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19. Balade: «Plus m’escondit, plus la vueil tenir chiere»

GRANSON, 19. BALADE: «PLUS M’ESCONDIT, PLUS LA VUEIL TENIR CHIERE»: 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.

GW69, Piaget p. 364.
Base MS P. Other copies: A, R.

12 deust. So A. P: deux.
15 n’estuet. So A. P: n’estoit.
21 pis aler. So A. P: parler.


 






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19. Balade: «Plus m’escondit, plus la vueil tenir chiere»

Or ne sçay je tant de service faire
A ma dame qu’elle me vueille amer,
Et si me voit pour s’amour grans maulx traire.
Mais envers moy est son cuer si amer
Que je n’y puis point de doulçour trouver.
Plus la depry doulcement, plus m’est fiere.
Et si n’en quier pourtant mon cuer oster.
Plus m’escondit, plus la vueil tenir chiere.

Elle scet bien que ce qui li doit plaire,
Sans atendre deux fois le commander
Songneusement je le fois, sans contraire,
De cuer joieux. Bien y deust regarder,
Mes complaintes aussi considerer
Sans me geter de s’amour si arriere.
Toutes voies, de ce n’estuet doubter,
Plus m’escondit, plus la vueil tenir chiere.

Car pour paine, meschief, durté, ne haire
Qu’en desirant s’amour puisse endurer,
Ne me vouldray de la servir retraire.
Mais plus qu’onques le feray, sans fausser,
Car j’ay espoir que d’elle, au pis aler,
Auray grace amoureuse et plainiere.
Et pour ce dy pour mon fait miex prover,
Plus m’escondit, plus la vueil tenir chiere.
 
19. Ballade: “The more she rejects me, the more I hold her dear”

I do not know how to do such service
For my lady that she might wish to love me,
And yet she sees me suffer great pains for her love.
But towards me her heart is so sour
That I can find no sweetness there at all.
The more sweetly I beseech her, the haughtier she is.
And yet I do not want to remove my heart from her.
The more she rejects me, the more I hold her dear.

She knows well that whatever ought to please her,
Without waiting to be asked twice
I do attentively, without objection,
With joyful heart. Well ought she take notice,
And also pay attention to my complaints
Without casting me so far from her love.
Nonetheless, of this one must not doubt,
The more she rejects me, the more I hold her dear.

For whatever pain, hardship, harshness, or hate
I might endure in desiring her love,
I will not want to withdraw from serving her.
But more than ever I will do it, without deceit,
For I have hope that from her, at the worst,
I will obtain complete and loving grace.
And therefore I say, to better make my case,
The more she rejects me, the more I hold her dear.
 














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