O tell me where, in lands or seas,
Flora, that Roman belle, has strayed,
Thais, or Archipiades,
Who put each other in the shade,
Or Echo who by bank and glade
Gave back the crying of the hound,
And whose sheer beauty could not fade.
But where shall last year's snow be found?

Where too is learned Héloïse,
For whom shorn Abélard was made
A tonsured monk upon his knees?
Such tribute his devotion paid.
And where's that queen who, having played
With Buridan, had him bagged and bound
To swim the Seine thus ill-arrayed?
But where shall last year's snow be found?

Queen Blanche the fair, whose voice could please
As does a siren's serenade,
Great Bertha, Beatrice, Alice—these,
And Arembourg whom Maine obeyed,
And Joan whom Burgundy betrayed
And England burned, and Heaven crowned:
Where are they, Mary, Sovereign Maid?
But where shall last year's snow be found?

Not next week, Prince, nor next decade,
Ask me these questions I propound.
I shall but say again, dismayed,
Ah, where shall last year's snow be found?

Ballade of the Ladies of Time Past MP3¹
4.80 MB

¤ Flora. [flôr'ə, flōr'ə.] (pr. n.) A few possibilities for the identity of Flora exist. The most immediately recognizable definition is the Roman goddess of Spring. However, some have speculated that Villon referred to the courtesan named Flora mentioned in Juvenal's second satire: "Tedia non lambit Cluuiam nec Flora Catullam: / Hispo subit iuuenes et morbo pallet utroque" (lines 49, 50). However, Juvenal did not elaborate upon Flora beyond her use as a prop to illustrate women's restraint from homosexual passion. 

The fourth century Christian apologist Lactantius wrote of a Flora, likely referring to the same courtesan as Juvenal. In Chapter 20 of Book I of Divinæ Institutiones, Lactantius gave his account for the origins of the annual Floralia festival, during which participants would observe public sexual performances. The festival was religiously associated with Flora, the bearer of flowers and spring, and was obviously regarded by the apologist as a detestable fertility rite. However, Lactantius ascribed its origins to a courtesan named Flora, rather than the Roman goddess. He wrote that the courtesan Flora had amassed such great wealth through prostitution that she left it to heirs along with the instruction that her birthday should be celebrated by future generations by public games. Lactantius used his origin for Floralia as an example to illustrate the Romans' abiding sexual immorality. Villon seems to have intended to refer to this mytho-historical woman.

¤ Thais. [thä-ēs.] (pr. n.) Saint Thais. She was a fourth century courtesan who traveled to Egypt with Alexander the Great. She was converted to Christianity by Saint Paphnutius. She repented for her sins, became a recluse enclosed in a convent cell for three years, and died only fourteen days after having been genuinely accepted into the convent community. Her name is sometimes presented as Thaïsis or Thaïsia.

¤ Archipiades. [ä-kē-pəē'dä.] (pr. n.) Disagreement exists regarding the actual figure referred to as "Archipiades." Dante Gabriel Rossetti decided that Villon meant to refer to Hipparchia from Diogenes Laertius' Lives of the Philosophers, and so he substituted Hipparchia for Archipiades. In the 1920 edition of The Oxford Book of French Verse, St. John Lucas supposes that Archipiada refers to Archippe, Sophocles' mistress. Another speculation holds that Villon had misremembered the name of Alcibiades from Plato's Symposium. While Alcibiades was, in fact, a man, the speculation argues that during the Middle Ages his character was believed to be female because he was described as the paragon of beauty. 

The point is, Archipiades is hot.

¤ Echo. [ĕk'ō.] (pr. n.) Echo was a nymph in Greek and Roman mythology. Her story varies between the two mythologies. In the Roman story, Zeus would leave Echo to distract Hera with incessant chatter while he left for one of his love affairs. Hera learned of Echo's role in her husband's infidelity, and as punishment she cursed Echo to be able to only say what her company has just said. Echo later fell in love with Narcissus, who died after having become enthralled by his own image in a pool of water. She watched him waste away, and she wasted away herself to leave only her voice behind. In the Greek story, Echo was a multi-talented nymph who earned Pan's wrath when she refused his love. Pan ordered his shepherds to hunt and destroy her, which they did. Gaia (the goddess of the Earth) took Echo's destroyed body and spread it all over the world, and the Muses purportedly infuse her remains with her talents to create music.

¤ Héloïse and Abélard. [ĕl'ə-wēz, ā-lô-ēz'], [ä-bā-lär'.] (pr. n.) Pierre Abélard was a French scholastic philosopher who lived during the late 11th and early 12th centuries. Héloïse was born in 1101, around the time when Abélard was twenty years old. She matured into a beautiful and brilliant young woman, and Abélard used his position to secure her as his student. He seduced her as her teacher; she returned the affection. They loved each other in secret, though the secret soon became known to everyone except Héloïse's uncle, her guardian. When Héloïse's uncle found out, his fury drove the lovers apart. They later wed in secret. Héloïse's life under her uncle became unbearable, so Abélard arranged for her to join a convent in Argenteuil. Enraged, Héloïse's uncle called together a group of men who broke into Abélard's chambers and forcibly castrated him.

Later in life, when Héloïse's covenant had been disbanded, Abélard used his administrative authority to transfer the nuns to Paraclete. During Héloïse's time as the prioress at Paraclete, the two former lovers began corresponding. They are chiefly known for the love expressed in their correspondence, and their letters remain one of the earliest recorded accounts of romantic love. They are reputedly buried together in a tomb in Père Lachaise cemetery in eastern Paris.

¤ tonsure. [tŏn'shər.] 1: (n.) The act of shaving the head or part of the head, especially as a preliminary to becoming a priest of a member of a monastic order. 2: (n.) The part of a monk's or priest's head that has been shaved. 3: (tr. v.) To shave the head of.

¤ Buridan. [bœ'rĕ-dŏn.] (pr. n.) John Buridan was born sometime before 1300 near the town of Béthune in Picardy, France. He died possibly around 1358. Buridan is currently a fairly obscure philosopher from the Middle Ages, but in his time he was extremely well-known. The circumstances of his death are unknown, but a popular (and unsubstantiated) rumor concerning his end has it that he and the Queen of France were lovers. Out of rage, the King of France purportedly had Buridan tied in a sack and thrown into the Seine River to drown. Again, it should be noted that this is an unverified account of Buridan's demise.

¤ Queen Blanche. [bläNsh.] (pr. n.) Villon referred to the French queen Blanche de Castille, wife to King Louis VIII and mother to King Louis IX. She supported her husband when he engaged England in war, and then learned that he was at a severe disadvantage. She went so far as to organize two naval fleets to support his war efforts. Blanche served France as regent after the king's death since the oldest prince (who became King Louis IX) was too young to ascend the throne when his father died. She successfully defended her son's right to inherit the throne by dissolving a league of barons and repelling an attack by the King of England. She descended from the throne as regent when her son came of age, and ascended as regent again later when King Louis IX left to fight the crusades. She died in 1252.

¤ Great Bertha, AKA Bertrada. [bĕrträ'də.] (pr. n.) Unfortunately, I'm unable to learn more about Bertha beyond some superficial details and the titles of specific texts that would explain her relevance a bit more. Wilbur has translated her name "Great Bertha," though she goes by other names as well: Bertrada, Bethrada, Queen Goosefoot, Bigfoot Berta, and Berta de li pè grandi to name a few. Bertha was both in 720 A.D. and died on 12 July 783. She was a Frankish Queen, married to Pepin the Short who offered to lead the Franks for Pope Zacharias. The Franks accepted Pepin as their king, and he and Bertha had a son who became the Charlemagne of Carolingian fame. Bertha was apparently an important person within the Carolingian consciousness, since a whole cycle of the epic poem La Geste Francor ("the Frankish Epic") was dedicated to her. Specifically, she is the focus of lines 1164 through 2917. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find translations of these lines of La Geste Francor available online, so I am unable to clarify the majority of her biography.

¤ Beatrice. [bē'ətrĭs, ITAL. bāätrē'chā.] (pr. n.) Beatrice Portinari was Dante Alighieri's famed love who (in Dante's Divine Commodia)  masterminded his epic passage through Hell, Purgatory, and finally to Heaven. In life, she was the focus of Dante's childhood affection, though the two never married. Beatrice lived from 1266 to 1290, a short twenty-four years. She also appeared in Dante's Vita Nuova.

¤ Alice. [ă'lĭs.] (pr. n.) As before with Bertha, little direct information is freely accessible online. (I unfortunately lack the funds or the means to acquire direct access to the relevant texts.) However, I have found some information. First, "Alice" is Wilbur's rendition of the name written by Villon. Villon wrote "Aliss." In the 1920 edition of The Oxford Book of French Verse, St. John Lucas suggests that Villon's "Aliss" is the daughter of the French King Louis the Pious who was given to the hero Rainouart as a bride. A number of names may be used in place of "Alice": Aélis, Alix, Aliss, Adele, Adelheid, Adelaide, and a number of other variations. The text that most likely contains the direct textual presence of Alice/Aliss/Aelis is in the William Cycle of the Carolingian Gestes, either Geste de Guillaume d'Orange or Geste de Garin de Monglane.

¤ Arembourg. [ä'räm-bōōrg.] (pr. n.) Villon referred to Arembourg, the daughter of Helias who was the Count of Maine. Maine is a province in northwestern France. She lived during the late 11th and early 12th centuries. When her father died, she inherited political ownership of the county. She later married King Fulk V. I haven't learned any more about this figure beyond these facts. Alternative spellings of her name include: Erembourg, Ermengarde, Aramburga, and Aremburga.

¤ Joan d'Arc. [zhän därk'.] (pr. n.) Joan d'Arc was a French nationalist soldier whose impetus to battle was supposedly inspired by God. Her divine motivations have earned her a spot in the Catholic Church's canon of saints. The betrayal mentioned in the poem refers to Joan d'Arc's capture by the forces of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good. Philip's father (John the Fearless, then the Duke of Burgundy) had been a power-seeker until 1419, when he was betrayed by the French Dauphin's forces and assassinated. Philip blamed the Dauphin for his father's death (even though the Dauphin's forces had acted without consulting the Dauphin on the matter) and allied himself with England under the Treaty of Troyes. Philip captured Joan d'Arc in 1430 at Compiègne and sold her to the English government. The Duke of Bedford had her tried as a symbolic challenge to the legitimacy of the Dauphin's claim to the throne. She was executed in 1431, tied to a stake and burnt.

Links to Richard Wilbur materials online

Fresh Bilge: A Salty Journal. Essays on Wilbur by Alan Sullivan.