ABSTRACT
I have told you who Sir Guilem was and where he came from. He loved the Countess of Polonhac, whose name was Marqueza, as you have heard. She was learned and sophisticated. Sir Guilem de Saint Leidier had loved her and honored her for a long time and composed his songs about her but she did not want to take him as her knight or give him any pleasure in the rights of love. Rather, when things came to a head, the viscountess spoke to him thus: “Guilem, I would not take you on as my knight or attendant unless my husband the viscount asked me to, or ordered me to.” When Sir Guilem de Saint Leidier heard the marquise’s answer he was very sad and mournful and so he went off thinking of a way to arrange for the husband, the viscount, to ask the lady to take Guillem as her knight. He decided to compose a poem in the name of the husband in which the husband would implore the lady in Guillem’s favor. The viscount, the husband of the lady, greatly enjoyed Guillem’s songs and poems and sang very well. So Sir Guillem went and composed the song which says: Lady, I am sent here as a messenger And in these lyrics you will learn by whom…(234, 7)
