Rome was regarded as the true Italian language, and the other, which was spoken, as a mere corruption of it, was held to be suitable for intercourse and for every-day use, but not for the expression of the higher intellectual ideas. This was a prejudice which lasted for a long time, which Dante attacked energetically, though he was not entirely free from it himself, which was revived in an aggravated form after him, and which did not altogether disappear till the sixteenth century. Italian, just because it approached nearest to Latin, and had grown up on the same soil on which this tongue had flourished, was later than the other Romance idioms in awakening to consciousness as an independent language and as a medium for literary expression.

IN

II

THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY

N this way, Italy was still without a literature at a time when its western neighbour had already produced two the Provençal and Old French, each of them well developed. These literatures, which were held in high esteem throughout Europe, could not fail to exercise an exceptionally wide influence in a country which was itsel comparatively unproductive. The poems of the troubadours inspired the first attempts at lyrical poetry, while the French chansons de geste and romances supplied the subject-matter for narrative poetry, no suitable themes having sprung up on Italian soil. The influence of the troubadours made itself felt earlier than that of the French poems.

The political and commercial relations that had, for ages, existed between Northern Italy and the South of France, paved the way for an intellectual intercourse between the two countries. The Provençal troubadours, who loved a roving life, and who went from court to court, appearing wherever they could gain fame for their songs, gifts from the princes and the favour of their mistresses, came to Italy from the end of the twelfth century, perhaps even earlier. Peire Vidal was one of the most restless among them, living now in Provence, now in Spain, now in Hungary, and now in the East. In 1189 he appears to have been for a short time in Genoa, after which he lived with the Margrave Boniface II. in Monferrato and in other parts of Northern Italy, where he sang the praises of a fair Lombard lady (1194); in 1205 he was on the island of Malta with Count Henry, perhaps after taking part in the crusade to Constantinople. Raimbaut de Vaqueiras came, in the last de cade of the twelfth century, to the court of the Margrave Boniface who was delighted with his art, dubbed him

knight, and made him his brother-in-arms. Raimbaut paid homage to the prince's sister, Beatrix (the wife of Henry of Carret), whom he celebrated in his poems under the pseudonym of Bels Cavaliers, and if we may believe an anecdote recorded in the old Provençal biography of the poet, this love affair ripened into an intimacy of the closest nature. In 1194 Raimbaut accompanied the Margrave, together with Henry VI., on his expedition to Sicily, rescuing him from great peril at Messina. In 1202 he followed him in the Crusade, and appears to have fallen at his side; the old biography at least testifies to his having died in Greece. Later on, especially when the terrible wars of the Albigenses devastated the South of France and put a sudden end to the flourishing culture of those parts, the troubadours sought refuge in Italy with increasing frequency; the best known among those who went in the first half of the thirteenth century were Aimeric de Pegulhan, Gaucelm Faidit, and Uc de S. Circ. Italian princes and Italian ladies were in those times often extolled in Provençal songs, among the latter especially Beatrix d'Este, the daughter of Azzo VI., and Emilia di Ravenna, the wife of Pietro Traversari.

The courts which the troubadours frequented most were those of Northern Italy, especially those of the Margraves of Monferrato and of the Estes in Ferrara. But they also went farther south. Thus, for example, Uc de S. Circ was in Pisa, and Guillem de la Tor in Florence; Peire Vidal stayed in Malta, and Raimbaut de Vaqueiras fought in Sicily, as we have seen. At the court of the Emperor Frederick II. these poets are sure not to have been strangers. This was, as Dante says, the meeting-place of all the most distinguished men from far and near. The "Cento Novelle Antiche " tell of Frederick's liberality and courtesy, and the panegyrics showered on him by the Provençal poets prove that he must have been very gracious to them. Aimeric de Pegulhan sang his praises, when still young, in the canzone En aquel temps," under the image of the good physician of Salerno, who heals the ills of the time, and restores the courtly virtues, after they had been lost sight of on the death of the former noble patrons. It is true that we have no definite testimony concerning individual poets who lived

with him; but the old Provençal biographies are altogether very meagre, and from their silence it is impossible to draw any conclusions. As Fauriel rightly remarked, Frederick II. also had political reasons for favouring several of these troubadours, who were indignant at the wars of the Albigenses, and made violent attacks on the Holy See. The passionate invectives of poets like Guillem Figueira could not fail to stir up the people more effectually than the most skilful Latin pamphlet, and might be used by the Emperor as a weapon in his struggle against the Popes.

The troubadours who came to Italy were wont to take an active part in the political affairs of the country, which were, after all, intimately connected with those of their native land. They took sides in the struggles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, or between the jealous communes, and not a few of their poems have reference to Italian affairs. Peire Vidal extols the people of Pisa and inveighs against the Genoese who had been humbled by them. He exhorts the citizens of Milan and Pavia to be good friends, and warns the Lombards in general to be on their guard against the German robbers, so that their lot may not be that of the conquered Apulians (1194: "Bon' aventura don deus als Pizas"). Peire de la Cavarana encouraged the Lombards to resist the Emperor Henry in his spirited serventese, "D'un serventes faire" (1195), which was much influenced by the song of the poet of Toulouse. Peire Guillem de Luzerna urged the Emperor Frederick to proceed with greater energy against the haughty city of Milan ("En aquest gai sonet leugier "). Uc de S. Circ, in a poem addressed to Count Guido Guerra and other Italian Guelphs, gives vent to his hatred of the heretical Frederick, warns those that side with him of the ruin that threatens them, and calls on France and the Church to form an alliance, and to direct the crusade towards Italy, with a view to conquering the kingdom: "For he who does not believe in God, shall not rule" (circa 1148: "Un sirventes vuelh far "). The poem of an unknown author, which has been wrongly ascribed to Peire Vidal, who had been long dead at that time, is a song of victory over the Florentines conquered at Monte Apert (1260), and celebrates King Manfred, whose horsemen had carried the day ("Quor qu'om trobes Florentis orgulhos ").

It will be seen that these roving minstrels did not remain strangers in the country of their wanderings. Raimbaut de Vaqueiras even employed the Italian language in two of his poems. He wrote a so-called Descort, a poem in which each stanza is composed in a different idiom, and the second of these, as well as a portion of the refrain, are in Italian. He is also the author of a jocose dialogue, in which his declarations of love are treated with contempt by a Genoese lady; she is made to speak in the dialect of her native town, which is well suited to the nature of her replies. These verses by a Provençal are the oldest, or nearly the oldest, in the Italian language that have as yet come to light, for they must have been written before the year 1202, in which Raimbaut left Italy never to return.

The troubadours remained in Italy till the end of the thirteenth century, at which time Provençal lyrical poetry, generally, lost all importance. The great impression these poems made, and the general applause with which they were received, induced native poets to imitate them, and in Northern Italy those who attempted to reproduce the art of the Provençals, also employed for this purpose the Provençal tongue. This language was well known owing to the manifold relations existing with the South of France, and it was easily learnt, because the dialects spoken in those parts resembled it fairly closely. Besides, it was more natural to adopt the language of the models together with the poetical tradition, than to raise the native dialects, which were still in an uncultivated state, to the dignity of a literary idiom. The oldest of these Italians composing Provençal poetry that are known to us are the Margraves Manfred II., Lancia and Albert Malaspina, of whom the former was engaged in a tenzone with Peire Vidal, the latter with Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. Of Manfred nothing has come down to us except the two stanzas of this tenzone that belong to him, of Albert nothing but the tenzone and a love dialogue, "Dona, a vos me comen." The first writer of whom a larger number of poems is extant, is the Bolognese Rambertino Buvallello, who was in 1201 Podestà of Brescia, and afterwards occupied the same office in other towns of Northern Italy (1208 in Milan, 1213 in Parma, 1218-20 in Genoa); he probably composed his poetry between the years