Who were the Troubadours?

The troubadours were aristocratic poet-musicians based mainly in the south of France (Provence) who flourished from the end of the 11th century through the 13th century . Many troubadours were noblemen and crusader knights; some were kings, like, for example, Richard I, Cur de Lion; Thibaut IV, King of Navarre; and Alfonso X, king of Castile and León. Of the more than 400 known troubadours living between 1090 and 1292 the most famous are Jaufré Rudel de Blaia, Bernart de Ventadorn, Peire Vidal,, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, Folquet de Marseille (archbishop of Toulouse), Bertrand de Born, Arnaut Daniel, Gaucelm Faidit, Raimon de Miraval, Arnaut de Mareuil, and Guiraut Riquier.

Of lower birth were the jongleurs who performed the troubadours' works and perhaps assisted in their composition. Troubadour lyrics were sung and accompanied by instruments that probably duplicated the melody (all the music preserved is monophonic). The poems were written in the southern dialect called langue d'oc. The most common forms were sirventes (political poems), plancs (dirges), albas (morning songs), pastorals, and Jeux-partis (disputes); the favourite subjects were courtly love, war, and nature.

After the Albigensian Crusade in which many troubadours were caught up because their noble patrons were either sympathetic to the heretics or heretics themselves, Provençal culture declined. The influence of the widely travelling troubadours spread to central and North France, where their counterparts were the trouvères.   In Germany they were imitated by the minnesingers.  The tradition was also carried to Spain and Italy. In France annual festivals known as the Jeux Floraux were established in the 14th century to revive troubadour art.

Jongleurs

The jongleurs were itinerant entertainers of the Middle Ages in France and Norman England. Their repertoire included dancing, conjuring, acrobatics, the feats of the modern juggler, singing, and storytelling. Many were skilled in playing musical instruments. The jongleurs were often collaborators or assistants of  troubadours or trouvères. 

Trouvères

The trouvères were medieval poet-musicians of central and Northern France who flourished most during the later 12th and the 13th centuries.  The trouvères imitated the troubadours of the south. Written in the dialect called langue d'oïl, their songs included love lyrics, romances, and the heroic chansons de geste. Chief among the trouvères were Conon de Béthune, Le Châtelain de Coucy, Colin Muset, Renaut de Beaujeu, and Adam de la Halle.

Minnesingers

The minnesinger was a mediaeval German knight, poet, and singer of Minne, or courtly love. Originally imitators of Provençal troubadours, minnesingers developed their own style in the 13th and 14th century. Some of their poems are among the best of Middle High German lyric verse. Important exponents of Minnesang included Heinrich von Morungen, Walther von der Vogelweide, and Oswald von Wolkenstein, as well as Gottfried von Strassburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach, and other authors of epics. Wagner's opera Tannhäuser is based on minnesinger art and tradition.

Jeux Floraux

The Jeux floraux (or Floral Games, translated literally) is one of the oldest known literary societies. It was founded (c.1323) at Toulouse, France, by seven troubadours to uphold the traditions of courtly lyricism. It promulgated (c.1355) a code of poetry known as the laws of love. With the decay of troubadour tradition, its literary contest (established 1324 and held in modern times in Toulouse on May 3) began to change. In place of langue d'oc, French became, after 1539, the sole language of contributions. The society received its present title from Louis XIV in 1694. The group supported romanticism; 19th-century winners of its traditional golden flower included Chateaubriand and Hugo. In 1895, on the urging of Frédéric Mistral, langue d'oc was readmitted on a par with French in its contests.

Langue d'oc and Langue d'oïl

These are the names of the two principal groups of medieval French dialects. Langue d'oc (literally, “language of yes” ) was spoken south of a line running, roughly, from Bordeaux to Grenoble, whereas langue d'oïl (literally, “language of yes” ) was prevalent in central and N France. The two dialect groups were named after their respective words for “yes,” oc having been the form of “yes” in the south and oïl (now oui ) having been used for “yes” in the north. Langue d'oc developed into Occitan, and included Provençal, a dialect that became the language of the troubadours in the south of France. Of the langue d'oïl dialects, that of the Paris region gradually supplanted all others as the standard idiom and developed into modern French. Both langue d'oïl and langue d'oc dialects persisted, however, in some rural areas as patois, or popular, provincial speech.

Some of the most famous Troubadours have been mentioned earlier on.

Peire Vidal whose fame flourished in the period 1180-1206 was a Provençal troubadour, born in Toulouse. He spent much of his career in South France and travelled widely in Italy, Cyprus, Hungary, Spain, and Malta.  Richard I (Richard Cur de Lion) was one of his patrons. A high-spirited gallant, Vidal involved himself in numerous escapades. His poems, excellent examples of troubadour love poetry, are notable for their strong personal feeling and simple style.

Folquet de Marseille (1150-1231) was a Provençal troubadour. He took orders, rose to be archbishop of Toulouse, and became notorious as the chief prosecutor in Provence of the Albigensian Crusade. Dante awarded him a place in Paradise.

Bertrand de Born or Bertran de Born , (c.1140-c.1214) was a French troubadour of Limousin. Some of his 40 surviving poems (in Provençal) tell of his part in the struggles between Henry II of England and his sons. For his warlike role in these quarrels, Bertrand is named as a “sower of schism” in Dante's Inferno.