Music From The Time of the Crusades (1 of 2)
This is a genuine 800 year old Troubadour song, arranged here for solo lyre, & written by King Richard the Lion Heart, whilst imprisoned during the Crusades! The song he wrote, over 800 year ago, is called “Ja Nus Hons Pris”…
“Ja nus hons pris ne dira sa reson
Adroitement, s’ensi com dolans non;
Mes par confort puet il fere chancon,
Moult ai d’amis, mes povre sont li don;
Hont en avront, se por ma reancon
Or sai je bien de voir certainement
Que mors ne pris n’a ami ne parent,
Quant hon me lait por or ne por argent.
Moult m’est de moi, mes plus m’est de ma gent,
Qu’apres ma mort avront reprochier grant,
Se longuement sui pris.”
Here the English translation:
No prisoner ever tells his story objectively;
rather, it is cloaked in sorrow.
To comfort himself, however,
he may write a song:
I have many friends, but their gifts are few.
Dishonor will be theirs if I remain in prison
these two winters; my ransom unpaid.
My men and my barons,
from England, Normandy, Poitou, and Gascony,
know that I would never forsake
even the least of my friends.
I do no say this as a reproach.
Still… I remain a prisoner.
