Robbins Library Digital Projects > TEAMS Middle English Texts > Poems > 13. Balade: «A ce plaisant premier jour de l’annee»

13. Balade: «A ce plaisant premier jour de l’annee»

GRANSON, 13. BALADE: «A CE PLAISANT PREMIER JOUR DE L'ANNEE»: EXPLANATORY NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, f. fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, f. fr. 2201; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; 100B: Les Cent Ballades; Basso: “L’envol et l’ancrage”; BD: Chaucer, The Book of the Duchess; Berguerand: Berguerand, Duel; Boulton: Song; Braddy: Braddy, Chaucer and Graunson; Carden: “Le Livre Messire Ode d’Oton de Grandson; CA: Gower, Confessio Amantis; DL: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit dou lyon; DLA: Guillaume de Machaut, Dit de l’alerion; FA: La fonteinne amoureuse; FC: Wimsatt, French Contemporaries; GW: Granson, Poésies, ed. Grenier-Winther; LGW: Chaucer, The Legend of Good Women; PA: Froissart, Paradis d’Amour; PF: Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowls; Piaget: Grandson, Vie et poésies, ed. Piaget; PL: Guillume de Machaut, Poésies Lyriques; Poirion: Poirion, Poète et prince; TC: Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde; RR: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la rose; VD: Guillaume de Machaut, Le livre dou voir dit.

On the New Year’s setting see the note to 8, above.



1 que j’aim plus qu’autre ne que moy. Compare Machaut, Balade notée XLV, line 7, “Que j’aim cent fois plus qu’autre ne que moy” (PL, 2:564).

10 noir. Even if noir [black] is meant in a literal rather than metaphorical sense, it may not necessarily have to be taken as an indication of mourning rather than of sadness more generally. In Le Livre Messire Ode (78.421, 485–86 et al.), the narrator chooses to dress in black as a token of his sorrow at being rejected by his lady. Compare also Christine de Pisan’s Balade LXXXVIII, “Qu’en puis je mais, se je porte le noir” (Œuvres poétiques, 1:88).


GRANSON, 13. BALADE: «A CE PLAISANT PREMIER JOUR DE L'ANNEE»: TEXTUAL NOTES



Abbreviations: A: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, MS 350; B: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1727; C: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1131; D: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24440; E: Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MS 8, Catalan, 1420–30; F: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 2201; G: London, Westminster Abbey Library, MS 21; H: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 833, c. 1500; J: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 1952; K: Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, IS 4254; L: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Rothschild MS I.I.9; M: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS fr. 390; N: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS 10961–10970, c. 1465; O: Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, MS 410, c. 1430; P: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library, MS Codex 902 (formerly Fr. MS 15), 1395–1400; Q: Berne, Burgerbibliothek da la Bourgeoisie, MS 473, 1400–40; R: Turin, Archivio di Stato, MS J. b. IX. 10; S: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, fr. 24404, 13th century (16th century addition); T: Besançon, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 556, 1826; V: Carpentras, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, MS 411; W: Brussels, Bibliothèque royale Albert 1er, MS IV 541, 1564–81; Y: Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale e Universitaria, MS L.II.12.

For each poem, we provide the following:

Other editions: The location of the poem in the editions of Grenier-Winther (GW) and Piaget.

Base MS: The manuscript from which our text is taken, using the sigla listed on this page.

Other copies: The other manuscripts in which the poem appears, with the line numbers for excerpts.

Selected variants: Most of the notes record the editors’ emendations. A small number (for instance, regarding the titles) record alternative readings when we did not emend the base text. We do not, however, provide a complete list of variants, for which one may consult Grenier-Winther’s edition. Each note consists of a line number, a lemma (the reading from our text), the manuscript source for the reading that we have chosen, selected readings from other manuscripts; and the reading from the base manuscript when it was rejected. If no manuscript source is listed following the lemma, the adopted reading is the editors’ conjecture.

Other comments on the text, as required.

GW52, Piaget p. 344.
Base MS A. No other copies.

7 l’annee. A: lanne.
15 playt. A: play.

 






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 		 13. Balade: «A ce plaisant premier jour de l’annee»

Belle, que j’aim plus qu’autre ne que moy
De loial cuer tresamoureusement,
Pour le maintien gracieux qu’en vous voy,
Je vous supply, de bon cuer, humblement,
Qu’il vous plaise, dame de tous amee,
Moy retenir vostre povre servant,
A ce plaisant premier jour de l’annee.

Laissez pene et douleur et ennoy;
Prenez en vous joye et esbatement.
Laissez le noir. Mettez vous en requoy
Pour mieulx penser a loisir doulcement.
S’ainsy faictez, plus en serez louee
Que d’endurer et vivre tristrement
A ce plaisant premier jour de l’annee.

Et c’il vous playt a moy donner l’octroy
De vostre amour que je desire tant,
Vous me ferez de tous biens mondains roy,
Plus eureux que nul qu’il soit vivant.
C’est mon espoir, c’est toute ma pansee.
C’est ce qui me tendra joyeusement
A ce plaisant premier jour de l’annee.
 		 13. Ballade: “On this pleasant first day of the year”

Fair one, whom I love better than anyone or than myself
With loyal heart, very lovingly,
For the gracious conduct that I see in you,
I beg you, with good heart, humbly,
That it please you, lady beloved by all,
To retain me as your poor servant
On this pleasant first day of the year.

Set aside pain and sorrow and vexation;
Devote yourself to joy and to amusement.
Set aside black. Put yourself at rest
In order better to think sweetly of leisure.
If you do so, more will you be praised
Than if you persist and live in sadness
On this pleasant first day of the year.

And if it pleases you to give me the gift
Of your love, which I desire so much,
You will make me king of all worldly goods,
Happier than anyone who is alive.
That is my hope, that is all my thought.
That is what will sustain me joyously
On this pleasant first day of the year.
 

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