La Chanson De La Croisade Albigeoise

Bruniquel, a peaceful medieval village located on the edge of the Tarn and Garonne, on a summer evening. A stormy night. Wisps of haze from the nearby Gorges de l'Aveyron surmount the « old castle », giving it this dramatic appearance, this fantastic character befitting to this mythical land, to this legendary site. Myths and legends, legends and myths, constantly intersect there indeed ...

Read more : http://www.culturediff.org/english/ocsciences11.htm

The Albigesian Crusade (1209-1229) was an anti-heretic war called by
Sovereign Pontiff, Innocent III at the beginning of 13th century. Through this war,
the Holy See intended to exterminate members of albigesian heresy in south of
France, at Languedoc region. The Count Simon of Montfort (1160-1218), vassal
of Philip Auguste and considered a smaller noble when compared with other
French nobles, was elected military leader of the Crusade and commanded the
hostes in conquering several locations in the region. As the leader of the Crusade,
Simon IV would become the lord of all lands that conquered in Languedoc.
However Languedoc was under the capet monarch Philip Auguste domain in
theory, in effect, his power was ineffective. The king of Aragon, Peter II and the
count of Toulouse, Raimond VI had more hegemony in the region. The complex
power relations made it difficult for Simon IV's achievements to be recognized by
Innocent III. During the Crusade, Simon IV was able to conquer good part of
Lancguedoc region, becoming lord of most of its localities and passing them for
his close partners. Those that faced his hegemony, Peter II and Raimond VI
were as defeated by Simon IV; Peter II was killed in 1213 in the battle against the
hostes led by Simon IV and Raimond IV was excommunicated, and his territories
and domains were passed by Inocence II to the Cont of Montfort in IV Lateran
Council in 1215. Simon IV became the Cont of Toulouse, but due to Raimond
VI’s revolt, he was killed during the battle in 1218. The chronicle Historie
Albigeoise written by cistersian monk, Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay, narrates the
events of the Crusade between 1209 and 1218. The work - that gained a status
of final version of the Holy See, has Simon IV of Montfort as the major player -
reports the Cruzade aiming to present Simon IV as the hero of Latin Christianity
and the legitim lord of conquered lands. In this work, we seek to understand the
reasons for this exaltation, working with 13th century context and how the
relationship between Pierre and Simon IV was. Also, we will work with artifices
used by the chronicler to exalt the Cont of Montfort, turning him as a shadow of
other representatives of temporal power; thus, we will be able to comprehend
what the Latin Cristanity of 13th century understood as legitim.

La prima parte della Chanson de la croisade contre les albigeois, composta da Guilhem de Tudela, è un osservatorio privilegiato per studiare i meccanismi dell’enunciazione in un testo medievale scritto in vista della recitazione. Viene dapprima studiato il gioco tra prima e terza persona singolare, che denotano il narratore implicito e l’autore, con alcune zone di ambiguità tra le due istanze. Sono poi presi in considerazione i contesti in cui appaiono i termini metaletterari canso, libre, estoria, gesta, gloza. I risultati dell’analisi sono esaminati alla luce della teatralità intrinseca alla letteratura medievale.

The first part of the Chanson de la croisade contre les albigeois, written by Guilhem de Tudela, is a good starting point to study énonciation strategies in a medieval text, which was written to be orally performed. The author takes into consideration the interplay between the first and the third persons of the singular
that are used to refer to the narrator and the author; sometimes the narrative I overlaps with the author. The use of technical words such as canso, libre, estoria, gesta, gloza by Guilhem de Tudela is then examined in the frame set in the
first part of the article. The facts established in the first two parts are then examined in the light of the theatrical features of medieval literature itself.

"Cette méthode d’occitan donne à voir toutes les variétés (ou dialectes) d’occitan. La première partie de l’ouvrage présente le languedocien standard – une variété qui permet de comprendre assez aisément la plupart des autres dialectes occitans puisque l’aire languedocienne occupe le centre géographique de l’espace occitan. La méthode revient ensuite sur les six principaux dialectes de l’aire occitane (auvergnat, gascon, languedocien, limousin, provençal, vivaro-alpin) parlés dans trois pays (France, Espagne, Italie) et donne également accès à l’occitan médiéval sur une série de leçons. Les acteurs locaux, très actifs dans la promotion de leur langue, ont été partie intégrante de cet ouvrage à la fois par le biais des relectures et des enregistrements.
Cet ouvrage a été publié avec le soutien de la Direction Générale de la Langue Française et des Langues de France (Ministère de la Culture) et de l’Union Latine. "