dew falling from a tree when 'Amours' (Love) departs. Apparently the implication is that in the Alerion, 'Love' is arriving with the sparrowhawk. 536 Machaut means this is a wild or ramage hawk, as opposed to a tame one. 570-5 Cuidier has the sense of 'imagination' or simply 'presumptuous thoughts,' and is synonymous here with the narrator's desire. Cuidier thus contrasts with avis, meaning 'reason' or 'wisdom.' 621-2 Note the echoes of 14-15 ('to eschew the contrary: these four points ... ') and 48 ('sufficient fee'). 629 No doubt this is a variation on a phrase corresponding to 'to miss something by a hair/ 639 Machaut emphasizes the importance of the south-easterly path the lady takes (see 678 and 682), the high easterly path symbolizing the rising sun and an end to darkness and the south representing light and openness, since it is there that honourable people who savour the light reside (693-8). See also introduction, 19. 655 While it may not be initially clear whether it was the departing small birds or the arriving sparrowhawk who caused the dew to fall, this clearly implies that it was the arrival of the hawk. 659-60 On the uselessness of trying to 'force' a falcon, see introduction, 6, and nn. 16 and 17. 682 Cf. note to 639.

Notes to the Translation 169 715-16 Here (and elsewhere; e.g. ioo3ff.) Machaut plays with the two meanings of 'pris': 'taken, captured' and 'price, value'; this is the sort of wordplay that cannot be duplicated in a translation. 721 Love is a masculine god in the Roman de la rose and most other medieval works, and is referred to as a courtly lady's 'true liege lord' below (2654); we have thus treated Love as masculine throughout, just as we have treated all the hunting birds as female (cf. introduction, 24-6). 772-4 The apparent redundancy of these lines may serve the purpose of reminding us of the three stages that Machaut speaks of in the opening passages, where he stresses the importance of making an early start or 'good beginning' (cf. 20, 30-5). 823-9 The strange birds that the lady traditionally fears are slander, lies, boasts, and other forms of gossip that may harm her reputation. In the Old French tradition, the main source of harm to would-be lovers is 'mesdisance' and the people who utter it, the 'mesdisants/ 848-58 In warning young men about talking too much, Machaut continues to emphasize the importance of discretion on the part of both lover and lady. 910-22 Machaut continues to explore the topos of the heart separating from the body to fly to the feet of the sparrowhawk, and put itself completely at the bird's mercy. See 1349-1428 for a continuation of this comparison. 962-8 Machaut rationalizes the value of a courteous ruse; i.e., the end (good) justifies the means, and if the person deceived is not harmed by the deceit, the ruse is justifiable. 1010 Machaut is referring to the practice of taming the falcon by keeping her awake until she cooperates with her keeper; cf. introduction, 13. 1048 Falconry manuals stress the importance of always feeding the falcon with one's own hands; this makes the hawk become accustomed to the scent of the falconer, and helps train her to associate him with the fulfilment of her needs. 1056-67 Machaut uses proverbial sayings to convince the lady that her value will augment in proportion to the true affection that her lover has for her and that she should therefore see to augmenting this affection. To do so, he uses a circular form of argumentation in which he compares the lady to a horse, another animal that, like the falcon, is destined to the service of man. Machaut's arguments here are similar to those found in the Cent ballades d'amant et de dame by Christine de Pisan, where the lover tries to persuade his lady of the benefits of according mercy to a true lover. Cf. Minnette Gaudet, 'Machaut's Dit de I'alerion and the Sexual Politics of Courtly Love/ 1090-2 Cf. note to 659.

170 Notes to the Translation 1094-1105 Machaut's remarks about the effort that must be made to satisfy the desires of the bird at any hour of the day or night may have erotic implications, if we are to infer that ladies are also insatiable in their demands on their lovers. 1119 Machaut's 'mettre a point' = 'make a point/ a technical term of falconry; this means, to quote the OED's definition, 'the action of rising vertically in the air/ There are other technically correct falconry terms in this sequence, such as 'reclamez' in 1123; a more literal translation of that line, using the equivalent English hawking term, would be 'and indeed she was quickly reclaimed/ 1123 Phillip Glasier (Falconry and Hawking) defines the term to reclaim as 'to tame a hawk/ but this is a more recent usage; cf. the OED's sense 3, first documented at the end of the 14th century. In Moamin et Ghatrif: Traites de fauconnerie et des chiens de chasse, 115, it is defined as follows: 'faire revenir 1'oiseau sur le poing/ which is in accord with earlier usage, agreeing with the OED's sense i of 'reclaim/ 'to call back (a hawk which has been let fly)' (cf. note to 2568). Moamin et Ghatrif also defines 'reclam' as 'ce qu'on montre pour faire venir 1'oiseau, un morceau de viande, un oiseau, ou une autre sorte de "tirour"' [what one holds up to draw the bird back to the fist or perch, i.e., a piece of meat, a bird, or some other sort of lure]. .. 123iff. As remarked in the introduction (see n. 39), the falconry manuals tell us that the moulting period could indeed cause undesirable changes in the character of a tame falcon. 1340-428 Here Machaut continues his comparison of 910-22; the lover's heart is equated with the small bird that warms the sparrowhawk's feet and the sparrowhawk is equated with the lady. As a reward for warming the lady, the lover's heart finds itself seated at her side once the day dawns, and there is movement from the night of pain to the daylight, which brings joy. 1348 'Aymy!' (translated as 'Oh dear!') is a variant of aimi, which Godefroy translates as 'une exclamation de douleur/ and which Greimas equates with the modern 'ai!' Machaut repeats this exclamation in 1381. 1440-2 Machaut emphasizes that the love relationship is always in the light, without any shadow, as long as one remains loyal. i485ff. This passage is dense with untranslatable wordplay, including the use of 'amer' noted in the introduction (n. 79). 1618 Cf. 13; in this case, Machaut says that if one is extremely lucky, one might be able to get a reward without thinking, speaking, and doing good things, but he goes on to remind us of 20-48, which state - as 1628-32 reiterate - that one must work well to be sure of earning a reward. 1669-74 These lines play with the words tente, attente, atendu, and forestendu, more or less equating tension, extension (of an unbearably stretched kind), and waiting.

Notes to the Translation

171

1732 'Those I have described' refers to those who hold the opinion that one must endure much pain in order to reap the desired reward and enjoy it, once it is obtained. 1733-78 Although the narrator states that those who are contrary minded are also right, he continues to present the arguments of the more conservative faction, so that he can subsequently debate these arguments, in favour of those who believe that obtaining something without suffering in no way decreases its value. By disagreeing with this concept and upholding the validity of an easy conquest, the narrator directs his discourse to ladies who withhold their love, and strives to convince them of the benefits of granting their mercy without much ado. 1926 Cf. 38. 1950 Like the verb enjoy in English, the French jo'ir can have a sexual connotation and often translates as 'to have a sexual orgasm/ It is possible that Machaut is playing with the term to hint at the sexual satisfaction that may be implicit in the lady's granting her mercy to the lover, especially in light of the passage later in the narrative where he refers to the bird's raising her tail eagerly, etc. (3283ff). 1963 The pain to be suffered by the successful lover is probably an analogy with the pains the falconer must suffer, e.g., staying awake with his falcon in the first stage; cf. note to 1010. 1977 Here, 'reclaim' appears to have the alternative meaning of 'tamed'; cf. note to 1123. 1982 In this line, Machaut is discriminating between the natural behaviour of falcons and the habits acquired as a result of their training. 1995-2048 The narrator seeks out an alerion in a place that the bird frequents. He expresses his concern about attempting to buy the bird, for buying anything of such worth would be impossible. Nor does he feel that he can simply demand it outright, without showing first that he merits it. He is thus left with having to prove his worth through his behaviour, prior to demanding it. 2105 Love is not capitalized here because these lines do not appear to refer to the 'god'; this appears to be a saying similar to the English expression, 'It can't be had for love or money/ 2155 In this passage 'sans nul sejour' is reminiscent of formulas found in the Old French epic that are typically used to convey the directness of the journey and the sense of purpose of those who are making it. Like 'sans s'arreter,' this formula is not to be taken literally. 2169-72 Line 2169 has been moved to come after 2171 to clarify the syntax. 2288 Fortune and Reason are always depicted as female, just as the god of Love is (conventionally) male.

172 Notes to the Translation 2

357~8 These lines have been inverted to make better sense. 2409-11 The possible erotic connotations of this passage are striking. 2414-15 Here 'grace7 and 'rewards' echo 38. 2435 'Danger7 has the meaning found in the Roman de la rose, not its normal English meaning; like the translators of the Roman, we think it is best left untranslated. It generally means the lady's own self-protective defences against her suitor, whether this be interpreted as maidenly (or matronly) reticence or shamefastness or simply wariness manifested as rejection of the male's advances. 2439 'Company' here refers to Love's troop, mentioned in 2430. 2489 This is one of the passages in which we have had to rearrange the order of some lines for clarity; thus what appears in the poem as 2489-90 here comes directly after 2483. 2498 'Souffissans' is what is here translated as 'capable'; there seemed no way to capture the meaning with anything resembling 'sufficiency.' 2520 This is one of many lines that have a proverbial ring. 2531-58 Since this passage describes alerions in general, rather than one trained in falconry, we found 'it' a more appropriate term than 'she/ which is reserved for trained (or trainable) specific birds. 2554 For these 'blades/ see introduction, 16-18. 2561-2 Here Machaut is playing on the topos that love, and thus a comparison that invokes love, has the power of curing illness. 2568 Literally, he 'loudly reclaims' her, using the falconry term reclaim: cf. note to 1123. Another falconry term is used in 2574: the lady is 'attracted/ translating the technical term atrait. Throughout this passage (to 2732), we are to think of the lady as a falcon and her lover as the falconer. 2597 The translation of this passage is intended to clarify the meaning as a contrast between the rational and the sentimental. 2602 'Towers' translates 'montee/ 'mounted'; we chose this word as the one most likely to suggest the continuing falconry metaphor. For the falconry usage, see the OED, 'Tower/ v.3.a: 'Hawking. To mount up, as a hawk, so as to be able to swoop down on the quarry/ Note that the poet goes on to suggest that the lover is the 'prey' for whom the lady 'towers/ although, he says, they are both the 'prey' of love (2645). 2639 'Caught up by' translates 'entalente/ 'caught up in the talons' (of the falcon). 2650 These lines recall 1056-67, in which Machaut says that the value of the love object (be it lady, hawk, or horse) is proportionate to the esteem which the lover accords it.

Notes to the Translation 173 2651 In this passage there is an implicit comparison between the lover and a priest, and emphasis is given to the sacred nature of the love relationship. This idea has already appeared in 2624 with the word chasse, a reliquary or shrine. In 2624, Machaut is referring to the shrine in which 'Vuiseuse' (Falseness) raises into a position of dignity empty and vain things. By contrast, in 2651, the lover's ordained path is to raise up into dignity and enshrine his lady, whose noble qualities remind him of the alerion. The lover's position within the love relationship is thus a God-like (or priestly) one. 2732 One of the primary rules of courtly love is discretion, and telltale looks often give the lovers away, thus exposing them to 'mesdisance' or malicious gossip, which may, in turn, destroy the love relationship. Cf. note to 823-9. 2747ff. Another passage of notable (and untranslatable) wordplay, centring on 'par fais' / 'parfais': 'by/in [her] deeds' and 'perfect/ 2778 (2774 in the original) To fly at random' (translating Machaut's 'd'aventure') is another technical falconry term, meaning that the hawk is flying horizontally, pursuing prey in the manner of a wild hawk. We have changed the order of the verses here, placing the original's 2774 after its 2778, for clarity's sake. 2802 Here Machaut is referring to 'mesdisants.' 2858 Machaut is using 'ami' here as a synonym for 'lover.' 2860 Machaut's use of the word prians, translated as 'supplicants,' serves to develop the notion of courting as a religious metaphor, the suitors being those who pray for deliverance. 2867 Note that here the false lover is tacitly being compared to a raptor and the lady to meat. This is unusual, for Machaut generally compares only women to falcons, treating the men as falconers (or would-be falconers). 2881 This line literally translates as 'For they don't know what they're living on' or 'They don't know what they're deriving substance from.' Here Machaut continues to develop the notion of the false lover as raptor, and the lady as meat that he ingests without savouring or appreciating it fully. 2890 Again, Machaut portrays worthy lovers as being on the right-hand side, and those who are unworthy as being on the left. This image, reminiscent of paintings of the Last Judgment, with the righteous on Christ's right and evildoers on his left, thus serves to enrich the religious metaphors Machaut has been using here to describe the love relationship. 2916 This line exactly repeats 39, and should remind us of its context: that one should not cut short the work if one desires its reward. 2968 On the danger to the falconer of the bird's moulting season, see note to 1231.

174 Notes to the Translation 3005 This line is indeed proverbial; see Hassell, T24. 3O46ff. On the shifts of gender in discussing the eagle, see introduction, 24-6. 3069 In C, 'que7 replaces 'ou7 here. 3127 Verses 3131-2 have been placed after 3127, for the sake of clarity. 3159 The literal translation of this line is : 'the more one would find one's opposite/ 'One's opposite7 could refer back to either 'rays7 or 'wisdom, reflection, and other forms of human understanding 7 ; in either case, the opposite implies darkness, lack of comprehension or blindness. 3176-8 The topos of the 'eyes of the heart 7 recalls another commonplace in courtly literature, that of Cupid's arrow penetrating the eyes, then descending to the heart. The physical beauty of both lover and lady is thus an important part of the love relationship. 3263 The lady is being compared to the king of birds, i.e., revered like a lady on a pedestal, but this implies certain obligations on her part, and does not prevent the occasional swipe from other birds that choose not to honour her revered position. 3264-92 This is one of the passages in which a less-than-decorous meaning may be suspected; cf. note to 1950. Readers alert to the indecorous possibilities of this passage will note the humorous aspect of Machaut's aside in line 3269. 3283 This certainly sounds like the mating practices of various birds and beasts, although modern readers cannot be sure that a distinctly sexual meaning is intended. There is, for example, nothing about mating in falconry manuals, which assume you catch, not breed, your hawks; but courtiers would have seen peacocks et al. displaying such courting behaviour. 3296 Note the traditional misogynist disdain for women who talk too much. 3300 We have extended verse 3299 into two verses rather than translating 3300; but that line is missing in C and thus suspect. 3318-19 Here we are translating the variant from C, which reads, 'De nulle chose ne li nuit / Que li rais sus lui ne descendent.7 3329 Here we have preferred the BE variant 'la veue7 to the 'la lumiere7 (3328) found in other mss. 3495ff. All of Machaut7s comments in this passage serve as a defence of the existing order of things, an order in which women too must accept their subservient roles. 3617-18 Cf. 3-5. 3636 This waiting for prey may suggest the English hawking term to wait on: when a hawk hovers over a likely territory waiting for prey to appear.

Notes to the Translation 175 3654 Here we have preferred the BE variant 'des plus grans' over 'de plus grant/ 366iff. A problem here is that he has not been comparing 'his' eagle to anything: he has been discussing (a) another eagle killed by a falcon, (b) the eagle as the king of the birds, (c) various allegorical concepts. This is, therefore, a somewhat illogical transition. 3717-22 Again, Machaut may be addressing the question of sexual satisfaction. 3727 Machaut certainly gives a great deal of liberty to the male. The female, on the other hand, will always return to the same court, if she is loyal. 3737 Readers may see a traditionally 'masculine' implication here that the beginnings were the best part. 3799 French genders again create a problem here. Tensee' is feminine, and is used here as an equivalent of the male lover's feelings or mind. This is then greeted by Tlaisance/ which leads it away like a courted lady; i.e., the male is being courted like a woman by 'pleasure.' 3854 In this passage Machaut is referring back to his earlier debate on the virtues of obtaining a bird or a love object too easily (in this case, as a gift of love from the falconers to the narrator) vs. acquiring it through great cost, financial or otherwise. Cf. note to 1733-78. 3927 'L'oseroie' is a variant of Toseraie' or '1'osier/ and in this context appears to refer to a willow bed or type of willow hedge. The image is similar to that in the Roman de la rose, where the lady is in a protected garden, the defences of which her suitor must penetrate in order to earn the lady's mercy. 'L'osier' is a variety of wood that has no knots, and is often used in proverbial sayings to indicate sincerity and a lack of dissimulation. See Littre, 5, 1155. According to Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant, Dictionnaire des symboles, 3, 337, '1'osier possede un caractere sacre de protection; il accompagne les naissances miraculeuses ... La corbeille d'osier assure la protection' [willow has a sacred protective character; it accompanies miraculous births ... A willow basket ensures protection]. 3937 While the translation of the verse in our base ms is problematic, the others, including C, give a variant, 'quanqu'il a en son cuer il tire.' 4001 In this verse the term ligement means much more than 'faithfully'; it indicates a reciprocal bond of mutual confidence. The term itself is borrowed from feudal terminology in which 'un homme lige' is a vassal to someone higher in standing, to whom he owes his loyalty and service and from whom he receives protection. This feudal term, like so many others, is transferred to the language of courtly love.

176 Notes to the Translation 4046 Machaut appears to be hinting at a belief in the essential goodness of human beings, in opposition to the doctrine of original sin. 4098-9 This is another of the rare passages (cf. note to 2867) in which Machaut treats the lady as the falconer and the lover as a falcon, called back; the point is emphasized by the phrase a trait in 4102, suggesting the falconry term atrait (see note to 2568). 4193 This is perhaps the most startlingly unorthodox aspect of Machaut's poem: it is 'Love7 himself who causes the gerfalcon's last trespass, thus freeing the narrator from his attachment by showing her as quite unworthy. 42i9ff. That all other birds hate the owl is a widespread idea; see, e.g., the early Middle English 'The Owl and the Nightingale/ 4300 Machaut often uses brevity topoi of this kind as transitions. 4330 We have translated the narrator's reference to himself as a 'poet' although the line in French reads, 'Qu'onques faisierres de chansons/ 'than other makers of songs/ Machaut is comparing the 'monologue dialogue 7 in which he is engaging here to the 'tenson7 of a troubadour or trouvere. A 'tenson7 is a poetic genre that involves an amorous debate on a given subject, and in this passage Machaut is comparing the style of his debate to that of a 'tenson7 performed by a singer-poet. 4341 This line exactly repeats 1495, in the passage describing the narrator's actions after losing his first falcon. 4365-6 Proverbial; see Hassell, Cioi. 4466 The 'catalogue7 of flowers, bushes, and trees found in the garden is another familiar feature of the marvellous gardens of the medieval literature of courtly love; compare, again, the Roman de la rose. 4477 Note that unlike most examples of the medieval hortus conclusus, this garden is surrounded by hedges, rather than walls: no doubt because we are to think of it as primarily the work of 'Nature7 (see, e.g., 4448) as against man. 4479 Littre, no. 11 under 'paradis' (5, 1352), gives 'pommier de paradis7 and states that this is a kind of dwarf apple tree, whose fruits are red and eaten in summer. The 'pomme de paradis7 = a common kind of apple, commonly known as the paradise apple. This, however, would not rule out Machaut7s using the expression metaphorically (the Fall, the tree of knowledge, etc.), especially given the garden context, and the similarities to the Roman de la rose. 4528ff. Note the similarities in this passage to that where the narrator first sees (and 'falls in love7 with) his sparrowhawk, 5o8ff. Here, too, small birds fly away - but in this case, apparently before the arrival of the bird of prey - because the quarrelling is to be used in the comparison with courtly love (4709-13). Considering the sparrowhawk7s snack of a newly fledged bird in 5o8ff., the reader may fear for the fate of the green linnet. Presumably the fal-

Notes to the Translation 177 coner was careful to ensure the safety of the tethered linnet, just as he had earlier protected the bird he used to bait the sparrowhawk's trap (996-1001). 4572 Cf. 682 and note to 639. 4586 Machaut is most likely using 'gete' in the sense of 'percer a coups de trait': but we could not resist giving Machaut an idiom he might have chosen himself. 4670 Machaut's 'discretement' may mean discreet and / or discrete. The same word seems to have meant both things, but English spelling made it necessary to sacrifice one or the other meaning. 4697-8, 4701 recall 13-14. 4748 The word point recurs frequently in this passage; unfortunately, this was the only instance we were able to duplicate. 4751-2 This ironic aside to the reader disculpates the lady from giving in to the lover's demands, providing they are reasonable. 4754 Mutable: literally, this is 'mew-able/ a candidate for enclosure in the mews (cf. 4745); similar metaphorical language was available to Chaucer and Spenser, but such expressions may be confusing to the modern reader. 4759 Cf. 1369; the odd metaphor of 'the feet of her affection' arises from the tale of the sparrowhawk capturing a small bird to keep her feet warm. 48oiff. The poet's signature: see introduction, 11-12.

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Appendix A: 'Learned' Sources of Information about the Alerion

Contrary to the agreement of Machaut and Gace de la Buigne, Blomqvist, the editor of Gace's Roman, defines the alerion in his glossary as a 'grande espece d'aigle.' In this conclusion he agrees with the majority of dictionaries, especially French dictionaries, most of which simply echo (as Blomqvist does) Godefroy's definition ('grande espece d'aigle/ I, 218), with or without adding Godefroy's information that in heraldry the alerion is a small eagle with outstretched wings, without feet or beak - obviously a bird that could only exist in heraldry. Greimas, for example, derives the word from Latin aquilarionem, and defines it as 'oiseau de proie, grand aigle/ The franzbsisches etymologisches Worterbuch does not include a heading for 'alerion/ but identifies it under the hypothetical etymology '*adalaro/ from 'adler/ 'eagle' (15, i, p. 2) without any evidence that is other than purely speculative. ToblerLommatzsch does not try to define 'alerion' at all, but simply refers us to the description of the 'Letter of Prester John' (discussed in introduction, 16-17, and notes 53-7). 'Alerion' is not to be found in English dictionaries in any helpful sense; Cotgrave, giving 'Allelyon' as the primary spelling and crossreferencing 'Allerion,' defines it only as a heraldic term, and the OED does the same. The OED records the suggested etymology from 'adalaro' without either endorsing or questioning it. There have long been some doubters, however. La Curne de Sainte-Palaye's Dictionnaire historique de I'ancien langage fran^ois (1875) expressed doubt about such a derivation. A possibility not noted as such in any dictionary we have seen is that the word alerion may be derived (distantly or by a copyist's mistake) from Pliny, an authority frequently invoked by bestiaries and the like. A 19th-century editor of Du Cange suggested that John of

i8o Appendix A Salisbury's reference to the 'alario' in his Policraticus (I. 13) was an error for Pliny's Valeria/ an idea that Littre dismisses on the grounds that 'alerion' is well attested in French texts of the period (i.e. 12th through i4th centuries). 1 But John is a very early witness indeed, and may well have something to do with the tradition. John's sentence is: 'Aquila ... rex avium est, si non alarionem excipias, quae forte aquilarum species potentissima est/ 2 This could well have been derived from Pliny, who describes, in a general discussion of eagles, a relatively small type of eagle said to be sometimes called Valeria,' a word that could very easily have become 'alerion' in the hands of some copier, whether or not John of Salisury himself was guilty of this error. 3 Pliny says 'there are six kinds [of eagles]; one called by the Greeks the black eagle, or Valeria, which is smallest in size and of outstanding strength.'4 If some such miscopying of Pliny is the true source of the name 'alerion/ that could explain why alerions were constantly (if not consistently) associated with eagles, yet said, by some, to be not very large. The medieval references to the 'alerion' apparently include the account Hoepffner points to as a primary source for Machaut, the Speculum naturale of Vincent of Beauvais. Book 16, chapter 19, gives the story of how a hawk captures a small bird as a foot warmer;* chapter 23 provides a description of the high-flying 'aerophilon' or 'aelion' (Vulgaritur aelion appellata est'), which Hoepffner obviously understood to be the alerion; and chapter 33 gives various details about the eagle, including information about how a gerfalcon committed culpable lese majesie in attacking an eagle. This sequence contains several striking resemblances to the Alerion, and in the same order; but, as Hoepffner rather tentatively suggests (Ixviii, n. 2), Machaut may have gone directly to Thomas of Cantimpre, Vincent's source for most of this information. Hoepffner is wrong, however, in stating that Thomas is the more likely main source because Machaut could have found there certain details omitted by Vincent ('car c'est la qu'il a encore pu trouver certains details sur 1'elevage des oiseaux que Vincent n'a pas reproduits').6 In fact, while Vincent rearranged some sentences and moved one to an entirely different place in the chapter, he includes everything in Thomas' account of the 'aelion' except for one sentence on the sighting of the birds (which does not parallel anything Machaut says).7 It may be more significant that Thomas tells the 'captive bird' story in his chapter on the sparrowhawk, while Vincent omits it in his chapter

'Learned 7 Sources about the Alerion 181 on that bird (chap. 92), which otherwise reproduces everything in the chapter. No doubt he omits it because he has already introduced the same story (basing his account on another source, stated to be Thilosophus7: i.e. Aristotle? 8 ) in his earlier chapter on hawks (chap. 19), thus apparently assigning the story to a goshawk, the usual meaning of 'accipiter7 unless a sub-species is named. But it is interesting that here Vincent agrees with an earlier source that is in another respect actually much closer to Machaut than either Vincent or Thomas (or Albertus Magnus, whose chapters on the 'aerifylon' and the sparrowhawk are almost identical to Thomas7?). Alexander Neckam's De naturis rerum (late 12th century) tells, in chapter 25, the story of the courteous behavior of the 'accipiter7 who takes birds captive. Chapter 24 here also tells how a particular 'accipiter7 killed an eagle in the presence of a king and a group of courtiers. Neckam reports that the courtiers praised the courage and skill of the hawk, but the king said this was a matter of dangerous 'laesae majestatis7 and condemned it to death.10 Since neither Vincent nor Thomas mentions a king and his courtiers in this context, it is possible that Machaut borrowed this exemplum from Neckam. Machaut's treatment of the story does differ from Neckam's, however, in two respects. Neckam/s hawk acts in self-defence, while Machaut's makes a deliberate attack on the eagle, and Neckam7s king orders the bird to be hanged, while Machaut's wrings its neck with his own hands. Neckam devotes chapter 3 to 'falconibus leporariis,7 which is interesting in view of our suspicion that Pliny7s description of the 'leporariaTvaleria7 lies behind the word alerion, but NeckanYs brief account gives none of those details found in the accounts of the 'aerophilon7 described by Vincent, Thomas, and Albertus, which makes it likely that one of these provided a model. For example, all three say that it flies so high a man may lose sight of it ('Et prent de voler si haut estre / Qu'on en puet perdre la veue7 [Alerion, 2534-5]), which is elsewhere said of the eagle.11 And, perhaps most important, all say that the 'aerophilon7 is the most noble of all birds, 'avis avium noblissima.7 Machaut begins the alerion sequence with an account of a conversation with a group of falcon-fanciers assessing birds according to their degree of nobility Cselonc leur noblece,7 [1564]), leading to a general agreement on the superiority of the alerion (1565-8). Note, however, that Thomas, Vincent, and Albertus claim that the alerion is somewhat larger than an eagle ('Aquila parum maior est,7 Thomas, chap. 16, 185; in Vincent, 'paulo maior aquila7). Whatever

i8i

Appendix A

Machaut thought an alerion might be, he evidently did not think it was a 'grand aigle/ a species he handles quite separately. For example, while at least one early French source substitutes the alerion in the classic tale of the eagle's ability to stare directly into the sun, Machaut reserves that attribute for his eagle. He may, of course, have learned that alerions were relatively small from Gace de la Buigne. Thus while Thomas, Vincent, and Albertus all may have influenced Machaut, the degree of their influence is impossible to ascertain. Albertus does not mention another bird's attack on an eagle at all. And since Thomas is Vincent's source of information about the 'aelion' and the eagle, including the gerfalcon's attack on an eagle (chap. 2, 179), either could be Machaut's main source for these episodes. The only significant detail Thomas includes that Vincent omits is the identity of the sparrowhawk as the bird with cold feet. Machaut could have learned that from an oral source, such as Gace de la Buigne, who tells the story in 6367-77 of the Roman des deduis. At this point, we can only say that we have not found any one work among the 'natural histories' that can be confidently identified as Machaut's primary source. NOTES TO APPENDIX A

1 Du Cange, I, 159 under 'Alario'; Littre, I, 301, under 'alerion/ 2 The eagle is the king of birds, unless we except the alarion, which is perhaps the most powerful type of eagle/ Policraticus, ed. Webb, I, 56 (410 b) 3 John is certainly unlikely to have been among Machaut's sources; this is all he has to say about alerions, and the first book of the Policraticus is a virulent attack on hunting as a courtly pastime. 4 The relevant passage of Pliny is the beginning of book 10, chap. 3, of the Natural History (not X.6, as stated in Bevan and Phillott, An Essay in Illustration of the Hereford Mappa Mundi, 30-1): 'sex earum genera, melanaetos a Graecis dicta, eadem Valeria, minima magnitudine, viribus praecipua/ The 'Valeria' of editions of the 19th century, and earlier, appears as 'leporaria' ('hare-eagle') in recent editions, but the Valeria' reading was obviously unquestioned for many centuries before ours; see Rackham, ed. and trans., 3, 294-7. Pliny's source was evidently Aristotle's Historia animalium, 9, chap. 32; but of course Aristotle's Greek word for the species, 'hare-killer,' bears no phonetic resemblance to either Latin word.

'Learned' Sources about the Alerion 183 5 Hoepffner (Ixviii, n. i) reports that this is in chap. 21; he was using a different edition of the Speculum naturale (Venice, 1591), but it is probable that 'xix' has been miscopied as 'xxi' since the other chapter numbers he cites correspond with those in the editions we have seen (Strassburg, 1481, and Douai, 1624). 6 Vol. 2, Ixviii, n. 2 7 'Serenitate tamen aeris aliquando videtur, et hoc ab illis, qui visum habent acutum' [However, in good weather it is sometimes seen by those who have acute vision]; Liber de Natura Rerum, ed. Boese, I, book 5, chap. 16, 185 8 There is no such tale in the collected works of Aristotle. We have checked Organ, An Index to Aristotle, and traced all references to hawks. But it may have been attributed to Aristotle in Vincent's source. 9 De animalibus, ed. Stadler, in Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philosophic und Theologie des Mittelalters 16, book 23, chaps. 12 and 83. Albertus does not include the alternative name 'aelion' for his 'aerifylon.' The fairly late date of De animalibus (around 1260) makes it likely that Albertus, not Thomas, was the borrower; Thomas died in 1270. 10 De naturis rerum, ed. Wright, book 2, 75-6 11 E.g., Brunetto Latini's Li Livres dou Tresor, ed. Carmody, 1.145: 'Aigle ... vole si en haut k'ele n'apert pas a la veue des homes/ 136. Carmody indicates that Brunetto's source was the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville.

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Appendix B: Numerology and Machaut's Structure

If Machaut was doing something with numbers here, it would not be uncharacteristic. Wimsatt remarks, 'In Machaut's works mathematical and phonemic patterns and puzzles often are constitutive/ citing as examples one of Machaut's numerical anagrams and the Dit de la harpe, in which the 'thirty virtues of the lady correspond to thirty strings on the harp/ 1 It has been suggested elsewhere that twelve is treated as a significant number in the Remede de Fortune.2 Just as the Alerion begins by invoking four 'points/ the Remede begins with the invocation of twelve 'things' or 'matters': 'Cils qui veut aucun art aprendre / A douze choses doit entendre/ 3 Also, it appears that at least six of the eight lyrics interspersed in the narrative consist of, in different ways, 'twelve' structures. That is, two of these lyric interludes (the first, 431-680, and sixth, 3205-348) have twelve stanzas; four others have a total of either stanzas (the second, 905-1480) or lines (the third, 1985-2032; fourth, 2857-92; and fifth, 3013-36) amounting to numbers divisible by 12. The seventh (3451-96) contains line numbers divisible by 12 - but only if we do not count the initial presentation of the seven-line refrain repeated at the end of each of the following three (numbered) stanzas; and the eight-line eighth lyric, a rondelet, can be seen as suggesting a twelve-structure only if we focus on the four-line group at the centre of the poem - such poems are usually analysed as falling into groups of two, four, and two and the one line that is repeated three times - which is, admittedly, a pretty far-fetched procedure.4 We are, however, by no means certain that this evidence points to numerical organization or numerological significance in the Remede. We note that Jacqueline Cerquiglini (76-89, and cf. 54-5) has made a case

186 Appendix B for the numerological significance of 'five7 in the Voir dit; but the Remede's twelve 'choses' or the Alerion's four 'points' do not seem to lend themselves to any such analysis. Still, since the fives of the Voir dit and the possible echoings of twelve in the Remede do suggest that Machaut may have played with numerical organization elsewhere, we looked carefully to see whether the Alerion could or should be divided into sections of line numbers divisible by four or twelve. In the case of the first section, that devoted to the sparrowhawk, the only logical place to end the section seemed to be 1452: after this point, the narrative turns to what happens next, which is the advice of 'Amours' that the narrator forget his loss and find another falcon - which he quite promptly does. Thus we allocated the lines beginning with 1453 to the second episode, that concerning the alerion. We put aside the first forty-eight lines, considering them to be the prologue, and assigned 49-1452 to part i. Dividing the other sections at the corresponding points, just before the narrator receives or recalls advice and sets about finding a new bird, we found part 2 to be 1453-2952; part 3, 2953-3716; part 4, 3717-4248; and the epilogue, 4249-4800. These sections vary in length from 532 to 1500 lines, with no discernible numerical rationale for the dividing points, although the line totals of all sections do, indeed, consist of multiples of four: which may be appropriate for a poem that the author entitles in the last line The Tale of the Four Birds/ Among other numerical facts we regard as fairly certain is that if we add the 48 lines of the prologue to the 552 of the epilogue, we get 600: perhaps either 4 x 150 or 12 x 50. But, obviously, if Machaut was doing something with numbers in structuring this poem, he did not do it clearly enough to make his intentions plain.5 NOTES TO APPENDIX B 1 Chaucer and His French Contemporaries, 121. Below, Wimsatt cites Poirion's statement that Machaut's vision of the world is 'dominated by mathematics and astrology/ 2 Cf. Hieatt, 'line autre fourme,' no. 3 'He who wishes to understand any art ought to heed twelve matters/ 1-2, in Oeuvns, ed. Hoepffner, 2, i 4 For a discussion of the complexity of these lyric forms, see Hoepffner's introduction, xxxiv-liv; note that he does not treat them in quite the same

Numerology and Machaut's Structure

187

order, preferring to give attention first to those for which Machaut actually wrote music, which number does not include the passage here designated as the sixth. 5 A poem about a bird in which numerical structure is evident is the Middle English (14th-century) poem The Bird with Four Feathers': see A. Kent Hieatt and Constance Hieatt, "The Bird with Four Feathers'7: Numerical Analysis of a Fourteenth-Century Poem/ This is a parallel to the Alerion in that the bird's four feathers stand for four qualities, more explicitly than Machaut's four birds represent his four 'points.' The structure, like Machaut's, consists of an introduction (also of 48 lines), four main sections (one for each feather/quality), and a conclusion; and fours (and perhaps twelves) are prominent structural numbers. However, it is the stanzaic structure of the Tour Feathers' poem that makes it possible to discern its numerical structure, while the Alerion does not have indisputably separated divisions of any sort. For other examples of the use of numerical organization in medieval literature, see Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, 501-9.

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Index

Adam de la Halle 4 Adam des Aigles: Traite de fauconnerie 6, 13 Alain de Lille: De Planctu Naturae 30n24 Albertus Magnus: De animalibus 181-3 Alexander, JJ.G. 29nl5 Alfred, king: translator of Boethius 22 Amadeus VI, duke of Savoy 4 Aristotle: 181, 183n8; Historia animalium 182n4 Aviarium. See Hugo de Folieto Beer, Jeanette 35n63 Benedict XII, pope 3 Berry. See John, duke of Berry Bestiaire d'amour. See Richard de Fournival Bevan, W.L. See Hereford Mappa Mundi The Bird with Four Feathers' 187n5 Blomqvist, Ake 29nl7, 32n43, 179 Boethius: The Consolation of Philosophy 22, 30n24 The Boke of St Albans 37n84 Bonne of Luxemburg 4

Browne, Sir Thomas 21 Brownlee, Kevin 7-9, 12, 24, 28nl0, 31n32, 33n49, 36n79 Brunetto Latini: Li Livres dou Tresor 183n11 Cahier, Charles 16, 33nn47,49 Calin, William 5, 28nl0 Carmody, Francis J. 183n11 Cent ballades d'amant et de dame. See Christine de Pisan Cerquiglini, Jacqueline 28nn9,14, 30n22, 184 Chailley, Jacques 28n9 Charles d'Orleans 3, 19 Charles of Normandy, king of France 4 Charles the Bad, king of Navarre 4 Chartier, Alain 19 Chaucer, Geoffrey 3, 20-1, 24-5, 27n5, 35n68, 36nn71-3, 177; Parliament of Fowls 20, 35n68; Physician's Tale 167; Squire's Tale 20 Chretien de Troyes 168 Christine de Pisan 3; Cent ballades d'amant et de dame 169 Clark, Willene B. 33n47, 35n64

190 Index Complainte amoureuse de Sainct Valentin. See Granson, Oton de The Consolation of Philosophy. See Boethius Cummins, John 29nl5 Curtius, E.R. 187n5 Dalby, David 29nl5 De arte venandi cum avibus. See Frederick II de Looze, Laurence 11, 31n30 Denis, Ferdinand 34nn56,57 Deschamps, Eustache 3; Fiction d'oyseaulx 20; Art de dictier 36n76 Deschaux, Robert 28nl3 Engelbert of Nassau: Book of Hours 29nl5 Espinette amoureuse. See Froissart, Jean Fiction d'oyseaulx. See Deschamps, Eustache Fleming, John V. 30n24 Frederick II, emperor: De arte venandi cum avibus 14, 31nn40,46 Froissart, Jean 24; Espinette amoureuse 20, 35n70 Frye, Northrop 31n26 Gace de la Buigne 15, 32n43, 179; Roman des deduis 14, 15, 17, 31n37, 32n44, 179, 182 Gaudet, Minnette 169 Glasier, Phillip 170 Granson, Oton de 20, 24, 29nl5; Complainte amoureuse de Sainct Valentin 20; Livre Messire Otes 20; Songe Saint Valentin 25, 35n68 Gregory I, pope (St Gregory the Great) 19

Grosseteste, Robert, bishop of Lincoln 35n59 Guillaume de Lorris. See Roman de la rose Guy of Warwick 36n72 Hereford Mappa Mundi 33n47, 34n56, 182n4 Hieatt, A. Kent 187n5 Hieatt, Constance B. 187n5; 'Stooping at a Simile' 31n33, 36n74; 'Une Autre Fourme/ 29nl9, 31n25, 36n73, 186n2 Hoepffner, Ernest 4, 27n4, 28nl4, 29nl8, 30n21, 31n29, 33n48, 180, 183n5,186n4 Hugo de Folieto: Aviarium 18-19, 35nn64-6 Huot, Sylvia 24, 28nll Isadore of Seville: Etymologiae 183nll Jean de Meun. See Roman de la rose Jeanroy, Alfred 5 Jerome, saint 22 Job, book of 19 John II, king of France (John the Good) 4, 32n43 John, duke of Berry 4, 32n43; Tres riches heures du Due de Berry 29nl5 John of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia 3-4 John of Salisbury: Policraticus 179-80, 182n3 Kelly, Douglas 28nll, 31n31 Kibler, William 22, 24 Letter of Prester John 16-17, 34nn53-6, 179

Index Leupin, Alexandra 5 Libelus de natura animalium 35n61 Livre Messire Otes. See Granson, Oton de Les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio. See Modus Lynch, Kathryn L. 30n24, 31n26 Machabey, Armand 4, 27nnl,3 Machaut, Guillaume de: life of 3-5; musical compositions 3, 5; poetic works: Confort d'ami 4; Dit de la harpe 184; Dit de la fonteinne amoureuse 4, 28n5, 31n27; Dit de I'alerion passim, falconry terminology in, 5, 6, 12-14, 28-9nl4, 31nn34,37, 32nn38,39, 167-75; influence on other writers, 19-21; possible sources, 12-21, 179-83; wordplay in and diction of, 5, 7-10, 21-3, 36n79, 167-70, 172-3, 175-7; Dit dou lyon 4; Dit dou vergier 4, 24, 168; Jugement du roy de Behaigne 4, 7, 22, 24, 29nl8, 31n27, 36nn78,80; Jugement dou roy de Navarre 4, 7, 24; La Prise d'Alexandrie 4, 5; Prologue to his Oeuvres 4; Remede de Fortune 4, 11, 22, 24, 36n78, 167, 185-6; Voir dit 4, 5, 28n5, 31n28, 186 Martin, Arthur M. 16, 33nn47,49 McCulloch, Florence 33n48, 35nn62,64 McMunn, Meradith T. 33n47 Menagier de Paris 6, 14, 25, 32nn38,39,44,46 Mermier, Guy 33n47 Milton, John 21 Der Minne Falkner 29nl8 Moamin et Ghatrif: Traites de fauconnerie et des chiens de chasse 170

191

Modus 15, 31n36 Morris, Rosemary 24 Neckam, Alexander: De naturis rerum 181 Othello. See Shakespeare, William The Owl and the Nightingale 176 Palmer, R. Barton 24 Paris, Paulin 28n5 Parliament of Fowls. See Chaucer, Geoffrey Peter I of Lusignan, king of Cyprus 4 Phillott, H.W. See Hereford Mappa Mundi Physician's Tale. See Chaucer, Geoffrey Piaget, Arthur 20, 35n68 Pichon, Jerome 32nn41,44 Pierre de Beauvais: Bestiaire 16-17, 34nn51,53 Planche, Alice 5, 19, 36nn75,80 Pliny: Natural History 17, 180, 182n4 Poirion, Daniel 28n11, 186n1 Prester John. See Letter of Prester John Renart, Jean 168 Richard de Fournival: Bestiaire d'amour 16-18, 33n48, 34n53 Roman de la rose 21, 24, 30n24, 168, 169, 172, 175, 176 Roman des deduis. See Gace de la Buigne Shakespeare, William: Othello 7; The Taming of the Shrew 13, 21, 36n74 Slessarev, Vsevolod 34n56 Song of Songs 19

192 Index Songe Saint Valentin. See Granson, Oton de Speculum naturale. See Vincent of Beauvais Spenser, Edmund 177 Squire's Tale. See Chaucer, Geoffrey The Taming of the Shrew. See Shakespeare, William Thomas of Cantimpre: Liber de Natura Rerum 19, 34n52, 180-2

Van den Abeele, Baudouin 28n6, 29nl5, 31n32, 35n67, 36n73 Vincent of Beauvais: Speculum naturale 12, 180-2 Walter of Henley 35n59 White, T.H. 29nl7 Wimsatt, James I. 22, 24, 27nn2,5, 28nnll,14, 30n23, 35n68, 36nn71,76, 37n85, 185 Zarnke, Friedrich 34nn54,55