Cantar Igual: External Responsion and Textual Criticism in the Galician-Portuguese Lyric

Let us begin with arguments for the defense. In a cantiga d' escarnho, a mocking Afons' Eanes do Coton assures his fellow trobador Sueir' Eanes that he has staunchly defended his friend's poetic reputation against the (wholly unjustified) accusation, made by other trobadores, that he might (possibly) once have got something right in certain technical aspects of his compositions.¹ His line of defense? If something was right, it must have been fault of the jograr who performed the song, and the trobador cannot be blamed for that!²

Sueir' Eanes, un vosso cantarnos vẽo ora un jograr dizer,e todos foron polo desfazer,e puinhei eu de volo emparar;e travaron en que era igual;                        5e dix' eu que cuidávades en al,ca vos vi sempre daquesto guardar.

E outro trobador ar quis travaren ũa cobra (mais por voss' amoremparei-vol' eu, non vistes melhor),              10que a cobra rimava_en un logar,e diss' el: "Pois por que rimou aqui?"e dix' eu: "De pran non diss' el assi,mais tenho que xi_a errou o jograr.

E, amigos, outra ren vos direi:                    15polo jograr a cantiga dizerigual, non dev' o trobador perder;eu por Sueir' Eanes volo ei:ca delo dia en que el troboununca cantar igual fez nen rimou,            20ca todos os seus cantares eu sei".

(Lapa, Cantigas 43, slightly modified)³

We have some idea what Coton might mean by "rimar": in this context he would likely be referring to exact (not assonant) rhymes, coherent rhyme systems, special effects like cobras unissonans or doblas, the handling of fiindas, and so forth. So we could gloss "rimar" here as "to design and execute the rhyme-system of a cantiga". But what does the poet mean by "cantar igual"? That is the question to be handled here.⁴

The Evidence

The expression cantar igual and the words igual, desigual, iguar, desiguado are applied in a technical poetic sense in the cantigas d' escarnho e mal dizer (Bertolucci Pizzorusso, As poesías 119-23). In assessing these passages, a dozen all told, scholarly opinion across a broad spectrum has held that the expressions in question refer to isosyllabic, isometric, or simply well formed verses and their opposite - deficient or poorly formed ones. I will pass in review the sections of the poems where these words appear, then propose a somewhat different interpretation, and briefly assess the implications of cantar igual for critical editing.⁵

Here are the passages in alphabetical order by first name of author as they occur in Lapa's Cantigas d' escarnho, beginning with Coton's defense of Sueir' Eanes (the glosses and comments of editors and critics are given in the notes).

Afons' Eanes do Coton

Sueir' Eanes, un vosso cantarnos veo ora un jograr dizer,e todos foron polo desfazer,e puinhei eu de vo-lo emparar; e travaron en que era igual⁶                        5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .polo jograr a cantiga dizer                        16igual, non dev' o trobador a perder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .nunca cantar igual fez nen rimou                20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(Lapa, Cantigas 43; B 1585 / V 1117).

Johan Soarez Coelho e Lourenço⁷

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .e tu dizes que entenções faes,                        5que, pois non riman e son desiguaes,⁸sei m' eu que x' as faz Joan de Guilhade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pero t' eu oía                                                    15tençon desigual e que non rimava. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ca non cuidei que entençon soubessestan desigual fazer, nena fezesses                20. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .fiz eu entençon, e bena iguava⁹                    23con outro trobador que ben trobava. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(Lapa, Cantigas 240; V 1022)

Pero Garcia e Lourenço

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .nen rimades nen sabedes iguar¹⁰            5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .mais quen non rima nen sabe iguar¹¹        12

(Lapa, Cantigas 274, V 1034)

Johan Vaazques e Lourenço

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .mais di-me ti, que trobas desigual:¹²            12se te deitan poren de Portugalou mataste_omen ou roubaste_aver?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . , mais vĩi aqui                                                17por gaar algo, e iguar-mi ben¹³con o trobar vosso. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(Lapa, Cantigas 275; V 1035).

Martin Soarez

Os trobadores...