Introduction Simon Gaunt and Sarah Kay The trovbadours, ke other celebrities, need no intreducton They are part o he frnture of oaeeulural knowledge, an unfor fetiable heirloom in the Enropean heritage. Whe has not heard Ste courly world they oratmented and entertained, voicing for it the exquisite refinements of medieval love? For glamorous peed, this tradition of poet-composer-prformers (460 of whose ames we hoon) dared Southern Preneh and neighnoring Earo- pean courts with their songs (seme 2.500 of which survive) in teh passion and decorun raf combined! Akough this period war rlatveyshortdived (e100-e. 1300), is spark was Eeficent to light the broader fame of subsequent Faropean portry. The rise of courtlines in the senses both of ‘our fve™ ind courtly living) in which the woubadours payed a detervning fate, helped to shape mainstream Wester caltare; while Chel fminentarcs as morals anda poltial and caltura cities, prove ral testimony fo the altudes which underlie and helped The significance of the troubadour is acknowledged in the space aniged to them in tnany different academic contexts as art ofthe history of European poetry and musi a The history af social gender an sexual relations, and he pte fd ilelogical world of nedeval Europe; ax a strand in the Tingeiatc diversity of the Roman guages The ange of there ontenty, however, suggests the camplesity of the phenomenon Many of the troubadours ad international careers in thet ie times snd were doultes diferently understood by different a ‘hoes this continues tobe the ease. Thus ip Fr: Solarship is fed by regional i {ochre the oubadeursfeatuce in itis upheld by their pe rest but in the United State Tnparative literature ally uniersal appeal in Tay the2 Sion Gaunt and Sara Key eoubadous are sued aa step inthe formation Kalan tera {He bat in England as an ape of the Iaratne ot see Vrance The ceubadous this ect a dhewsy sl ampeonen th elame hows Tn purely the ast dead hace ns ction of some challenging scl inom ses sed ne thing of some previously herbed view, the cine hag cone _ We eh to yathesive hi work forte len eval vec te rest ofthis Introduction then, stv intrainer st cock Sobers shentles athe scolry work slr en ier io prove cadets mia contain dish ocho ae Sapte hs book The Aileen! approaches taken tothe woubadoars have at {st bs tee alec he tsttogy ne to dene ia Fanguage The cslist shta to dome ther osee es Pa {is Raynor, love extraordiny Legs mnh es aden Betwoen 1838 and 1844 Raymouard chose the wed aay ene I beteed thatthe orm of Southern French weed Oe ea urs vas fall section othe verses Lad eck the Roman empire, moreso than ay cher Rosse an Ae ths desert ote alle Roman Ine Ine ea Sentuy, however, the regina poet Tredric Mice hee teste langage of Pent, an led the wonton the tet "rovengal” was wed to refer tothe medeen ee language. Gratalyit has en ovenaken by the oem Oe 4 backfrmation ftom the word Outen ded se rag aa? thirteenth centry to denote the whale ofthe ae of Seah Francs The tr Oeste Iuelcval Romance languages acordng othe wend Sublvson recognised nthe Mic Aess nthe Neh of Pane the ward of (aow out) gave rine tothe ngs ot hal ‘was the fangue de ri, and in the Midi the langue d'. The area within tan fom jun sth the Loe fa the Wes tose hea as sv wn ita Norther Rs the fe swith the road subdivision of et pecially misleading given thatthe earl lest of the toubadours all care tnt ftom Provence, bee ang Poitou and Gascony. In Sofa as the language ef this eons ‘ions has any dialectal colouring andi femerkat Introduction 3 the de et trad ole ernst de Vendor nec Ans ia Provence proper. Nor docs toda ere al there an extent it appears i i cot mican that it ad fixed forms. Mra Se ee Niecy Sa thats oa sores hg enn febeniy treaty ator at fentores bya series of ttho recogised the centrality ofthe troubadours both to Iteray History an co the study uf Reance poly; chict among these were Kart Harsch, Gotan Gees El Ley aad Cast App They apne yp he fed ty pricing large nubs of ete Intion of German scholars to the production tools has coutinued unabated throughout dhe tventieth century Only in Germany is work on major ditionaeies and relerenc vrs stl aciely pursued arly toubedour scholardip in France had a softer edge tt ‘arly twentiethecentury French scholars produced © praduced ia mtribations to So ae ee gence4 Simon ant and Sarak Ky in the fang dt posi for pol reasons of which th fehis may not have been wholly conscows, al pid set see The miain the ad ute Frame worcundeiely gare tia wet ‘ee ey age of ety artery ao the ve rey ee el i sa Denn Sh Ca fe "ie ee ct wore ering ese ae Eliot or Eera Pound. Indeed, some cries Eta the et pat sf this ceamary dil ot iy to cancel ther diske ofthe formal angers vty af the tent to which the f ua hich they devoted their profesional tes The Interest in ove an din the eroticism of the troubadour si War'in'a miner of es ta are en oe ee ee idionyneratic (Selh, Camprous, Laz), ut catsde France te decades after 194s i 8 pone ts emi dete nod ‘tool o wouhadr acolrhip an them more resent sl {ation U6 in the 1940s and 1950s, lone schol ‘ie in Spain, or Walter Pattison in the US), Gi rand ale oe aundoubtedly the two main centees of trouhaden Nee Period was undoubyedly Erich Kabler, whose publi a luence his contemporaries and sub vpeverations of Fey. Steeped in German hertnencuties and Marist theory ratte argved vary tht the troobador fie mated the toe beten the diferent sections ofthe nhl and that the eral for politics, German scholarship ater Kor aoe hecnegs cae Jenging and searching. aie Ronee ischolatthip? The i was bring applied to philetogy Intvdocton 5 and textual criticism (Del Monte, Tojs, Roneaglia, Avalle) As Fr aane ohilulognts alan scholars of thi pried were prima Ty interested inthe language and Latinatecaltute of the t ‘Baar yee, This approach 4 stl very much in evidence Siar eadents today and thanks to thi tadition, Iealy probably sensei actining Oecitansts than any her country in che ena The'diference in approach of the two main school of the Wohl petal as best strated isan exchange of articles Pee Avelo Roneaglia and Erich Kehler on the nature of the seit nober ls, published ic Caltrs Nelarna in 1969 and SGyor the former insists pon the learned, literary and Tatinate 1a Reic oF the towbadurs and eters his actile with pilose Views ave mediated therein sd on the value fymatice that he (rout ber By nag, however the eflets of new theoretical approaches ine dudy er leraure were alveady being felt in medieval studies IMitough the main steuctarfise studies of medieval vernacular Iie wee im fact devoted £0 the hries of Old French poets (che oust thee nucnce upon troubadoar scholarship di Ble as amber af major publieatons (Bec, Cropp, Tiler ejenn, and move recently Van Weck) that cake a given Zam thobs nation of leeward chant: that isthe view that mew Hine are self-referential fortal diplays dependent on the reve Fee thin the closed world af the gene, of limited repertoire formal constituents The infoence of structorais ie perceptible as much inthe vacenderrl nmin the deiles i stracted, Indeed noat significant anglopone publications on iron Paterson's Twubadsrr and Ebene perhaps wo a Treteouadons tthe see Tupaelts. Toads and Lae ~ were ch Fe tingly Copel) responding to the soars eee eal could beeen mpl sa playa Mra Toptldbyeathed ne hfe nt robe triticit, Paterson flour scholarship bye tof poems, They paid attention to form Got et gencric adhesion but of personal ebgagement ad extolled the indvidutity of oubadouts over the hornogenety of the tra Te purely literary appreciation ofthe teoubadours evincedGaus and Sarah Kes in Paterson and ‘Topificl's work was also peal of number of Important publications preduced in the US in the tgbom and 1970s by scholars whose main interest was comparative hrersure exits such as Goldin and Wilhelm influenced s generation of later North American comparatsts (for example Spence, Kendeh I Alevotng attention tothe lteary practices ofthe tioubadours i {elation to ather European pocty ad in the light of the prevaling New Criticism, ithe 1980s, the troubadoars became the subject of nese. ingly sophisticated and challenging research, The publication the early 19805 of two major sthes of ntertextuallty (hy Grae and Meneghett) was particoltly sigucan. These sehlar drew Attention to the self efexive hermetiisn uf the oubadour pe and fo the sophisticated processes of itation,fnitation ad Ua Formation that characterize the tradition. Fellowing on Irom thi the lite 1980s and eacly 1ggoe ca perhaps best br charactesined 83 period of demystifeatn: concenttatng ether i uty ad play (Gaunt, Kendrick, Kay) of subjectivity and gender (Kay, Huchet, Cholakian, Gaunt), and auned ith the Ridings of ste urls and pststuctaraliescolaaip crite enti o ar aay from taking the ostensible subject matter fe. lve) of the ‘our can seriously ad sought to Feveal like Koken ith tillerent agendas) the underhing acihetc, poyehie and pelea Aynamies of the eatin. Hunt tie poin, troubadour ire ad cen been hed up as the rust reined and meving election of vised heterosexual love (Lewis, Topsfield), prevailing wit bythe late 198s saw it a3 sophisticated gave en played wit cach ober, Since 1945, then, concerted efforts have been made to dewaplay (or a the very least to reinterpret) the siguifeance af what made ‘eoubadour poetry famous a the fis plac: love. As wil be evident from this book, lve is by no means the oly sabjeet mates Tor twoubdour Iyrics, hut itis clearly the dominant theme, ‘The ‘eaystifcaion of the “myth of coutty Jove. was unt ‘gent inthe postwar pero but perhaps the time has come tox torteassess the nature of love i tubadour poetry aad to take ‘what the troubadour said about themecies serosly again. {his respect ~ and in many ethers ~ troubadour stds se tak, fon fresh impetus. Thes, a we approach the end of the gga roubadour scholars seem, like snany other medicvaliat, eb Intrdeton 7 resins ning te ious bata bee (Ch 1 For deta ofthe cpus sce expecialy Piet Carsten, sapphe tra fie bah Seo nn wa is For wort sce by ftv oho than sty adem :