SAINT FRANCIS AND THE PROVENÇAL CONNECTION "He was a poet, some say, and his life a great poem; he was a troubadour and his life a song" (Erikson 123). It has always been a given in Franciscan studies that troubadour verse constitutes a key cultural influence on Francesco del Pietro de Bernardone. For example, Fahy writes: Francis' more formal education, moreover, was supplemented by his contact with troubadours and the jongleurs so often found in cities like Assisi in those days (19). Numerous other scholars have made the same assumption.1 Just how valid the assertion and how deep the influence is the subject ofthis inquiry. THE WRITINGS Did the saint even know the language ofthe troubadours? At the local church school, Francis learned some rudimentary Latin, but there is no evidence he studied other languages. What is more, by the time he was a young adult and had found his religious vocation, he was outspokenly anti-intellectual, referring disparagingly to himself as "ignorans et idiota."2 It does not seem probable he went searching for poems in books. Francis was no Thomas Aquinas studiously reconciling theology and science.3 On the other hand, there is a strong likelihood that Francis's mother was from what is now France. But, as Rajna makes clear, she was probably from Picardy, and if Francis learned any French from her, it was not langue d'oc , the tongue of the troubadours, but rather the langue d'oïl that was spoken in the north (385-87). In brief, while the ancedotal evidence suggests that the saint knew some French, nothing indicates he had any familiarity with the language ofthe Midi.4 ROUBEN CHOLAKIAN Nevertheless, one cannot categorically prove that Francis did not actually hear Provençal songs in the streets ofAssisi or that he did not learn some ofthem while carousing with his friends. The Provençal song had, after all, swept across Italy at about the time Francis lived. Raimbaut de Vaqueiras was known to be in the hire of the Duke of Montferrat, along with Gaucelm Faidit and Peire Vidal. The Counts of Savoy also drew into their entourage poets from southern France, most notably Peire Raimon. The same can be said of the Este family at Ferrara where at one time or another Uc de Saint Circ and Guillem de laTorboth entertained ladies and gentlemen with theirlove-songs.5 There is, moreover, considerable evidence that Francis loved to sing. Whether he learned to enjoy music at his mother's side or in the company ofhis boisterous comrades, until his dying day he took great pleasure in music. His first biographer, Thomas de Celano notes: "The sweetest melody would bubble up in him and he would give exterior expression to it in French" (Vita secunda 90). Saint Bonaventura echoes the same sentiment : "Francis felt such pleasure at the wonderful melody that he thought he had left this world" (Habig 670). The common theme is repeated in the anecdotal fourteenth-century anthology, Mirror ofPerfection : "For the sweetest of spiritual memories would often well upwithin himand findexpression inFrenchmelodies" (Habig 1226). The Legend of the Three Companions finally, is the most emphatic ofall: "And Francis in a loud, clear voice sang the praises of God in French" (Habig 920). In short, Francis may have had musical gifts and known some French songs. The issue then becomes, what precisely is meant by "French." It seems unlikely that it incorporated Occitan, seen always as a separate language and a separate culture. More probably for the Italian writer ofthe Middle Ages, "francese" or the equivalent Latin "francigenus," meant rather the "langue du roi" or "francés" of the north.6 On the other hand, there is evidence that Francis wrote poetry, and at least one ofthese poems has come down to us, the famous "D cántico di frate sole".7 At the time ofits composition, Francis was near 36 ST. FRANCIS AND THE PROVENÇAL CONNECTION the end ofhis short but dramatic life, and nodoubt full ofpremonitions abouthis imminentdeath. Nonetheless, he remained optimistic and felt compelled to compose a laude, or song ofpraise. IfFrancis had never written another poem in his entire life. "Il c...