Crusade Against the Grail - Rennes-le-Chateau Research and ...

38 PART ONE
far more prosaic than homage and pretensions of sublime love to Adelaide. As he
was, together with the Count of Toulouse, the feudal lord of the Viscounty of
Carcassonne and Beziers, he proposed marriage to his cousin—Roger Taillefer's
widow since 1193—because he wanted to assure for himself, if not the exclusive
possession of her domains, at least his feudal supremacy.
Alfonso never believed that the Minne should exclude marriage; in fact, he
thought that one had nothing to do with the other. In this way, he killed the
Minne's enchantment, which demanded chastity as an absolute condition. He
belonged to the world of profane knights, seeking a crown and a marriage bed, and
by doing so lost his knighthood according to the leys d'amors that the hawk had
brought from the sky.
Arnaut de Mareulh also became unworthy of the kingdom of love. One day,
Adelaide kissed him, but he betrayed the grace he received by revealing this in two
poems. In fact, this was a grave infraction of the rigorous laws of the Occitan
world of the Minne. Moreover, these kisses awoke feelings in him that had nothing
at all to do with sublime love.
As I like that the wind
Blows in my face in April,
Before May begins,
When the trilling of the nightingales
Threshes the night
Each bird happily trills
His songs, as they please him,
Under the pearled lilies of the dew
Coupled with his small female. . . .
ARNAUT DE MAREULH
Dismissed by the Viscountess Adelaide, the poor troubadour had to seek
refuge in the court of Guillaume VIII of Montpellier (whom Guyot de Provins
calls his protector Guillaumes).
"They could separate me from her, but nothing or nobody can break the links
that bind me to my loved one. My heart is full of tenderness and certainty. They
belong only to her, and God. Happy fields where she lives! When will we see each
other again? How is it that somebody from there does not come to me? A shepherd
who brought me news of you