[lit-ideas] Blondel and Richard Coeur de Lion United In Song of Love
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:28:41 EST
Blondel Sings His Heart -- and Has His Refrain Compleated
The Romance of the Crusades
In "Updating one's knowledge about the Crusades", L. K. Helm writes about
the second edition of a book:
>He has a brief (10 page)
>_afterword_ which sounds interesting. His chapters are,
>The critical romantics
etc.
Interesting that he should mention the Romantics. Indeed there is much of
romance during the Crusades. The St. Michael Hall I work at (provided 'work'
does not stop me from 'gentleness') logo is the red cross of St. George and St.
Michael, so we know the meaning of a symbolic banner.
There was also Richard Coeur de Lion. He was born in Beaumont, England, but
his English was broken. He fought in the Crusades, and was made to marry a
foreign princess. But he could not find her sexually attractive enough to
procreate, so he left no heir. Instead he seems to have been pretty attached to
a
trouvador wearing long yellow tresses, whom he called "Blondel". Blondel could
play the guitar.
Since Richard had an ear for verse, they jointly composed, on the way to
Jerusalem, a romantic little rhyme. Geary knows the exact scansion. What I
remember is the refrain:
Blondel: Tra -- la -- la -- la -- la ?
Richard: Tra -- la -- la -- la -- la!
In any case the uniqueness of the rhyme proved useful. On the way back from
the Crusades (or afterwards) Richard found himself imprisoned. Nobody, his
wife, or his serfs could have cared less. But the troubadour did. And with his
little guitar, romaed along the Loire and other rivers. At every castle tower
he would sing,
Tra -- la -- la -- la -- la?
But no reply. He tried Vienna, he tried Venice, he tried even Liguria.
Finally, on the Alps -- see beautiful colour reproduction at
_http://www.kellscraft.com/richard.html_
(http://www.kellscraft.com/richard.html)
-- he heard the loving accent of his French-speaking king of England,
(softly, as he was not well fed, as in a whisper)
"Tra -- la -- la -- la -- la."
And so Blondel _knew_.
The rest is Historia Anglica.
Cheers,
JL
author of
"Who _won_ the Crusades?"
"New Jerusalem: The History of an English idea" -- or how to stay happy
on your island of the blessed.
Pinging Away on Lit-Ideas -- enjoying the company and the intelligent
replies from intelligent listers
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