32. Balade: «Foy, loiaulté, sans faulcer, vous tendray»

by: Oton de Granson (Author) , Peter Nicholson (Editor) , Joan Grenier-Winther (Editor)

from: Poems  

5 10 15 20

32. Balade: «Foy, loiaulté, sans faulcer, vous tendray» Tresdoulz amis, que j’aim parfaitement Et aimeray tout le cours de ma vie, Ne vueillez pas croire legerement Les mesdisans qui, par tresfaulce envie Et par tresmauvais rapport, Mectent souvent vrais amans en descort. Car, par ma foy, tant comme je vivray, Foy, loiaulté, sans faulcer, vous tendray. Pour quoy vous pry affectueusement Que en vostre cuer telle meslencolie Vous ne mectez, car tenez vrayement A tort seroit, de ce ne doubtez mie. Ja, ce Dieu plaist, le remort De faulceté n’aura en moy effort. Je suis vostre; n’en soiés en esmoy. Foy, loiaulté, sens faulcer, vous tendray. Sy ne doubtez point qu’il soit autrement Pour parole que personne vous die, Car je vous ay donné oultreement Mon cuer, m’amour, sens nulle departie, Et Dieu m’envoye la mort, L’eure et le jour que je vous feray tort. Soiés certain que, de fin cuer et vray, Foy, loiaulté, sens faulcer, vous tendray.

32. Ballade: “I will offer you faith and loyalty, without falsehood” Dear friend, whom I love perfectly And whom I will love for my entire life, Please do not believe lightly The slanderers who, out of false envy And by telling evil tales, Often put true lovers in discord. For by my faith, as long as I shall live, I will offer you faith and loyalty, without falsehood. For which I beseech you affectionately That you not put such melancholy Into your heart, for believe truly It would be wrong, of this have no doubt. Never, may it please God, will remorse For falsehood have any sway in me. I am yours; of this have no worry. I will offer you faith and loyalty, without falsehood. Thus do not fear that it be otherwise For anything that anyone might say, For I have given you entirely My heart, my love, undividedly, And may God send to me my death The hour and the day that I do you wrong. Be certain that, with true and noble heart, I will offer you faith and loyalty, without falsehood.

Go To 33. Balade: «Don de mercy ainçois que on le deprie»

Footnotes

GRANSON, 32. BALADE: «FOY, LOIAULTÉ, SANS FAULCER, VOUS TENDRAY»: 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.

This is one of five of Granson’s ballades spoken by a woman, as signaled by the masculine forms of the address to Tresdoulz amis; compare the opening of 34 and 50; see also 16 and 20. The only other indication of gender in this case is the masculine form certain in line 23. This is the only of Granson’s poems in which the woman must defend her reputation against slanderers. This is also one of only two of Granson’s ballades employing a vers coupé (a shorter line, of only seven syllables instead of ten) in the fifth line of each stanza. Compare 18.

GRANSON, 32. BALADE: «FOY, LOIAULTÉ, SANS FAULCER, VOUS TENDRAY»: 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.

GW71, Piaget p. 368.
Base MS A. No other copies.