The story of Flamenca

THIS, THE FIRST EDITION OF THE STORY OF FLAMENCA, CONSISTS OF SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES OF WHICH THIS IS NUMBER
FLAMENCA
THE STORY OF FLAMENCA:
The First Modern Novel , Arranged from the Provençal Original of the Thirteenth Century by
William Aspenwall Bradley With Woodcuts by Florence Wyman Ivins
PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK : : MCMXXII : : BY HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC.
TO J. E. SPINGARN
The unique manuscript of Flamenca is incomplete. Among the pages missing are the first and last. Hence we have no knowledge of the author or of the date of composition. The latter has been placed approximately in the first half of the thirteenth century. At that time the splendour of the little courts south of the Loire had waned; but the poet shows us the largeness and liberality that had reigned there, while his lightness of tone reflects that relaxing of the old restraints in a sophisticated and pleasure-loving society, which stern moralists would, no doubt, hold responsible for the ensuing swift decadence. Love was the one real religion of the upper classes, and the code of lovers, hardened into a vast, complicated system, constituted the sole effective morality. Flamenca and Guillem are characteristic products of this system, and its perfect exponents. Their acceptance of it is complete. Never does any doubt enter the mind of either as to the sovereignty of the rights conferred by mutual love. Both regard themselves as accomplishing a sacred duty in going directly—or as directly as possible—to the goal of their desire. At the same time, there are forms to observe, and our two lovers are so scrupulous in their observance that they may occasionally seem engaged much more in going through an elaborate ritual than in pursuing dangerously a passionate adventure. Yet the danger was there, and Flamenca never forgets that if, in a sense, she is playing a game, it is a game the stake of which is death.