L’ORIGINE DES PREMIERS CHANTS MILITAIRES FRANÇAIS (1/3) : LA POÉSIE

Hello. From the memory of Jinko, I welcome you. A window on traditional Chinese culture, ancient stories, and their profound wisdom to offer inspiration to young and old. An invitation for a journey towards authenticity, goodness and tolerance. Poetry is the origin of the first French military songs. The French people were born soldiers, they have fun, they wake up to the sound of weapons. These first songs were military songs. The song is an integral part of the tradition. If we pay attention to the voice of our ancestors, we can go back to the universal values that founded our civilization. The military songs are the unexpected heirs of this tradition. Their heritage is still alive. On the one hand, because it gives life to a millenary cultural heritage, and on the other hand, because it is created and recreated even today. Its story tells us the choice of our ancestors between hope and barbarism, light and darkness. And how poetry has accompanied them in the most glorious situations, but also the most difficult. Like the phoenix that is reborn from its ashes, France comes back to life by the traits of its poetic-heroic imagination and by its link with the divine imaginary. This gentle idea has the ability to calm the errands and to illuminate the longest nights. A universal message, present among all peoples since the night of time, and that France has been able to preserve until today thanks to its heritage. In this three-part series, we will first look at the present poetry, at the first notes of our civilization. Then, at the fraternal values that these songs carry and how they have participated in the cohesion of men in the face of adversity until today. A story that goes back to the dawn of time. The French people and the soldiers woke up to the sound of weapons. These first songs were military songs. We can read in the historical essay on the military songs of the French by Georges Kastner, published in 1855. We learn that the oldest known poetic forms were both historical songs and warrior songs. In Antiquity, the Gaulish soldiers sang songs called parties on the battlefield. The silence of death was too overwhelming not to break it by singing, to give oneself courage and ward off fear. These songs were the work of the bards whose voice resounded and excited the troops before the fight. They could stand between two armies to avoid a confrontation. They sang to the sound of the lyre the facts of the valiant men, put in a heroic way, calling for a peaceful resolution. Song and poetry were, at the dawn of our civilization, the first vehicle of knowledge and sacredness. The men have lost the legends, the sighs of the great troubadours. A sacred erudition that perpetuates tradition through poetry. In Antiquity, the Indo-European societies were organized into three classes. The productive class, merchants, farmers, hunters, etc. The warrior class, the defense of the territory, the mastery of weapons and fighting techniques. And the priestly class, responsible for the sacred and the religious. The bards were part of this third category alongside the druids and the devins. They were considered as illiterate, respected by the people, both historians and musicians. Rather far from the image of the bard of the comic book Asterix by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. We find the trace of the bards among the Greco-Roman authors. Who bring them closer? Poets of the Greek Antiquity, both storytellers, singers and priests. These poets, called aedes, sang the exploits of the gods and Greek heroes, also accompanying a lyre. The Gaulish bards had a difference. They guided the warriors on the battlefield. On the battlefield, the bards' songs were martial poetry. The bards were both poets, musicians and legislators and walked at the head of the armies. We can read this in the essay of George Kastner. In the war of the Gauls, Julius Caesar himself said that the Gauls did not preserve the memory of the arts and sciences they cultivated and, in general, that of all their institutions, than by sung poems. They were defended by not writing anything. Traces of the same use are noticed among the francs. Far from the prosaic image given by the modern era, the laws, sciences and arts of the pre-medieval society took over poetry. Its very soft and divine language in order to seize more easily the heart and imagination of men. The bards had for specialization history and genealogy. That of kings and heroes. Poetry, mythological and epic. The praise of heaven, but also the satire and the blame of the corruptions of society. Their talent was reputed of divine inspiration. In the 5th century, at the end of the Roman Empire and at the beginning of the Middle Ages, they lost their sacred function, replaced by priests and canticles. They remained, nevertheless, storytellers and musicians until the beginning of the Renaissance. Oral transmission at the heart of the medieval military fields. The values of the Christian culture born with the Middle Ages found their place in the imaginary of the first military fields. They mix with epic poetry, faith in a benevolent God and the existence of a holy spirit. The bards are replaced by the canticles, songs given to God. And by the songs of gestures that embrace the new poetic-heroic imaginary of the French dynasties. We find these canticles from the High Middle Ages and some will still be sung several centuries later by the soldiers of Jeanne d'Arc going to deliver Orleans. The songs of gestures appear, as for them, at the heart of the army and chivalry, celebrating the heroic deeds of heroes and kings. They are the ancestors of our military fields. Among the different types of military fields, we find the fields of marches and bivouacs, to distract from fatigue, the fields of departure and greetings of the evening, to give courage, the fields of ceremonies, to honor companions, as well as the specific fields of the different corps of the army. These few examples allow us to grasp the extent and to have a glimpse of the richness of a well-living repertoire in constancy, mutation, but which does not allow itself to be locked up in a definitive framework. We can read in the French military field a living heritage of Thierry Bouzard. All these fields have in common an oral transmission Of Clovis and his benevolent wife Clothilde in the 5th century, to King Saint Louis and the courageous Jeanne d'Arc, through the emperor Charlemagne and the knights of the crusades, the military fields are a testimony of the historical eras. From the 6th century, one of the most important subjects are the great expeditions of Charlemagne. The kingdom of France then experienced a social and moral collapse caused by the barbaric invasions and the impotence of the authorities to repel them. In this context, the accomplishments of the Carolingian dynasty a few centuries earlier give courage and hope to a population threatened by chaos. One of the most famous songs of the 11th century is the song of Roland, considered as the Marseillaise of chivalry. It was sung by soldiers and knights for 300 years until the end of the 14th century. In this heroic epic, Roland, nephew of Charlemagne, sacrifices himself to give a decisive victory which saves Europe from a Saracen invasion. According to the author Philippe de Villiers, France was born with the song of Roland in a literary act. When Roland, at the moment of the ultimate agony, turns to Olivier, he begs him You will turn my head to France, the sweet. It is at this moment, according to him, that France is born. France lives from the feeling that it is a poem, that is to say, a garden of paradise. Like the phoenix which was reborn from its ashes, France comes back to life through the lines of its poetry, through the generous momentum of its sacrifice and its link with the divine imaginary. France then becomes an ideal that nourishes the fruits of the greatest accomplishments and the most beautiful dreams. Songs, multicellular, still alive. If we listen to the voice of its ancestors, we hear a deaf and yet formidable clamor. Written by George Kastner. Here is a sample of his medieval songs, a real time capsule, with the values he conveys to us. The Holy Land True Knight, Fall at all costs, Arm yourself, Strip yourself of your faith. The Lord sends you Our children Scream with joy Raise your flags And sing without fear May our souls Defend you From age to age With their hearts This song of the 13th century refers to the crusades led by Saint Louis to defend Europe from the invaders and to preserve the Judeo-Christian We find references to the moral duty of the Knight and to the importance of the Holy Family, that of our loved ones and of our homeland. The ramparts of a Holy Family, homes, values, ten points of vassals, the strong homes of the dynasties offering tutelage to all its friends. With these values the fear of the children's heads Our children, exulting with joy, make love and sing without fear. From our souls they will defend the Jerusalem of their hearts. Jerusalem of their hearts refers to the city of Jerusalem, sacred place of Jewish and Christian faith and by extension to the heavenly Jerusalem, holy and divine place existing in heaven. Goodbye, comrades! The path of the stars where we will meet again tomorrow Goodbye, comrades! is a round of farewell taking the form of a medieval song. Goodbye, comrades! May the Lord protect you on the road where we will meet tomorrow Goodbye, comrades! Let the Lord protect you on the road where we will meet tomorrow Goodbye, comrades! The path of the stars where we will meet tomorrow Goodbye, comrades! If it takes up the codes of a medieval song, it was composed in the 20th century by the Scouts. Chanté en ronde, chaque Scout salue ses autres camarades. Les autres chantantes, en chœur, se chantent pour lui. Poétique et symbolique, ce chant est si doux qu'il dissipe la tristesse de l'adieu et le remplace par l'espoir de se revoir le lendemain. Appelle-toi Jeanne. France, ô ma France, il faut t'élever jusqu'aux cieux. Ta patrie, si tu veux retrouver la vie, je t'en prie, je t'en prie, je t'en prie, je Et que ton nom soit glorieux, le Dieu vainqueur et gaiement a résolu de te sauver. Appelle-toi Jeanne, est tiré d'un poème religieux mis en musique sur la marche des soldats de la bataille de Bannocheporn. Lors de cette bataille, en 1314, l'armée écossaise remporte une écrasante victoire contre les Anglais. Cette marche a été jouée lorsque Jeanne d'Arc est entrée victorieuse dans la ville d'Orléans en 1429. Cette victoire fit basculer la guerre de cent ans contre les Anglais en faveur de la France et permit le retour de Charles VII à la tête du royaume français par son baptême à Reims. Cette marche nous rappelle une époque où les valeurs de la France étaient intrinsèquement liées à sa foi dans le divin et à la défense de la patrie. France, ô ma France, il faut élever jusqu'aux cieux ta patrie si tu peux retrouver la vie et que ton nom soit glorieux. Balade de naguère, rappelez-vous, elle est en déconquête. Si cette ancienne chanson médiévale n'a pas d'origine historique précise, on peut la dater au Moyen-Âge. Les paroles mentionnent les valeurs qui forgèrent jadis l'idéal du chevalier. Rappelez-vous les temps déconquête, du sang qu'on versait s'enfaiblir, on préférait mourir à la quête plutôt que tromper ou faillir. Routes de terre, routes de rocailles, où la mort vous guette au détour, ballons d'herbe pour la ripaille et les tendres jeux de l'amour. Rappelez-vous les temps déconquête, du sang qu'on versait s'enfaiblir. Elle rappelle qu'une flamme brûle toujours à la fin du jour, comme un écho des anciennes batailles. Cette flamme rappelle le temps où la loyauté et les sermons duraient toute une vie et qu'un feu fraternel unissait les hommes. Ils étaient alors plus qu'une poignée de cendres grises, plus que de simples mortels, ils avaient en eux plus qu'ils ne pouvaient croire. Pour conclure cette première partie, cette poésie, née dans les conditions humaines les plus dures et les plus glorieuses, s'est transmise comme un murmure jusqu'à aujourd'hui, un message des anciens temps qui nourrit la flamme des nouveaux jours. Si cette musique millénaire devint de moins en moins audible aujourd'hui, elle est essentielle à la construction des esprits, par les valeurs spirituelles et fraternelles qu'elle véhicule. C'est le chemin laissé par la tradition, un message universel présent dans tous les peuples et que la France a su le mieux préserver dans ses arts et sa culture. Cette poésie, cette musique, cette idée si douce de l'humanité peuvent guider et calmer toutes les errances, faire fuir les peurs et donner l'espoir d'un lendemain heureux lorsque termine le jour.