Women’s Voices in Medieval Artes Dictandi and Model Letter Collections

date

1194-1195

author

Boncompagnus de Signa

title

Credis forte quod labor improbus omnia vincat

bibliography

  • Boncompagno da Signa, Rota Veneris
  • La Rota Veneris di Boncompagno da Signa. Edizione critica, ed. Luca Core. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Padova, 2015, p. 26-27.

summary

The woman accepts the lover’s request; she will meet him on Sunday when the lords and ladies go to visit the house of the lord. The beloved must release a falcon within her garden and demand his bird back. In the midst of an altercation with the maidservants of the household, he will be able to reveal her the secrets of his heart.

teibody

Credis forte quod labor improbus omnia vincat et pulsanti omni tempore aperiatur; sed incerte sunt vie hominum et vane cogitationes eorundem, cum res cuiusque in talibus magis casu et fortuna regatur quam premeditata dispositione.

Nolens tamen preces tuas ex toto contempnere ne in desperationis laqueum traharis, consulo ut in die festo, cum domini et matrone templum dominicum visitant, prohicias infra meum pomerium falconem et subito postea currens a familiaribus domus tuam repetas avem. Ego vero illam tibi faciam denegari, diceturque tibi ab ancillis: "Recede, non enim tuum est quod queris". Ad istam siquidem contemptionem te vocari faciam, sicque michi tui cordis archana poteris aperire.

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