Lo Boièr ("The Oxherd", also known as ''Le Bouvier'' in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

) is an

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

traditional song. It was popular in

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

during the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

, being particularly associated to the religious movement of

Catharism Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follow ...

. It might have developed during the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (; 1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown ...

, when Cathar beliefs were declared forbidden. Along with '' Se Canta'', it is possibly the most known old Occitan song. It was studied by Gérard de Sède and performed by artists like Corou de Berra, Jean-Bernard Plantevin, André Ricros and Gacha Empega. It was also utilized by Radio Toulouse during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a resistance song.

Characteristics

''Lo Boièr'' is a song with a slow, alternate rhythm. The third verse of every

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

is a mantric-sounding succession of vowels as a sort of

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

. The song's lyrics tells the story of an oxherd who finds his wife ill and tries to comfort her with food, which the woman replies to by serenely explaining the way she wants to be buried after she dies. The song's imagery is rooted in Cathar symbolism. The oxherd's wife is named Joana, a female version of the name given to Cathar believers before entering spiritual life, and is described as "disconsolate," implying she has not received the rite of ''consolamentum'' yet. The meal mentioned contains a radish ("raba", in Occitan), a

cabbage Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...

("caulet") and a lean lark ("magra"), referencing the noble families of

Rabastens Rabastens () is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. The historian Gustave de Clausade (1815–1888) was born in Rabastens of which he became mayor in 1848. Population Transport Rabastens-Couffouleux station has rail conne ...

, Caulet and Magrin, protectors of Catharism. Finally, Joana asks to be buried with her head under the fountain, symbolizing the water received in the ''consolamentum'', and mentions a herd of goats, echoing a Gnostic tradition that links Capricorn to the spirit's return to heaven. In Gnosticism, the vowels are considered a form of the name of the Monad, much like the Hebrew tetragrammaton. Examples of this and similar vowel usage is found in the Nag Hamadi Library. Some have suggested that they form a phonic pyramid pointing to heaven. Others believe its true meaning is lost.

Lyrics

The following is the most popular form of the song's lyrics.

In popular culture

In his 1998 novel ''Le Christi'', René-Victor Pilhes mentions the song, interpreting its vowels as '' Austriae est imperare orbi universo''. René-Victor Pilhes, ''Le Christi'', Plon, 1998, p. 313-317

References

External links

Lo Boièr
performed by Hans-André Stamm
Lo Boièr
performed by Indigo Aura {{Western medieval lyric forms Occitania Old Occitan literature Occitan music Catharism Gnosticism Christian music Medieval music genres Western medieval lyric forms