Les Mots d'Aliénor: Aliénor d'Aquitaine et son siècle by Katy Bernard (review)

In its title and organization, Les Mots d'Aliénor is a bit like a children's book; Katy Bernard has intended an abécédaire of the woman we call Eleanor of Aquitaine. The subtitle of the work, "Eleanor and Her World" or "Eleanor and Her Times," is a much better description of Bernard's effort, for in Les Mots d'Aliénor the French scholar attempts a jigsaw-puzzle portrait not only of the Duchess of Aquitaine, Queen first of France and then of England, but also of the world Aliénor lived in, using, insofar as possible, contemporary texts, sometimes cited at length. In this work for the general public, Bernard succeeds fairly well; the scholarly reader will also find interesting nuggets of information.

Bernard chose 198 headers or rubrics by which to organize the information. Given the format, some duplication among entries is unavoidable, but the repeats are only evident to the reader who chooses to start at the letter A ("Aliénor" is the first entry) and continues to the end, the letter W ("Westminster, abbaye de"). Between these pillars are entries on topics as varied as the storyteller Bléhéri, Manuel I Comnenus (emperor of Byzantium), the Nun of Barking, and Wace. More germane to Tenso readers are the multiple entries on troubadours who may have had contact with Aliénor and her family, including Bernart de Ventadorn, Bertran de Born, Cercamon, Gaucelm Faidit, Guilhem IX, Jaufre Rudel, Marcabru, and Rigaut de Barbezieux. Broader topics of Occitan literary interest include "cour d'amour," "courtoisie," "croisade contre les Albigeois," "fin'amor," "langue d'oc" and "langues" in general, "matière troubadouresque," "mécène et inspiratrice," "occitan ou langue d'oc," "rayonnement troubadouresque," "trobar," "trobairitz," "troubadours," and "vidas et razos."

Many of the entries are short, though Bernard does expand when there is sufficient source material to warrant a longer discussion. Such expansions are particularly true when she is discussing individual authors who may have interacted with Aliénor and her family in some way or other. Bertran de Born, for example, merits some ten pages (28–37), which open with Dante's description of the troubadour in Inferno (XXVIII, vv. 118–135) alongside an excerpt from Bertran's vida. A brief description of Bertran's involvement in the Plantagenet family feuds is amplified by excerpts from "Ges no mi desconort" (PC 80,21; PC numbers are not provided in the book) and "Ges de far sirventes no·m tartz" (PC 80,20). Bertran's welcome of a new world order in 1189 is demonstrated by means of lines from "Belh m'es quan vey camjar lo senhoratge" (PC 80,7). Bernard cites other songs as well, for example, "Ges de disnar no·m fora oi mais maitis" (PC 80,19), composed in celebration of Mathilda of Saxony; or a lyric addressed to Geoffrey of Brittany, "Rassa, tan creis e mont'e poia" (PC 80,37). Bernard portrays Bertran as growing wiser with age, composing "Can mi perpens ni m'arbire" (PC 80,43) shortly before retiring to a monastery in Dalon. Bernard concludes her defense of Bertran against the Dantean attack by citing one last song, "Qan la novella flors par el vergan" (PC 80,21), as evidence of the troubadour's ability to move with the wind, "Chant atressi cum fant li autre ausel" (PC 80,21 v.4). Similar varied and lengthy quotations accompany the entries on Guilhem IX, Cercamon, and Bernart de Ventadorn; Jaufre Rudel gets somewhat shorter shrift.

Bernard must be applauded for her use of original languages whenever appropriate: Dante is quoted in Italian, the troubadours in Occitan, Chrétien de Troyes in Old French, Philippe de Thaon in Anglo-Norman, each citation with its French translation. When discussing John Lackland, Bernard turns to William Shakespeare, citing his King John (I, 1) in English with French translation...