ABSTRACT
Peire Cardenal's sirventes 'Bel m'es qui bastis' is a text which presents an attack on noblemen who abuse their position and acquire nothing by way of salvation or profit from their sins. The poet composes an elegant and idiosyncratic product, which will be picked up by a discerning purchaser, who will examine its razon, its argument, on top of the aesthetic appeal of the song. The troubadour who chooses either to preach or to sing an entertaining song is involved in the process of drawing on a common stock of materials, texts and melodies, in order to ensure that his words may please his audience. The field of fin'amors and its attendant courtly anxieties has not been explored; nor has political satire or moralizing poetry. The ensuing dialogues show the extent to which a chain of borrowing can reveal parodic strategies at their most exacerbated, as well as at their most extensive.
