Breviari d'Amor

Breviari d'Amor

By the term troubadour, one means a bard, composer, and singer of courtly medieval poetry and song. Troubadour poetry enjoyed great popularity particularly in southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries. An exceptionally gifted representative of this art form was the Franciscan monk of Matfre Ermengaud. He composed an influential text around the time period between 1288 and 1320, which in the literary genre of troubadour poetry has been cited and newly interpreted in an incomparable manner. His so-called Breviari d'Amor, which can be translated as the Book of Hours of Love, considered to be one of the most important works of Occitan poetry. The masterpiece lying before us is a 15th century Spanish translation. It is illustrated with breathtaking miniatures, which are embellished with coloring and precious gold leaf elements.

The Scholar Matfre Ermengaud

To this day, researchers know only very little information about the life of Matfre Ermengaud. He came into the world in the southern French town of Béziers in the mid–13th century. He dedicated his life to jurisprudence and poetry. He placed particularly high worth on a comprehensive education and was a true legal expert of the Middle Ages. He even earned a degree in legal studies, which could be compared with a modern master’s degree in law. Precisely when he entered the Franciscan Order is not known. He had probably already begun work on his Breviari d'Amor, before he chose the life of a monk. What lends Ermengaud’s manuscript its unique status in the history of literature is the fact that his text combines the theological tradition with legal teachings. There is no other medieval manuscript that can be compared with the work of Matfre Ermengaud.

A Literary Cultural Property

The Breviari d'Amor contains around 34,500 verses and is composed in octosyllabic rhyming couplets. It is a comprehensive, varied, and didactic text, which is comparable to an encyclopedia. The Christian love of God was formulated in the manner of love poetry, which was recited by troubadours. In doing so, Ermengaud cited literary models from various historic epochs. Citations from classic troubadours like Aimeric de Peguilhan, Bernart de Ventadorn, and Peire Vidal are particularly common in his manuscript. Equally so, quotations from a few of Ermengaud’s early writings as well as texts from his brother Piere are represented here. It is thus clear how exceptionally well-read and educated the Franciscan monk was. The Spanish edition of the literary masterpiece was made by Guillem de Copons, who strongly adhered to the original in his translation.

A Unique Work of Illumination

The work was structured into several parts. It begins with a theological section whose title can be translated as “Studies on God and the Creation of the World”. This section deals with the Holy Trinity, angels, demons, the signs of the zodiac, and the stars and planets that were known at the time. Thereupon follows a section with the title “Studies of Nature and Natural Law”, in which the correct modes for divine worship are discussed, the temptations of the world reviewed, and the sins that every good Christian should avoid at all costs are named. In the last section, “The Love of God”, the profession of faith is summarized and a few saint’s legends were outlined. Fabulous miniatures of various sizes, most of which exist as sketches, are sometimes furnished with bright colors and shimmering gold elements, illustrating the work and clarifying Ermengaud’s description.