here. For us God was raised upon the cross, received death,
suffered the passion, was scourged and loaded with chains and crowned
with thorns upon the cross.... Fair Cavalier (i.e. Beatrice) I know not
whether I shall stay for your sake or take the cross; I know not whether
I shall go or remain, for I die with grief if I see you and I am like to
die if I am far from you." So also in the letter quoted above.

E cant anetz per crozar a Saysso,
Ieu non avia cor--Dieus m'o perdo--
Que passes mar, mas per vostre resso
Levey la crotz e pris confessio.

"And when you went to Soissons to take the cross, I did not intend--may
God forgive me--to cross the sea, but to increase your fame I took the
cross and made confession." The count lost his life, as Villehardouin
relates, in a skirmish with the Bulgarians in 1207. Raimbaut de
Vaqueiras probably fell at the same time.

This is enough to show that troubadours who came to Italy could make the
country a second home, and find as much occupation in love, war and
politics as they had ever found in Southern France. Aimeric de Pegulhan,
Gaucelm Faidit, Uc de Saint-Circ,[31] the author of some troubadour [100]
biographies, were among the best known of those who visited Italy. The
last named is known to have visited Pisa and another troubadour of minor
importance, Guillem de la Tor, was in Florence. Thus the visits of the
troubadours were by no means confined to the north.

It was, therefore, natural that Italians should imitate the troubadours
whose art proved so successful at Italian courts and some thirty Italian
troubadours are known to us. Count Manfred II. and Albert, the Marquis
of Malaspina, engaged in _tensos_ with Peire Vidal and Raimbaut de
Vaqueiras respectively and are the first Italians known to have written
in Provencal. Genoa produced a number of Italian troubadours of whom the
best were Lanfranc Cigala and Bonifacio Calvo. The latter was a wanderer
and spent some time in Castile at the court of Alfonso X. Lanfranc
Cigala was a judge in his native town: from him survive a _sirventes_
against Bonifacio III. of Montferrat who had abandoned the cause of
Frederick II., crusade poems and a _sirventes_ against the obscure
style. The Venetian Bartolomeo Zorzi was a prisoner at Genoa from 1266
to 1273, having been captured by the Genoese. The troubadour of Genoa,
Bonifacio Calvo, had written a vigorous invective against Venice, to
which the captive troubadour