Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, “Era·m requier sa costum’e son us” (BdT 392.2)

The lack of studies on the more traditional love songs composed by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, compared with the great success of his more experimental poems amongst scholars, has been repeatedly stigmatized. This paper offers a global and detailed reading of a ‘canso’ which is emblematic in the troubadour’s poetry. The vocabulary and stylistic features have been analyzed comparatively in order to correct an erroneous interpretation based on the story told by the ‘razo’ and to recognize the poem’s importance within Raimbaut’s production. This poem, no less than others by the same poet, reveals the most significant marks of its author’s poetic spirit: his curiosity towards reality and his receptiveness. A new critical edition of the text is provided here, based on the revision and a more extensive study of the manuscript tradition.