Robbins Library Digital Projects > TEAMS Middle English Texts > Poems > 11. Balade: «Se je m’en dueil, nul ne m’en doit blasmer»

11. Balade: «Se je m’en dueil, nul ne m’en doit blasmer»

GRANSON, 11. BALADE: «SE JE M'EN DUEIL, NUL NE M'EN DOIT BLASMER»: 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.

GW66, Piaget p. 359.
Base MS P. Other copies: A.

 






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 		 11. Balade: «Se je m’en dueil, nul ne m’en doit blasmer»

Or n’ay je mais que dolour et tristesce,
Paine, ennuy, soussy, et desconfort.
Joye me fuit, et Doulx Penser me lesse.
En plains, en plours sont trestuit mi deport.
Autre bien n’ay. Regardez a quel port
Sui arrive pour loiaument amer.
Se je m’en dueil, nul ne m’en doit blasmer.

Las! je languis nuit et jour en destresce
Comme celui qui n’a nul reconfort,
Car je voy bien que ma dame et maistresse
Ne tient compte des grief maulx que je port.
Et si l’aime, se dieu me doint confort,
De bonne amour, sans nul vilain penser.
Se je m’en dueil, nul ne m’en doit blasmer.

Qu’en puis je mais? Dont se je me courresce,
Il m’est avis que je n’ay mie tort.
Servir l’ay loyaument sans paresce,
Tout mon vivant, humblement, sans descort.
En guerredon me vueil donner la mort.
C’est un loier aspre, dur et amer.
Se je m’en dueil, nul ne m’en doit blasmer.
 		 11. Ballade: “If I am grieving, no one ought to blame me”

Now all I have is grief and sadness,
Pain, affliction, worry, and distress.
Joy flees from me; Sweet Thought abandons me.
My only pleasures are in plaints and tears.
I have no other good. See at what port
I have arrived for loving loyally.
If I am grieving, no one ought to blame me.

Alas! I languish night and day in woe
Like someone who can find no consolation,
For I see clearly that my lady and mistress
Takes no account of the grievous pains I bear.
And yet I love her, may God give me comfort,
With a good love, with no base thought at all.
If I am grieving, no one ought to blame me.

What more can I do? If I get angry,
It seems to me that I am not wrong.
I have served her loyally without neglect,
My whole life, humbly, without complaint.
In recompense, she wishes to give me death.
It is a harsh payment, cruel and bitter.
If I am grieving, no one ought to blame me.
 
























 


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