(datable to around 1299, the first year of imprisonment)

“The prison they’ve assigned me

In the basement of a house

Opens on a latrine

That is not as fragrant as musk.

No one is allowed to speak to me,

Except for one attendant,

And he has to report

Every word that I utter.

I am fettered like a falcon,

And my chains clank as I move about –

Anyone near my lodgings

Can hear me practicing my new dance steps.”

You can read this Laude in full in English here and in Italian here

Introduction

This laude is one of the earliest examples of great prison literature.  In 1299 Jacopone was chained in an underground prison, probably in the friary of San Fortunato in Todi, where he had spent almost twenty years as a friar.  About 68 years old, he may have been tired and regretful at getting embroiled in the Church's political squabbles.  Most likely he saw that he had been used by the Colonna, who claimed to be protectors of the Franciscan ‘Spirituals’ but actually were more interested in advancing their own family.  In the end, he found himself in prison, in conditions this laude describes with great realism and precision.

Scholars agree that this laude is “the most significant autobiographical document of the laudarium” (Matteo Leonardi, Iacopone da Todi, Laude;  Leo S. Olschki Editore, Florence, 2010).  It is also, probably, the laude that best explains Jacopone’s character and moral strength.  Had it been read more carefully and with a minimum of human sensitivity, many scholars might have avoided some of the misunderstandings and inaccuracies written about Jacopone that we recently highlighted (Claudio Peri and Andrew Halpin, ‘The International Contribution to the Study of Jacopone da Todi’, Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures, vol 48, No.2, 2022).

What this tells us is that we can trust Jacopone.  If there is one fault Jacopone most detests, it is hypocrisy.  He always intends to report the truth of his experience and feelings.  In this laude Jacopone wants to make us aware of the conditions of his imprisonment and employs all of his descriptive ability.  Realism is, as Estelle Zunino says, the most representative aspect of his style.  In a single verse, with very few words, he is able to describe a situation or feeling so vividly that we almost experience the reality he describes. Nevertheless there is no whining, no trace of self-pity, but rather lucidity, irony – even humour – and a determination to endure every vexation as an opportunity to identify with Jesus crucified.  Knowing the Scriptures, Jacopone may well have called to mind the words of St Paul:  “we are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Reading the laude

The laude has a simple and rhythmic flow, easy to memorize.  Lawrence Venuti, perhaps the greatest living translation specialist, wrote an important paper, ‘Translating Jacopone da Todi: Archaic Poetry and Modern Audiences’ (Translation and Literature, vol. 12, No. 2, pp 231-251, 2003).  Venuti stresses that laudi were intended to be sung or chanted and he argues that many of Jacopone’s laudi lent themselves to being recited in a way that Venuti compares to modern rap.  He reports having happily tested this possibility with his students by reciting some laudi in rap style!

This present laude has a peculiarity that is rarely, if ever, mentioned.  There are 40 lines whose last word ends in ‘-óne’ (with the ‘o’ closed, a deep sound):

[Jacopone  –  paragone  –  prescione  –  maledezone  –  leone  –  moscone  –  parlazione  –  stazone  –  catenone  –  cestone  –  paltone –  stomacone  –  polmone  –  Ilarione  –  storione  –  bancone  –  scottone  –  boccone  –  prelazione  –  arnunzascione  –  condizione  –  abomenazione  –  passone  –  magnadone  –  presonzione  –  paccone  –  reclusione  –  pescione  –  campione  –  scudone  –  essaltazione  –  salvazione  –  consolazione  –  bizocone  –  garzone  –  gonfalone  –  padeglione  –  guigliardone  –  nazione  –  beneficione.]

This feature can be related to Lawrence Venuti’s ‘rap’ theory.  In this case, the ending of the final word of each stanza generates a deep, relentless drum-like sound, well suited to the atmosphere of a prison.  You can try it by reading a series of verses, underlining the final -óne with a low tone:  ‘-óne’… ‘-óne’… ‘-óne’.

You can rap!

To facilitate reading and understanding, the laude is here divided into five parts:

First part (verses 1-4)

The opening line of the laude (Che farai, fra Jacovone? / ‘What now, brother Jacopone?’) tells us a lot:  it obviously and self-consciously echoes the opening of an earlier laude (LIV:  Che farai, Pier da Morrone?), written in 1294 when the hermit Pietro de Morrone became Pope Celestine V.  This was the beginning of all Jacopone’s troubles but there is also a clear sense of ironic self-mockery, perhaps an admission of having had an inflated sense of his own importance and of having over-reached, involving himself in high Church politics.  Now he is paying the price.  The first four verses are a declaration of failure: irony allows him to avoid stronger language, but a bitter streak pervades. Nevertheless they give us a surprising amount of information:

Che farai, fra Jacovone?/ ‘What now, brother Jacopone?’ :    This is the first recorded use of the nickname Jacopone (‘big James’) – and it is applied by himself, with obvious irony.  Despite many other explanations for the nickname Jacopone, it may have been his own invention.

anno e mezo en desciplina/ ‘trapped for a year and a half’ :    A year and a half passed between the publication of the ‘Manifesto of Lunghezza’ and the destruction of the Colonna castle at Palestrina.  Jacopone suggests that he was there under duress, a prisoner of his ‘allies’ as much as of the Pope.

loco pigliasti malina/ ‘you caught the illness that was raging there’ :    The term malina referred to endemic infections such as malaria, very frequent in those days.  But here it refers to a disease of the soul, not giving rise to fever but inducing us to criticize, to accuse, to manipulate opinions.

Probendato en corte i Roma/ ‘the benefice they gave me in Rome’ :     Another ironic reference: Jacopone had previously been invited to Rome and probably received payment and recognition for his time there.

ché 'l capuccio m'è mozato/ ‘my hood was cut off’ :     This was a punitive measure, like when the stars are removed from an unworthy officer, and another humiliation for Jacopone. Effectively he was expelled from the Franciscan Order.

perpetuo encarcerato/ ‘imprisoned for life’ :     Jacopone was facing the prospect of imprisonment until death.  He could not foresee that Boniface VIII would die first, leading to forgiveness and release under the new Pope Benedict.

Second part (verses 5-16)

In the following 12 verses Jacopone describes in detail the conditions of imprisonment, but does so with a subtle irony and dark humour that makes us smile instead of being moved or indignant, as perhaps we should.  Such is his descriptive ability that we can almost see the scene, smell the bad smells, hear the metallic clanking of the chains, feel the painful effect on his ribs when he tossed and turned over on his pallet at night.  The food was an indefinable slop, to which stale bread and onions were added.  The room was cold, damp and frequented by mice and insects.  He was supposed to pay for his own upkeep, but since he had no money they had agreed that he should settle his debt by saying eight ‘Our Fathers’ for every penny owed.  Since many people considered him a saint, his prayers were greatly valued, probably to the point of gaining him the privilege of reading and writing.  For his part, Jacopone lampoons himself as a latter-day St Hilarion (a 4th-century hermit who spent a life of asceticism in the Palestinian desert).

Third part  (verses 17-23)

Despite the self-deprecation, Jacopone has not abandoned his convictions and his judgement is as sharp as ever.  He paints an unedifying picture of the tendency of friars to use the Franciscan Order to forge a career in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, exploiting an anomaly introduced into the Rule of St Francis to make property ownership and career promotions possible.  It was precisely this exception that led to his protest and he continues to stand by his principles on a legal and moral level.  Amid the wit and sarcasm, Jacopone reveals his heart in the lament “O Poverty, you are little loved! How few take you as a spouse” – as Francis had desired and ordered.

Fourth part (verses 24-36)

These 13 verses begin with a plea of guilt, without excuses or evasion (‘I talked a lot / At the court of Rome I asslicked / But in the end I'm condemned / For my conceit’).  We all suffer from conceit but how many of us admit it?  One can only admire Jacopone’s ability to recognize his conceit as the cause of his troubles.  Such profundity, however, is again counterbalanced by dark humour as Jacopone reflects on the disappointment of his captors when they realise that they have made a loss, rather than a profit, from his imprisonment.

Despite – or, perhaps, because of – the suffering of imprisonment, Jacopone has overcome the temptation of conceit and achieved the Franciscan humility to which he had aspired throughout his life as a convert.  He now has an invincible strength: it is his humility, his annihilation of pride, of all personal entitlement.  The insults, the offences, the accusations – these not only no longer affect him, but they have become his pride, his flag, the circumstances that unite him with the crucified Jesus.  It is the final step of his mystical journey. 

Fifth part (verses 37-39)

These final verses are melancholic and yet prophetic:  Jacopone addresses his poem as a friend (carta mia/ ‘my letter’, that is, my poetry), charged with carrying his message into the future, to every nation, tribe, and people.  Eight centuries later, Jacopone’s voice is, indeed, heard clearly in many countries and in many languages, as he had foreseen.