Guillaume Adhémar, Guilhem Ademar, Azemar, Ademars, Azemars,

Guillaume Adhémar.

I.

El temps d' estiu quan par la flors el bruelh,
E son braidiu li auzelhet d' erguelh,
Ai pessamen d' amor que m dezacuelh,
Que nulha re tan no dezir ni vuelh.
Ai! douss' amia,
Mala us viron mey huelh,
Si chauzimens no m guia.

Veiaire m' es qu' ieu no sui selh que suelh,
Si m' a sospris us grans mals don mi duelh,
Don ieu murrai, si la dolor no m tuelh
Ab un dous bais dins cambra o sotz fuelh.
Ai! douss' amia,
Mala us viron mey huelh,
Si chauzimens no m guia.

Membre us, domna, quan me detz senhoriu,
De vos servir m' autrei tan cum ieu viu;
Tortz es si us prec, qu' anc ren no vos forfiu;
Ja no m poscan dan tener enemiu.
Ai! douss amia,
Qu' a son coral amiu
Non deu hom far guandia.

Neguna res non es tan fort esquiu
Cum es d' amor lauzenjador braidiu
Qu' aya poder que menta so que pliu,
Mas fos verais e tengues so que diu.
Ai! douss' amia,
Qu' a son coral amiu
Non deu hom far guandia.

Ieu ai ja vist home que conoys fort,
Et a legit nigromansi' e sort,
Trahit per femn' a peccat et a tort;
Et ieu lasset no m' en tenc per estort.
Ai! douss' amia,
Guidatz me a bon port;
Si dieus vos benezia.

Jamais no vuelh chant ni ris ni deport
S' eras no m fai la belh' ab si acort;
Pres n' ai lo mal don cug qu' aurai la mort,
Si 'n breu de temps no fai de que m cofort.
Ai! douss' amia,
Guidatz me a bon port;
Si dieus vos benezia.

II.

S' ieu conogues que m fos enans
Vas l' amor mi dons vers ni sos,
Mout en fora plus volentos
De far que non es mos talans:
E pero no m' en vuelh gequir,
Ans am mais en perdo chantar
De lieys, qu' autr' amor conquistar.

D' aquesta sui fizels amans,
E no 'l serai fals ni ginhos;
Quar non estai de cel en jos
Negun' ab belhazors semblans,
A cui dieus donet lo chauzir
Del mon, per que 'l fai leu triar;
Lieys prec e tot l' als lays estar.

Ben say que ja non er mos dans,
Quar l' am mais d' autra re qu' anc fos;
Qu' elha es tan ensenhada e pros
Que del tot m' er guazardonans;
E 'l guazardo non puesc falhir,
Quar ab un ris me pot payar,
S' ieu n' era estatz pres oltra mar.

Q' us paucs de ben m' es de lieys grans,
Quan l' en ai, mout en sui joyos;
E greus trebalhs e perilhos
Quan m' en ve, ges no m sembl' afans:
Doncx, quon o sai? quar o aug dir;
Amicx ai que m volon jurar
Que pen' aisso que leu me par.

Tant es cortez' e benestans,
E riqu' e de belhas faissos,
Qu' ieu n' ay estat mout cossiros
Loncs temps, e mos cors sospirans;
Quar ja de lieys non pot mentir
Nuls hom que la vuelha lauzar,
Ni ver dir, si la vol blasmar.

Quoras qu' ieu fos grieus ni pezans,

Ni abruzitz, ni nualhos,
Eras suy bautz e delechos,
E vau ves lieys far sos comans:
E si 'lha me vol obezir,
No m lays dieus de lieys tan lonhar

Que no m trobe ses trop sercar.

Per lieys m' en perdra 'l reys Ferrans
E las cortz e 'ls dos e 'ls baros,
Non per aver, ni per mancos,
Ni per cavalhs, ni per bezans:
Que res tan cum lieys non dezir;
E no m pot nulhs hom estancar,
Si no m fai penre o liar.

E prec mi dons, al vers fenir,
Cui sui hom per vendr' e per dar,
Que pes d' En Guillem Ademar.

III.

Non pot esser suffert ni atendut
Qu' ades non chan, pus estius vey tornat,
E li vergier cum si eron canut
Pareysson blanc, e verdeyon li prat.
Adoncx m' a si conquistat un' amors,
Sol per respieg d' un covinen que m fe;
Guardatz que feira s' agues del fag re,
Qu' a penas denh' ab autr' aver solatz.

Al sieu ops m' a de bon cor retengut
Selha que m' a per amic conquistat;
Qu' assatz m' a mielhs en breu temps conogut
Que tals on ai lonc termini ponhat;
Q' us reproviers me ditz dels ancessors:
Qui temps espera e no fai quan temps ve,
S' el temps li falh, ben estai e cove;
Que loncs espers a manhs plagz destorbatz.

Ab aisso m' a joy e deport rendut,
E mon saber tenc endreg meluyrat;
Qu' en aquest mot cug aver entendut,
Que m vol en breu far ric de s' amistat.
Aisso conosc ben dels lauzenjadors
Quan mi cugeron far mal, m' an fait be,
E grazisc lor de la mala merce,
Quar suy de lieys estortz et escapatz.

Anc non auzis son par plag avengut
Ad home viu, auiatz cum es anat:
Qu' a doble m' an miey enemic valgut
Que no feiron, si m' aguesson amat:
E fon ancmais en aissi valedors,
Qu' ieu lor vuelh mal de mort, et ilh a me;
Pero trag m' an de tal loc on jasse
Suffrira afan, e fora perilhatz.

Eras ai ieu a bon port de salut,
Fe qu' ieu vos dei, mon navei aribat,
Et ai lo plom e l' estanh recrezut,
E per fin aur mon argent cambiat;
Qu' autreiat m' a una de las gensors
Donas del mon, e ges no m dessove
Que m don s' amor, e d' un baizar m' estre;
Et es tant pros q' us reys en for' honratz.

E per aisso tenc me per ereubut,

E non envei el mon nulh home nat,

Si m vol mi dons tener vestit o nut,

Baizan lonc se, en luec de mollerat:

Anc no fon fag al mieu par tals honors

Cum er a mi, s' en aissi s' esdeve;

Qu' el sieu cors blanc, gras e chauzit e le

Remir baizan, ni m tenc entre mos bratz.

Si 'l reys N Amfos cui dopton li Masmut,
E 'l mielher coms de la crestiantat
Mandesson ost, pus be son remazut,
Al nom de dieu farian gran bontat,
Sobr' els Paians Sarrazins trahidors;
Ab que l' us d' els menes ensems ab se
Marit gelos qu' inclau e sera e te,
Non an peccat non lur fos perdonatz.

Ieu remanrai e non irai alhors,
Ni virarai vas autra part mon fre;
E ja negus no m demande per que,
Quar ja per elhs non serai descelatz.


//

Guillaume Ademar (Guilhem Ademar en occitan) (1190/1195–1217) était un troubadour de Gévaudan.

Fils d'un chevalier de Meyrueis, donc d'origine noble, mais pauvre, il passe sa vie entre les cours d'Albi, de Toulouse, de Narbonne, et de Catalogne.
Il obtient durant sa vie une importante réputation, au point qu'un autre troubadour, Monge de Montaudon (le Moine de Montaudon), en fait la satire. Il entre dans les ordres à la fin de sa vie.

Nous possédons de lui seize poèmes, quatorze chansons, un sirventès, et une joute (partiment) avec Eble d'Ussel. Ses chansons sont ses œuvres les plus renommées. Souvent pleines d'humour, il s'y inspire de la poésie d'un de ses plus illustres contemporains: Arnaud Daniel.

Une chanson nous est resté avec sa mélodie.

//

Guilhem Ademar (Old Occitan [ɡiˈʎɛm adeˈmaɾ]; also spelled Guillem, Adamar, or Azemar; fl. 1190/1195–1217) was a troubadour from the Gévaudan in France. He travelled between the courts of Albi, Toulouse, Narbonne, and Spain. He achieved fame enough during his life to be satirised by the nobleman and monk, Monge de Montaudon. Guilhem entered holy orders towards the end of his life. Sixteen poems—fourteen cansos, a sirventes, and a partimen with Eble d'Ussel—form his surviving corpus. His cansos are his most famous pieces. Usually humorous, several mock the poetry of Ademar's more illustrious contemporary Arnaut Daniel. One canso survives with a tune.

According to his vida, Guilhem was the son of a poor knight from Meyrueis (Maruois), the lord of which castle created him a knight. He was an eloquent man who "knew well how to invent (trobaire) poetry." When he was no longer able to support himself as a knight he took to minstrelsy and "was greatly honoured by all the high society." Towards the end of his life he joined the Order of Grandmont (Granmon).

Guilhem Ademar's career can be dated from a reference in a poetic satire of contemporary troubadours by the Monge de Montaudon around 1195. The Monge playfully insults Guilhem as a "bad joglar" who always wears old clothes and whose lady has thirty lovers. The earliest reference to a
W. Ademars, a petty noble of the Gévaudan, occurs in 1192, though this figure, who (variously as Ademars or Azemars) appears in documents until 1217, cannot be definitively identified with the troubadour.

One of Guilhem's more famous pieces is Non pot esser sofert ni atendut, a sensuous canso of courtly love wherein he is wishing that his lady's husband would go far away. It has presented a riddle for its dating through references to two Spanish kings: a rey Ferrans ("king Ferdinand") and reis N'Amfos, cui dopton li masmut / e.l mieiller coms de la crestiantat ("king Don Alfonso, whom the Almohads fear / and the greatest count in Christendom"). Ferrans may be either Ferdinand II of León (died 1188) or Ferdinand III of Castile (began reigning in 1217), both of whom present difficulties because their reigns lie outside the usual dating of Guilhem's career. The Alfonso could be Alfonso II of Aragon (contemporary with Ferdinand II), who was also the Count of Barcelona. It could also be Alfonso IX of León, Ferdinand II's successor, whose kingdom lay about as far away as Guilhem could possibly hope to send his lover's husband; or Alfonso VIII of Castile, whose exploits against the Almohads culminated in the definitive victory at Las Navas in 1212. Since Guilhem wrote a poem sometime between 1215 and 1217 in which he referred to Raymond VI of Toulouse as En Raimon, mon seigner ("Lord Raymond, my lord"), it has also be posited that the mieiller coms referred to in the previous work is Raymond, who was with Alfonso at Las Navas in 1212. Guilhem may thus have had in mind the events of Las Navas and been writing at a time after Ferdinand III's succession. Guilhem may have even been at Las Navas with Raymond.

Guilhem's poetry is in general light, easy-going, and characterised by irony. Like Peire Raimon, his contemporary at the court of Raymond VI of Toulouse, he seems to have been influenced by (and perhaps had an influence on) Arnaut Daniel. Guilhem's lone surviving piece of music is neumatic in texture and motivic in phrasing.

In his primary love songs, Guilhem praises two ladies, one from Albi (Na Bona Nasques, a pet name) and another from Narbonne (Beatriz, perhaps her real name). Despite this, Guilhem has been accused of misogyny for his poem El temps d'estui, qan par la flors el bruoill. His love song Ben for'oimais sazos e locs is written as a message to his lover to be delivered by her porter, who is strictly warned to follow through. In his only sirventes, Ieu ai ja vista manhta rey, Guilhem moralises in a slightly Marcabrunian fashion on how loyal and generous suitors are rejected in favour "fools and misers".

Aubrey, Elizabeth. The Music of the Troubadours. Indiana University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-253-21389-4.

Egan, Margarita, ed. and trans. The Vidas of the Troubadours. New York: Garland, 1984. ISBN 0-8240-9437-9.

Riquer, Martín de. Los trovadores: historia literaria y textos. 3 vol. Barcelona: Planeta, 1975.