Like many people – if not most – I had heard about the troubadours, but I had no idea that the tradition included women.
The Troubadours, Part I: Sad Songs Say So Much
January 29, 2015 By
The height of their popularity was in the 12th-13th Centuries, and they wrote songs about people, politics, and religion, but most of all, love. Let’s take five minutes to talk about troubadours.
Caught in Love’s Grip: Passion and Moral Agency in French Courtly Romance
August 12, 2014 By
French royal courts in the late twelfth century were absolutely smitten with love. Troubadaours traveled from place to place reciting stories of knights and the ladies they wooed.
Analyzing History: Bertran de Born – Innocent Poet or Inciter of Revolt
February 22, 2014 By
While words are powerful tools that can invoke emotions ranging from jubilation to revulsion, could they be the cause of a rebellion against Henry II of England by his children and wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine? Could the words of a mere troubadour drive the revolt of a family against their king?
A ‘Game of Words’: Why were ‘Insult tensos’ Performed in Occitan Courts?
February 2, 2014 By
What was the purpose of insulting, aggressive exchanges between nobles and joglars/troubadours in the Occitan courts?
Women in Troubadour Song: Of the Comtessa and the Vilana
December 30, 2012 By
Since we have melodies for both songs, the question of what “feminine” voices we are hearing is a musi- cal as well as a poetic issue.
From Jongleur to Minstrel: The Professionalization of Secular Musicians in Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Paris
September 22, 2012 By
This study asks: how did jongleurs professionalize over the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and incorporate themselves into society as legitimate, productive members?
“Los motz e.l so”: Words, Melody, and Their Interaction in the Songs of Folquet de Marseille
August 26, 2012 By
In this dissertation I delve into the songs of the late twelfth-century troubadour Folquet de Marseille whose thirteen songs surviving with their melodies provide a varied collection of a suitable size to permit intensive analysis of poetic and musical compositional practices and the interactions between the two.
The Myth of the Anglo-Saxon Oral Poet
July 15, 2012 By
There are at least two reasons why the search for the Anglo-Saxon oral poet is worth reopening. To begin with, current thinking about oral poetry and poetics in the Anglo-Saxon period has been indelibly stamped by the classic Parry/Lord thesis, well known in its evolution from the 1950s to more recent years,
Transposition of Stanzas in Mediaeval Poetry, a Method of Analysis: Poems VII and X of Arnaut Daniel
July 14, 2012 By
A valid alternative is to attempt to understand the reason for the existence of the different versions and to use this knowledge in the choice of a version.
Bogomils, Cathars, Lollards, and the High Social Position of Women During the Middle Ages
June 24, 2012 By
During the 12th century, if not slightly earlier, Western Europe lived through a period of economic and social upheavel termed by many historians the 12th c. Renaissance. One of its aspects is related to the considerable emancipation of women mostly in Southern France, a development which spread over to Italy, Flanders, and later, England. One can even detect social zones where real emancipation was axhieved.
Authentic performance of troubadour melodies
May 20, 2012 By
Ancient Rome is remembered as one of the greatest military powers in history, its fame derived from the fearsome reputation of the empire’s legionnaires. Lost in the telling, however, is the important role that espionage played in Rome’s ascent to empire
Troubadours and their heritage in the edges of Europe – Singing and rapping experiences of being in a minority in Southern France and in Sámiland
February 19, 2012 By
What is common to these artists is the way how they define and express their belonging to their own ethnic group. The characteristics of their ethnic identity 2 are above all else language, home territory, and history.
Healing Leaves
December 27, 2011 By
Medieval French literature provides the modern researcher with references to the healing arts in many passages that are incorporated into prose or poetic works.
How a Medieval Troubadour Became a Mathematical Figure
December 27, 2011 By
Lyric poetry of the Middle Ages may seem far removed from subgroups of the symmetric group or primitive roots of finite fields. However, one piece of medieval poetry has led to work in these mathematical disciplines, namely a sestina written in the Romance language of Old Occitan by a troubadour named Arnaut Daniel
Trobairitz Women Poets from Early Twelfth-Century Southern France
November 29, 2011 By
This video was recorded for students in the Fall 2011 GER 160D ‘Eroticism and Love in the Middle Ages’ class.
Stanford scholar finds the origins of Western poetry in troubadours’ songs
October 13, 2011 By
Stanford Assistant Professor Marisa Galvez has written a book about medieval songbooks, pointing to troubadours as the models for modern poets. The poem can seem like a timeless art form. When we talk about the poetry of nature or dance, we’re referring to a primeval form of language – it’s as if verse existed before […]
New Relationships in Old Music: Is there a Connection Between the Music of Medieval Spain and the Music of the French Troubadours?
September 25, 2011 By
New Relationships in Old Music: Is there a Connection Between the Music of Medieval Spain and the Music of the French Troubadours? Dirks, Christine A. Research Paper, DePaul University, May 1 (2009) Abstract This inquiry into the Medieval and Renaissance music of Spain is rooted not only in a love of music, but in an enduring curiosity […]
Early Crusade Songs
December 1, 2009 By
Crusade songs came to us almost entirely from the repertories of the troubadors and trouveres.
How you can Follow Us!