The Judgment of the King of Navarre

Guillaume de Machaut, R. Barton Palmer, R. Barton Palmer

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429603150
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Literarische Sammlungen

Originally published in 1988, this volume includes the full text and translation of The Judgment of the King of Navarre by Guillaume de Machaut, alongside textual and biographical notes includiging the life of the author, comparative studies of Chaucer and Machaut, and criticism and study guides.

The Judgment of the King of Navarre

Au departir dou bel esté xxiiV

Qui a gais et jolis esté,

De fleurs, de fueilles faillolez,

Et d’arbrissiaus emmaillolez,

Arousez de douce rousée, 5

Sechiez par chaleur ordenée

Que le soleil li amenistre,

Et qu’oisillons ont leur chapitre

Tenu de sons et de hoquès,

Par plains, par aunois, par bosques, 10

Pour li servir et honnourer,

Que tout ce couvient demourer

Pour le temps qui, de sa nature,

Mue sa chaleur en froidure

Un po après le temps d’autonne, 15

Que chascuns vandange et entonne

Qui a vingnes a vandangier,

Et qu’on a a petit dangier

Pesches, moust, poires, et roisins,

Dont on present a ses voisins, 20

Que li blez en la terre germe

Et que la fueille chiet dou cherme,

Par nature, ou dou vent qui vente,

L’an mil.ccc. nuef quarente,

Le. i£. jour de novembre, 25

M’en aloie par mi ma chambre.

Et se li airs fust clers et purs,

Je fusse ailleurs; mais si obscurs

Estoit, que montaingnes et plains

Estoient de bruines pleins. 30

Pour ce me tenoie a couvert;

Quar ce qu’estre soloit tout vert

Estoit mué en autre teint,

Car bise l’avoit tout de-s teint,

Qui mainte fleur a decopée 35

Par la froidure de s’espée.

Si que la merencolioie

Tous seuls en ma chambre et pensoie

Comment par conseil de taverne

Li mondes par tout se gouverne; 40

Comment justice et verité

Sont mortes par l’iniquité

D’Advarice qui en maint regne

Com dame souvereinne regne,

Com maistresse, comme roÿne‐‐ 45

Qu’Avarice engenre haine,

29. A pleins‐‐32. Other mss Car

At the passing of a beautiful summer

Which had been pleasant and joyful,

Ornamented with flowers, with leaves,

Adorned with shrubbery,

Drenched with sweet dew, 5

Dried by seasonable heat

Which the sun provided it,

A summer in which the birds

Have held their assemblies with songs and lyrics

Through meadows, arbors, and glades, 10

To serve and honor the season

So that all this should linger

For the sake of the weather which, by its nature,

Changes the warmth into cold

A little after fall comes, 15

When everyone who has vines to pick

Does his harvest and puts it in casks,

When, with little difficulty, one has

Peaches, must, pears, and grapes

That he shares with his neighbors, 20

When the wheat sprouts in the ground,

And when the leaf falls from the tree,

By nature, or by the wind that blows,

In the year thirteen hundred forty-nine,

On the ninth day of November, 25

I was walking around in my room.

And if the air had been clear and pure,

I’d have been elsewhere; but it was

So dark that the mountains and plains

Were filled with haze. 30

And so I stayed inside;

For that which ordinarily was all green

Had been changed into another hue,

For the north wind had discolored everything

And had cut down many a flower 35

With the coldness of his sword.

So there I suffered sadness

All alone in my room and gave thought to

How the world in all things

Was ruled by the drunkard’s wisdom; 40

How justice and truth

Had been murdered by the iniquity

Of Greed which in many realms

Rules as sovereign lady,

As mistress, as queen‐‐ 45

And Greed spawns hatred,

Et largesse donne et rent gloire,

Vraiement, c’est parole voire,

Qu’on le scet et voit clerement

Par vray et juste experiment‐‐ 50

Comment nuls ne fait son devoir,

Comment chascuns quiert decevoir

Son proisme; car je ne voy pere,

...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Select Bibliography
• The Judgment of the King of Navarre
• Textual Notes