Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise

The "Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise" ("Song of the Albigensian Crusade"), in modern Occitan "Cançon de la crosada" (formerly "Canso de la Crosada"), is an epic poem in medieval Occitan. It is a major contemporary historical source for the events of the Albigensian Crusade from March 1208 to June 1219.

There is a single surviving manuscript of the whole "Chanson", Bibl. Nat. fr. 25425, written in or around Toulouse around 1275. Although written as a single poem in the one manuscript in which it survives, the "Chanson" is made up of two distinct parts. It was based on the format of the "Canso d'Antioca".

Part 1, by William of Tudela

The first was written by William of Tudela (he names himself in "laisses" 1 and 9), probably in 1213. It comprises the first 2749 lines, in 130 "laisses" (rhymed stanzas of varying length), and takes the story to the beginning of 1213. It is strongly partisan, in favour of the Crusaders and against their opponents, the Cathars and southerners in general.

Part 2

The second part, whose author is unknown, comprises the remaining 6811 lines of the poem, in "laisses" 131 to 214. It covers events from 1213 onwards and takes the opposite point of view, critical of the Crusaders and strongly in favour of the southerners (though not of Catharism). To historians the "Chanson" is important for this whole period because it is the only major narrative source that takes the southern viewpoint; it is especially important from April 1216 to June 1219, because the prose narrative by Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay, "Historia Albigensis", becomes more sketchy and incomplete from 1216 onwards.

The unknown author was apparently an educated man, displaying some knowledge of theology and law, and belonged to the diocese of Toulouse (since he calls bishop Foulques of Toulouse "our bishop"). Michel Zink suggests that he was with Raymond VII of Toulouse in Rome and Provence during the years 1215 and 1216. [M. Zink, "Introduction" Harv|Gougaud|1992|pp=20-22] The poet "predicts" the death of Guy of Montfort, which actually took place in 1228; [Laisse 142 lines 7-8] it is questionable whether the whole of part 2 was written after that date, or whether the reference to Guy's death was a later insertion.

Notes

Editions and translations

*Harvard reference | Surname=Martin-Chabot | Given=Eugène, editor and translator | Title=La chanson de la croisade albigeoise | Publisher=Les Belles Lettres | Place=Paris | Year=1931-1961
*Harvard reference | Surname=Gougaud | Given=Henri, translator | Title=Chanson de la croisade albigeoise | Publisher=Livre de Poche | Place=Paris | Year=1992
*Janet Shirley, tr., "The Song of the Cathar Wars". Ashgate Publishing, 1996.