The Lark's Lament: A Fools' Guild Mystery (34 page)

Of Folc’s further involvement with Theophilos, we shall hear more. The translation proceeds apace.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For the life of Folquet, a debt is owed to Nicole M. Schulman. For additional sources on Folquet in particular and troubadours in general, the author gratefully acknowledges the work of H. J. Chaytor, Frede Jensen, Rita Le Jeune, Joseph Anglade, Margarita Egan, William Paden, Geneviève Brunel-Lobrichon, and Claudie Duhamel-Amado.

For the history of Marseille: Paul Armorgier, Roger Duchêsne, Raoul Busquet.

For the history of Montpellier: Kathryn L. Reyerson, Jean Combes, Ghislaine Fabre, Thierry Lochard, Elizabeth Haluska-Rausch.

Other historians: T. M. Bisson, Damien Smith, Brian Catlos, Jean Guyou, Fernand Pouillon, Laure Dailliez.

Special thanks to lyricists and friends Alison Loeb and Jim McNicholas, for their comments on my own meager attempts, and to Bill Eggers, neighbor, friend, and fan, for directing me to a source for names from the time and place.

Finally, to my wife, Judy, and son, Robert, for letting me wander around southern France on my own, and letting me grow a beard while I did it.

Also by Alan Gordon

THE FOOLS’ GUILD MYSTERIES

Thirteenth Night

Jester Leaps In

A Death in the Venetian Quarter

The Widow of Jerusalem

An Antic Disposition

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE LARK’S LAMENT
. Copyright © 2007 by Alan Gordon. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Translations of songs by Folquet de Marseille are from
Where Troubadours Were Bishops: The Occitania of Folc of Marseille
(1150–1231)
Copyright © 2001 by N. M. Schulman. Reproduced by permission of Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gordon, Alan (Alan R.)

    The lark’s lament / Alan Gordon. — 1st ed.

       p. cm.

    ISBN-13: 978-0-312-35426-8 (alk. paper)

    ISBN-10: 0-312-35426-6 (alk. paper)

    1. Feste (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Fools and jesters—Fiction. 3. Monks—Crimes against—Fiction. 4. Murder investigation—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3557.O649L37 2007

813'.54—dc22

2006053302

First Edition: May 2007

eISBN 9781466843264

First eBook edition: March 2013

1
Portions of this note have been adapted from a paper presented at the First International Symposium on Medieval Foolery, at the University of Chelm,April 1, 2006.

2
A. Gordon, “The Fools’ Guild: A Prosopography, Part 1. A Comparison of Decennial Lists with Accounts of Known Jesters and Jongleurs,”
Stultorum
3 (March 2005): 168–204.

3
The Chronicles of the Fools’ Guild
(Gordon, A.,
trans.
):
Thirteenth Night
(1999).

4
A. Gordon, “The Fools’ Guild: A Prosopography, Part 2. A Comparison of Decennial Lists with Accounts of Known Troubadours, Trouveres, Trobairitzes, and Minnesingers,”
Stultorum
5 (May 2005): 573–612.

5
G. Brunel-Lobrichon, and C. Duhamel-Amado,
Au temps des troubadours
(1997): 253.

6
A. Gordon, “Geoffroy d’Arles, the First Troubadour?”
Stultorum
6 (June 2005): 719–723.

7
S. Marcolf, “Why Gordon Is Wrong,”
Stultorum
8 (August 2005): 874–875.

8
A. Gordon, “No, I’m Right, and Marcolf, S., Is Stupid. In Fact, That’s Probably What the ‘S’ Stands For: Stupid Marcolf,”
Stultorum
9 (September 2005): 923.

9
S. Marcolf, “It Stands for Solomon, and Speaking of Stupid, Gordon Is So Dumb, He Thinks Langue d’Oc Means Quacking: A Reply,”
Stultorum
10 (October 2005): 1002.

10
A. Gordon, “I Know You Are, But What Am I? A Response to a Reply,”
Stultorum
11 (November 2005): 1137.

11
Editors, “A Restatement of Scholarly Principles: Why Gordon, A., and Marcolf, S., Will No Longer Be Permitted to Publish in
Stultorum
,”
Stultorum
12 (December 2005): 1204.

12
Translation by Nicole M. Schulman.