Constructing Courtly Subjectivity Otherwise Excuses and the Anti-Lover in Bertran de Born’s Eu m’escondisc

This article concerns Bertran de Born’s escondich or poem of excuses addressed to a courtly lady or dompna. It is pitched close to the liberating and transcendent work of parody. While there is a ritual and formal aspect to a poem of excuses, the choice of harms invoked suggests a series of rule-breaking encounters rather than a conservative recall to order.