Chevalier, mult estes guariz

Chevalier, mult estes guariz is an anonymous Old French crusade song written between April 1146 and June 1147.[1] The title (in fact, the incipit) translated "Knights, you are under sure protection". The song predates the chansonnier works of the trouvères.[2] The author of the song is not known. He encourages knights to join King Louis VII to fight in the Second Crusade. He was probably a layman and his intended audience the knightly and noble classes.[1]

The song is preserved in a single manuscript, Universitätsbibliothek Erfurt, Dep. Erf., CA 8° 32, copied in England in the later 12th century.[2]

The poet compares the crusade to a tournament arranged by God at Edessa:

Recordings

  • David Munroe & the Early Music Consort of London, Music of the crusades (1971)[3]
  • Oliphant, Songs of the Crusades (2000)
  • Richard Searles, Jongleurs Dance (2006)[4]
  • Jordi Savall & Monserrat Figueras, Jerusalem (2009)[5]
  • Toronto Consort, The Way of the Pilgrim (2016)

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Jonathan Phillips, The Second Crusade: Extending the Frontiers of Christendom (Yale University Press 2008), pp. 77–79, with an English translation of the song at pp. 283–284.
  2. ^ a b c Jacob, Uri (October 2021). "Chevalier mult estes guariz and the 'pre-chansonnier' vernacular lyric". Plainsong & Medieval Music. 30 (2): 119–140. doi:10.1017/S0961137121000115. ISSN 0961-1371. S2CID 246637325.
  3. ^ Music of the Crusades by David Munrow & The Early Music Consort of London, 1971-10-02, retrieved 2022-12-12
  4. ^ Richard Searles - Jongleurs Dance, retrieved 2022-12-12
  5. ^ Jerusalem, 2009-01-15, retrieved 2022-12-12