Chevalier, mult estes guariz

Anon. French (Second Crusade ca. 1147)

Instruments:
-Recorder
-Treble rebec
-Bass rebec
-Tabor

Lyrics (French Origin):
Chevalier mult estes guariz,
Quant Deu a vus fait sa clamur
Des Turs e des Amoraviz,
Ki li unt fait tels deshenors.
Cher a tort unt ses fieuz saisiz;
Bien en devums aveir dolur,
Cher la fud Deu primes servi
E reconuu per segnurr.

Ki ore irat od Loovis
Ja mar d'enfern avrat pouur,
Char s'alme en iert en pareïs
Od les angles nostre Segnor.

Pris est Rohais, ben le savez,
Dunt cretiens sunt esmaiez,
Les musteirs ars e desertez:
Deus n'i est mais sacrifiez.
Chivaler, cher vus purpensez,
Vus ki d'armes estes preisez;
A celui voz cors presentez
Ki pur vus fut en cruiz drecez.

Ki ore irat od Loovis...

Alum conquer Moïsès,
Ki gist el munt de Sinaï;
A Saragins nel laisum mais,
Ne la verge dunt il partid
La Roge mer tut ad un fais,
Quant le grant pople le seguit;
E Pharaon revint après:
El e li suon furent perit.

Ki ore irat od Loovis...

Translated Lyrics:
Knights, your salvation is assured
since God has appealed to you to
take his side against the Turks and
Almoravids, who have done him such
great dishonour. They have seized
his fiefs against all right. We
must feel deep pain at this for it
was there that God was first served
and recognised as Lord.

He who goes with Louis will never
have fear of Hell; his soul will go
to Paradise with our Lord's angels.

Rohais has been taken, as you know,
and Christians are sorely troubled.
Churches have been burnt and
destroyed; God is no longer
sacrificed there. Knights, renowned
in arms, think of this and offer
your bodies to him who was
crucified for you.

He who goes with Louis

Let us go and conquer Moses on Mount
Sinai: let us not leave him any longer in
the hands of the Saracens, nor his
staff which he separated with
a single blow the waters of the Red
Sea when the great host was with
him; and Pharaoh came in his turn
as he pursued them and perished
with all his men.

He who goes with Louis

"Between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries the true events of the Crusades were romanticised beyond recognition in the poetry of troubadours, trouvères, and minnesingers, in folklore and later novels. On this recording there are two examples of troubadour texts (written in langue d'oc), eight examples of trouvère (in early French), and one of minnesang (in early German), as well as various Latin texts. Some relate directly to the Crusades such as 'Pax in nomine Domini!' and 'Chevalier, mult estes guariz'. Most, however, are from the time of the Crusades rather than having any direct relation to them. A good example is 'Ja nus hons pris', attributed to Richard the Lion-Heart.
There are approximately sixty manuscripts surviving of troubadour and trouvère poetry. Only a small number of them contain musical notation, and it is not at all clear if this music is the work of poets themselves, their scribes, or the jongleurs and minstrels who performed the songs. This early notation, like that of Gregorian chant, provides the performer with only a series of pitches to be sung and no clear indication if a specific rhythmic values (if, indeed, any were intended). Hence the performer must decide, with the help of modern theories, whether or not to impose a specific rhythm on a given song, and though one performer's interpretation might be very different from another's, both could be equally valid. We know from contemporary pictorial and literary evidence which instruments were in use in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. For strings, the early lute of four/five courses, played with a plectrum; the citole, which apparently employed metal strings, also played with a plectrum; the rebec, in various sizes and played with a bow; and the harp. For wind instruments, the simple wooden flute, the recorder, a simple form of bagpipe, and the early shawm. On this recording the crumhorn is used to simulate the sound of the bladder-pipe, a contemporary instrument. For percussion, the nakers(a small pair of kettle drums), tabor and a range of tuned bells. Ironically, the lute, shawm, and nakers had all been recently imported to Europe from the Middle East.
The performances heard here represent an attempt at solving some of the practical problems of recreating twelfth and thirteenth-century music and a desire to present as varied and useful an introduction to this repertoire as possible."

Featured Image:
Estoire del Saint Graal, La Queste del Saint Graal, Morte Artu - Evalac Besieging Tholomers
British Library

I do not own the rights to this song.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• david
• munrow
• french
• troubadour
• trouvère
• shawm
• nakers
• minstrel
• crusades
• manuscript
• medieval
• music

[Lieblingsfachful]

It certainly has a very upbeat tune to it. A precusor to modern day propoganda, perhaps?

Still, why be so negative? It's a wonderful song and should be appreciated.

[mrleedra]

Ki ore orat ad Loovis

Ja mar d'enfern n'avrat pouur

Char s'alme en iert en pareis

Od les angles nostre segnor.

One of my favorite medieval songs. Thanks for posting this.