_See Section vii. pp. 16-23, above._
It seems desirable that I should enlarge upon some topics which I
treated somewhat summarily in Section vii. I assumed that the
Wandering Scholars regarded themselves as a kind of Guild or Order;
and for this assumption the Songs Nos. 1, 2, 3, translated in Section
xiii. are a sufficient warrant. Yet the case might be considerably
strengthened. In the _Sequentia falsi evangelii secundum marcam
argenti_[36] we read of the _Gens Lusorum_ or Tribe of Gamesters,
which corresponds to the _Secta Decii_,[37] the _Ordo Vagorum_, and
the _Familia Goliae_. Again, in Wright's _Walter Mapes_[38] there is
an epistle written from England by one Richardus Goliardus to _Omnibus
in Gallia Goliae discipulis_, introducing a friend, asking for
information _ordo vester qualis est_, and giving for the reason of
this request _ne magis in ordine indiscrete vivam_. He addresses his
French comrades as _pueri Goliae_, and winds up with good wishes for
the _socios sanctae confratriae_. Proofs might be multiplied that the
Wandering Students in Germany also regarded themselves as a
confraternity, with special rules and ordinances. Of this, the curious
parody of an episcopal letter, issued in 1209 by _Surianus, Praesul et
Archiprimas_, to the _vagi clerici_ of Austria, Styria, Bavaria, and
Moravia is a notable example.[39]
I have treated Golias as the eponymous hero of this tribe, the chief
of this confraternity. But it ought to be said that the name Golias
occurs principally in English MSS., where the Goliardic poems are
ascribed to _Golias Episcopus._ Elsewhere the same personage is spoken
of as _Primas_, which is a title of dignity applying to a prelate with
jurisdiction superior even to that of an archbishop. Grimm[40] quotes
this phrase from a German chronicle: _Primas vagus multos versus
edidit magistrates_. In the _Sequentia falsi evangelii_[41] we find
twice repeated _Primas autem qui dicitur vilissimus_. The Venetian
codex from which Grimm drew some of his texts[42] attributes the
_Dispute of Thetis and Lyaeus_ and the _Advice against Matrimony_,
both of which passed in England under the name of Golias and
afterwards of Walter Map, to _Primas Presbyter_.
With regard to this Primas, it is important to mention that Fra
Salimbene in his Chronicle[43] gives a succinct account of him under
the date 1233. It runs as follows: _Fuit his temporibus Primas
canonicus eoloniensis, magnus trutannus et magnus trufator, et maximus
versificator et velox, qui, si dedisset cor suum ad diligendum Deum,
magnus in litteratura divina fuisset, et utilis valde_ _Ecclesiae
Dei. Cujus Apocalypsim, quam fecerat, vidi, et alia scripta plura_.
After this passage follow some anecdotes, with quotations of verses
extemporised by Primas, and lastly the whole of the Confession,
translated by me at p. 55 above. Thus Salimbene, who was almost a
contemporary author, attributes to Primas two of the most important
poems which passed in England under the name of Golias, while the
Venetian MS. ascribes two others of the same class to Primas
Presbyter. It is also very noteworthy that Salimbene expressly calls
this Primas a Canon of Cologne.
That this poet, whoever he was, had attained to celebrity in Italy (as
well as in Germany) under the title of Primas, appears also from the
following passage of a treatise by Thomas of Capua[44] on the Art of
Writing: _Dictaminum vero tria sunt genera auctoribus diffinita,
prosaicum scilicet, metricum et rithmicum; prosaicum ut Cassiodori,
metricum ut Virgilii, rithmicum ut Primatis_. Boccaccio was in all
probability referring to the same Primas in the tale he told about
_Primasso_,[45] who is described as a man of European reputation, and
a great and rapid versifier. It is curious that just as Giraldus seems
to have accepted _Golias_ as the real name of this poet,[46] so Fra
Salimbene, Thomas of Capua, and Boccaccio appear to use _Primas_ as a
Christian name.
The matter becomes still more complicated when we find, as we do, some
of the same poems attributed in France to Walter of Lille, in England
to Walter Map, and further current under yet another title of dignity,
that of _Archipoeta_.[47]
We can hardly avoid the conclusion that by Golias Episcopus, Primas,
and Archipoeta one and the same person, occupying a prominent post in
the Order, was denoted. He was the head of the Goliardic family, the
Primate of the Wandering Students' Order, the Archpoet of these
lettered minstrels. The rare excellence of the compositions ascribed
to him caused them to be spread abroad, multiplied, and imitated in
such fashion that it is now impossible to feel any certainty about the
personality which underlay these titles.
Though we seem frequently upon the point of touching the real man, he
constantly eludes our grasp. Who he was, whether he was one or many,
remains a mystery. Whether the poems which bear one or other of his
changing titles were really the work of a single writer, is also a
matter for fruitless conjecture. We may take it for granted that he
was not Walter Map; for Map was not a Canon of Cologne, not a follower
of Reinald von Dassel, not a mark for the severe scorn of Giraldus.
Similar reasoning renders it more than improbable that the Golias of
Giraldus, the Primas of Salimbene, and the petitioner to Reinald
should have been Walter of Lille.[48]
At the same time it is singular that the name of Walter should twice
occur in Goliardic poems of a good period. One of these is the famous
and beautiful lament:--
"Versa est in luctum--eithara Waltheri."
This exists in the MS. of the _Carmina Burana_, but not in the Paris
MS. of Walter's poems edited by Mueldner.
It contains allusions to the poet's ejection from his place in the
Church--a misfortune which actually befell Walter of Lille. Grimm has
printed another poem, _Saepe de miseria,_ in which the name of Walter
occurs.[49] It is introduced thus:
"Hoc Gualtherus sub-prior
Jubet in decretis."
Are we to infer from the designation _Sub-prior_ that the Walter of
this poem held a post in the Order inferior to that of the Primas?
It is of importance in this connection to bear in mind that five of
the poems attributed in English MSS. to Golias and Walter Map, namely,
_Missus sum in vineam_, _Multiformis hominum_, _Fallax est et
mobilis_, _A tauro torrida_, _Heliconis rivulo_, _Tanto viro
locuturi_, among which is the famous Apocalypse ascribed by Salimbene
to Primas, are given to Walter of Lille in the Paris MS. edited by
Mueldner.[50] They are distinguished by a marked unity of style; and
what is also significant, a lyric in this Paris MS., _Dum Gualterus
aegrotaret_, introduces the poet's name in the same way as the _Versa
est in luctum_ of the _Carmina Burana_. Therefore, without identifying
Walter of Lille with the Primas, Archipoeta, and Golias, we must allow
that his place in Goliardic literature is very considerable. But I am
inclined to think that the weight of evidence favours chiefly the
ascription of serious and satiric pieces to his pen. It is probable
that the Archipoeta, the follower of Reinald von Dassel, the man who
composed the most vigorous Goliardic poem we possess, and gave the
impulse of his genius to that style of writing, was not the Walter of
the _Versa est in luctum_ or of _Dum Gualterus aegrotaret_. That
Walter must have been somewhat his junior; and it is not unreasonable
to assume that he was Walter of Lille, who may perhaps be further
identified with the _Gualtherus sub-prior_ of the poem on the author's
poverty. This Walter's Latin designation, _Gualtherus de Insula_,
helps, as I have observed above,[51] to explain the attribution of the
Goliardic poems in general to Walter Map by English scribes of the
fifteenth century.
After all, it is safer to indulge in no constructive speculations
where the matter of inquiry is both vague and meagre. One thing
appears tolerably manifest; that many hands of very various dexterity
contributed to form the whole body of songs which we call Goliardic.
It is also clear that the Clerici Vagi considered themselves a
confraternity, and that they burlesqued the institutions of a
religious order, pretending to honour and obey a primate or bishop, to
whom the nickname of Golias was given at the period in which they
flourished most. Viewed in his literary capacity, this chief was
further designated as the Archpoet. Of his personality we know as
little as we do of that of Homer.