Feudalesimo e Libertà [English translation]

Against 1 this obscure age 2

Ready to fight fearlessly

From Aachen 3 we come down gallopping

Marching with our shields and our estocs

Electoral brawls shalt be silent 4

Tribunals shalt burn

Our "lex" 5 is the emperor

Man of trust and man of honour

To the battle! To the battle!

Against that ferocious Saladin 6

To the pillory! To the pillory!

Let us punish that Saracenic devil

[Chorus]

Feudalism and Freedom

It shalt be a new golden age

Let us fill our tankards with beer

For plebs shalt have a new monarch

Feudalism and Freedom

Be quick to sworn your loyalty

Victory is nigh, companions 7

But we shalt never lack of battles

[/chorus]

Electoral refunds shalt be abolished 8

Imperial tariffs shalt be reinstated

People shalt go to work riding a horse again

The property tax on the castle of residence shalt be repealed 9

Against the unregulated urbanization

Let us improve encastellation 10

Let us obtain energy from mills

Ladies and children shalt work too

To the battle! To the battle!

Let us march alongside landsknechts 11

To the pillory! To the pillory!

Let the technologic devices burn at the stake

[Chorus]

One day, to thy progeny, thou shalt narrate

The deeds of the emperor, with these words so sweet:

Thou shalt love him and thank him, for he gave thee the honour

To work in his feudal lands sixteen hours a day

Let us quench our steel, sharpen our swords

Drive our enemy away from these lands

Let us don our boots, saddle our steeds

Victory is nigh, indeed [2x]

Thou shalt not eat kebab 12

Thou might be funding Saladin

The ploughman shalt be afeared of our sentence

If we get you, that shan't be a coincidence

Jus primae noctis, 13 hangmen and corvée 14

That's the solution for thee

Feudalism is all the rage now 15

Be afeared, for we shalt fight as long as necessary

To the battle! To the battle!

Battle, battle! 16

To the pillory! To the pillory!

Pillory, pillory! 17

[Chorus]

1. "Feudalesimo e Libertà" (the title of this song) is a popular Italian Facebook page that ironically presents itself as a political party, with the purpose of reinstating feudalist laws and the Holy Roman Empire rule on Italy, as a form of dissatisfaction against the current political system. The name of the page itself is the parody of a former democratic-socialist party called "Sinistra Ecologia Libertà" ("Left - Ecology - Freedom").2. A recurring leitmotif in their jokes is that Middle Ages were not the "dark ages" everybody think they were, not because there was no torture, witch-hunting, serfdom and tyranny of the noblemen, but precisely because that's the best way to live. The actual "dark age", they claim, is the present one.3. the Holy Roman Empire had no official capital, but Aachen was one of the favourite cities of Charlemagne, because of its hot springs.4. the whole song is written in some sort of a forced archaic Italian, with some Latin words, the same used by the Facebook page (see first note) for its memes. The language is often incorrect, with many spelling errors and fake archaicisms. I tried to render this using the few English archaicisms I know ("thou", "shalt"...)5. Latin for "law".6. another recurring gag is the hate against the ancient Arab empire, as a reflection of the real-world propaganda against al Qaeda, or the ISIS self-proclaimed caliphate.7. "sodale" is a word commonly used by the Feudalesimo e Libertà group (see first note) to refer to its followers. It is an old fashioned word, used to refer to a fellow soldier, or to a fellow member of an association.8. a reference to a long-living controversy in Italian politics, about the legality (and moral legitimacy) of electoral refunds. Until the 1990s, Italian parties had access to direct State refund for their activity. This eventually caused a huge scandal of misappropriations of such money and to creation of a new system, the "electoral refund", which means parties could only ask reimbursement for some certified activities related to electoral campaign. This also led to other investigations about illegal refunds and to the issue of parties financially supported by private companies, which is a procedure still not as regulated and accepted as in other countries (such as the USA).9. the IMU (lit. "unified municipal tax") is a wealth tax on real estate properties. For about one year, it was also collected on the place of residence, which led to harsh protests and the call for "repealling the IMU on the house of residence", a phrase here parodised feudalism-style.10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encastellation11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsknecht these soliders are infamous in Italian history because of the sack of Rome in 1527. In the ideology of the Feudalesimo e Libertà page (see first note) they represent the power over Italy (and the Pope) of the legitimate Holy Roman emperor.12. ironically chosen as a symbol of the Arab influence over the Christianity.13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_du_seigneur#Medieval_Europe14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corv%C3%A9e15. "il nuovo che avanza" (lit. "the new that comes forward") is an idiomatic expression, commonly used ironically to refer to something that isn't new at all. It has been recently used for the Italian politician Matteo Renzi, in reference to his young age, even though his methods and ideals are not as "new" as he is.16. imperative plural form of the verb "pugnare" (an archaic verb meaning "to battle").17. used here as an imperative plural form of an imaginary verb "gognare" (lit. "to pillory").