Le Chastelain de Couci

thumb| Le Chastelain de Couci (modern orthography Le Châtelain de Coucy) was a French trouvère of the 12th century. He may have been the Guy de Couci who was castellan of Château de Coucy from 1186 to 1203 and fought in the third and fourth Crusades. Some twenty-six songs, written in langue d'oïl are attributed to him, and about fifteen or sixteen are considered authentic. The legend of the love of the Châtelain de Coucy and the Lady of Fayel, in which there figures a jealous husband who makes his wife eat the heart of her lover, has no historical basis, and dates from a late 13th century romance by Jakemon Sakesep. Quotes La douce voiz du louseignol sauvageQu’oi nuit et jor cointoier et tentirMe radoucist mon cuer et rassouage.Lors ai talent que chant pour esbaudir. The sweet voice of the wild nightingale that I hear embellishing and resounding night and day, so softens my heart and assuages it that now I want to sing in order to give joy. «La douce voiz du louseignol sauvage», st. 1, ll. 1–4 (variants: rosignol for louseignol), as translated by Wendy Pfeffer, The Change of Philomel (1985), p. 116; see also: John Fiske, The Discovery of America, vol. 1, pt. 2 (1892), p. 328, note Chançon, va t'en pour faire mon messageLa u je n'os trestourner ne guenchir. Song, go and be my messenger, there where I do not dare return or go. «La douce voiz du louseignol sauvage», st. 5, ll. 33–4, as translated by Pfeffer (1985), p. 117 External links Frederick Goldin, Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology (Anchor Books, 1973), p. 349 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Poets and Poetry of Europe, 2nd ed. (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1870), p. 425 Olive Sayce, Exemplary Comparison from Homer to Petrarch (D. S. Brewer, 2008), p. 201 Edgar Taylor, Lays of the Minnesingers and Troubadours (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, 1825), p. 259 Brian Woledge, The Penguin Book of French Verse'', vol. 1 (Penguin Books Ltd., 1961), p. 95 Songs of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology of Poems and Melodies (Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998), p. 249 Category:Poets from France Category:Composers from France