ABSTRACT
Bertran de Born and Jaufre de Bretagne, who was the brother of the Young King and of Sir Richard the Count of Poitiers, called each other “Rassa”. 1 Sir Richard and Sir Jaufre were both courting Bertran de Bom’s lady, Maeuz of Montaingnac, 2 as were King Anfos of Aragon and Sir Raimon, the Count of Toulouse. And she refused them all in favor of Sir Bertran de Bom, whom she had taken as her admirer and instructor. In order to induce the others to cease addressing their pleas to her, Bertran decided to show Count Jaufre just what kind of Lady it was that he was courting; and so he praised her in such a way that it appeared that he had seen her and held her in the nude. He wanted it to be known that Maeuz was his lady, the same one who had refused Poiters-referring to Sir Richard, who was the Count of Poitiers- and Sir Jaufre, who was the Count of Bretagne, and the King of Aragon who was the Lord of Saragossa, and Count Raimon, the Lord of Toulouse. And that is why Sir Bertran said this: Rassa, to the mighty she is haughty And she has good sense about her, being a girl Who wants neither Poitiers nor Toulouse, Brittany or Saragossa. She is, on the other hand, so desirous of good repute That she gives her love to the valiant poor…(80, 37: 12–17)
