Dalhousie University

Private Desire and Public Identity in Trobairitz Poetry

Author(s): Laurel Amtower
Source: Dalhousie French Studies, Vol. 73 (Winter 2005), pp. 3-18
Published by: Dalhousie University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40837643
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PrivateDesire and Public Identityin TrobairitzPoetry
LaurelAmtower

^n an exchange with an anonymouscourtlypartner,the trobairitzGarsendade

/ Forcalquiercomments on thenecessary mysteriousness offemaledesire:
...gesdompna non ausa descobrir
totso qu'il vol perpaorde faillir.
[...a ladysimplydoesn'treveal
all she wishes,forfearshe mayfail.]1
At firstglance, Garsenda's words may seem utterlyconventional.The idea thatthe
courtlyfemalepossesses a secretself,whichshe hidesbeneaththeveneerof a stylized
exteriorpersona,is not incompatible withthe rules offin'amor. If we take seriously
AndreasCapellanus'scomment thatonce"madepublic,"love "rarelyendures,"we might
read Garsenda's lyricas participating in a ritualizedcode of social and sentimental
conductthatbindsloversto a secretexistence, inwhicha privaterelationship is sustained
onlyby concealingthe public signs(Capellanus 185). Readersin the courtlytradition
mightthusassumethatwhenGarsendaspeaksguardedly of herhiddendesires,sherefers
to theselfin love,theselfwho now appearsto "reveal"herself - even ifreservedly- to
thebeloved,and who asks himto be open in love, since she, because of herrankand
gender,cannot.
However,Garsenda's words also pointto the paradox involvedin assertinga
feminine voice withintheconventions offin'amor.Althoughthemale writercan define
his poetic persona publiclythrougha socially sanctionedset of conventionsand
behaviors,/?« 'amordemandsthatthewoman'swishesand actionsbe alwaysambiguous
- even whenthe ladyappropriates thetraditionand speaksforherself.WhenGarsenda
writesthata lady"doesn'trevealall shewishes"("totso qu'il vol"), itis unclearwhether
she meansthatthe ladycannotrevealas muchof herselfas she wishes,or whether she
wishesforthingsthatshe simplycannotreveal.This is the paradoxof thefemalewho
attempts to writein thetraditionofthetroubadours: desiredefinesfemaleagency,agency
definesfemaledesire.A conventionalinterpretation of Garsenda's poem - thatis, one
thatassumesthatwhatis beingdescribedis a lady'spredictable coynessin a secretaffair
- ironicallyconceals the personaof the femalewriterfurther. Her intentions are thus
infinitelydeferred, so thatshe remainsforeverinaccessiblebothto her loverand her
readers.
Garsenda's ambiguitydefinesone of the centralproblemsforunderstanding the
trobairitz- the femalepoets of twelfth- and thirteenth-centuryOccitan,who wrotein
responseto thetroubadours, whoseownsongsand ideologicalassumptions aboutwomen
and the game of love were even thenshapingthe discourseof genderrelations.The
trobairitzwereactivein a timein whichfemalepoliticalroles in southernFrancewere
less restrictive thantheywere to become:untilthe mid thirteenth-century, Provençal
womenwerenotnecessarilyexcludedfromowningproperty or fromexercisingcontrol
over it in the absence of anotherpatriarchal authority.Yet littleis knownabout the
trobairitzbeyondtheirnamesandtheirsongs.The elusivestatements aboutthesubjective
stancesand responsesthatappear in theirlyricsremainthe only evidence of their

1 CitationsfromAngelicaRieger:Trobairitz:Der Beitragder Frau in der altokzitanischenhöfischenLyrik;

unlessotherwisenoted,are fromMatildaTomarynBruckner,
translations, LaurieShepard,and SarahWhite,
eds. Songs of the WomenTroubadours.All originalcitationspreservethe editorialmarkings
of theRieger
edition;theOccitan"raiseddot"is rendered as £.
throughout

DalhousieFrenchStudies73 (2005)
-3-

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4 Laurel Amtower

evidence of theirexperienceas women in the highlystructured relationsof feudal

France.
Because thetrobairitz participatein a discoursethatcodifiesexpectedparameters
formale and femalebehaviorand desire,it is difficult to establisha sense of feminine
identityapart fromthe courtlymediumthatembodiesit. Moreover,courtlydiscourse
and even thepoetictradition in whichthetrobairitz participatedessentiallybelongedto
the male, and were inherently implicatedin the new role primogeniture and the
administrative familyunit played in feudal relations.Insofaras medieval political
governancerelied, more and more, on the successfulmanagementof local power
through thehandsof aristocratic agents,theincreasingelaborationof an administrative
structure capable of governing large and unpredictable bodies of people necessitateda
control both over women's progeny and, correspondingly, her sexuality. The
troubadours, and thediscoursetheyperfected, createdan ideal formin thefigureofthe
femalebelovedthatat once empoweredand isolatedfemalesexualityand access to it.
As R. HowardBloch has writtenin MedievalMisogynyand theInventionof Western
RomanticLove,
Put in its simplestterms,the sine qua non of desire - thatis, of a woman's
beingloved- is thatshe be perfect.Yet theconditionofherperfection is that
she be self-sufficient,
self-contained, complete- or that,being desired,she
herselfshouldnotdesire.(Bloch 147)
This conditionof perfection, as Bloch notes further, "is as implicatedin the global
paradox of the misogyniearticulationof woman as paradox - simultaneously 'the
Devil's gateway'and 'the Bride of Christ'- as any of the more explicitantifeminist
writingsof the earlychurchfathersor Latinsatirists"(Bloch 146). Certainly therewas
an advantageeven to the isolatingeffectsof this discourse; NorbertElias's The
CivilizingProcess discusses the role courtlylove played in transforming the brute
powerof husbandoverwifeas displayedin thechansonsde gesteintoa manneredand
arguablymorecivilizedcourtesy espousedin romanceand lyric(Elias 324-325).Yet the
power that lies in language to defineidentityand controlparametersforbehavior
inheresnot in the discourse
itself but ratherin the social body that asserts its
authenticity and authorizesits continuation (Bourdieu 21). Many of the troubadours
were of noble blood; otherswere attachedto aristocratic courtsmanagedby lords,and
the compositionof a song addressedto a residentlady- whomin all likelihoodthe
troubadour had nevermet- frequently servedas the introduction foraccess to thelord
himself.In both situationsthe success of the lyric depended on confirming and
idealizingtheexistentsocial structures. The domnareflected thegentility
and beautyof
her family,whileherinevitableunavailability guaranteedherhusband'shonor.Thusit
was thatthelyricsofthetroubadours were soughtafterand validatedbythearistocrats
theypatronized(Bloch 167). in thisenclosedsystemofreciprocaladulationand flattery,
femininedesireservedas thevehicleforexpressingmale potency.The forceof female
favor,even as it is empoweredby the troubadour who seeks access to herhusband,is
isolatedand contained.
The notion that the economic and social situationof aristocraticwomen in
Cataloniaprovideda somewhatunique opportunity forthe exerciseof powerhas been
muchdebated.AlthoughbothBloch and WilliamM. Paden have crediblyarguedthat
womenin the southernregionsof Franceexercisedsomewhatmorepowerthantheir
northern counterparts, Linda M. Patersonhas morerecently arguedthattheevidencefor
such regional differencesis not conclusive.2I would contend,though,that either
possibilityis intriguing: if women in SouthernFrance enjoyed more freedomthan

2 Bloch,165-97;Paden,11; Paterson,
220-28.

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Trobairitz Poetry 5

elsewhere,thencertainlytherewas littlereason not to participatein a discoursethat

privilegedstatusand inviolablehierarchies.Yet thegradualerosionofopportunities for
womenduringthe thirteenth centurywould perhapsprovidean even morecompelling
reasonto explainwhywomen'svoiceswouldappearin rolesnormally reservedformale
poets.Ifwomen'sopportunities in societywereclosingdown,thensimultaneously many
women-especially aristocraticwomen-would seek new avenues for expressing
themselves,even if thesewere morerhetoricalthanactual.PierreBourdieunotesthat
the status of privateexperiencechanges when the participantof any social body
recognizesherselfas the objectof a public discourse(Bourdieu170). Even so did the
vocabularyand stylisticmodelofbehaviorencodedin thediscourseoí fin'amorprovide
a viable systemof relationsand conceptswith which to representthe social and
economichierarchythatbenefittedall the aristocracy- notjust the men. Trobairitz
poetryparticipatesin a traditionthatlionizesa suffering and disempowered lover,and
in so doing takes on accompanyingfeelingsof stasis, imprisonment, and immobility
normallyattributed to the male. Althoughthis gesturemightseem to accentuatethe
genderinequitiesalreadyinherentin the discourse,reifying the ideal of a passive and
incapacitatedfemalelover,it in factdoesjust theopposite.
For one thing,even in suffering the trobairitzsoughtto participatein a tradition
whichattributed ennoblingeffectsto feelingsof love. Public declarationsof love, fer
fromdebasingor shamingthedeclarer,translatedintoconsiderableculturalcapital.As
C. StephenJaegerhas observed,love in the Middle Ages was a "formof show": the
"exceptionalfeelings"demonstrated throughthe passionateassertionsof songs,verse,
or letterswas "a means of establishingsuperiority" thatenabled the aristocracyto
representitselfalong ever superiorlines (Jaeger5). Withthe public circulationof
ritualizedexchangesin theformoftroubadour songs,thefinefeelings,nobleaffect, and
worthysensibilitiesof the one in love were demonstrated. What happenswhen the
femalepartnerappropriatessuch a traditionis similarto the process describedby
Bourdieu:the disenfranchised other- in this case, the femalepoet - recognizesher
objectified"private"experiencesin an "alreadyconstituted discourse,"thenseizes that
discourseso as to activelyparticipatein it (Bourdieu 170). Her act of appropriation
translatesher otherwiseprivateand unknowabledesires and affectsinto a public
languagethatassertsherrightto desireand be desired,and,simultaneously, herrightto
be recognizedas a memberof the aristocratic elite. If femalesubjectivity and female
desires are containedand controlledwithin the careful stylizedmedium of the
troubadour'ssong, thatcontainment is redressedin the trobairitz'sresponse,which
recognizesnot onlythe femalelover's rightto love whereshe will, but also "to be
spokenand to be spokenpublicly(Bourdieu170)."
Trobairitzpoetry,both recognizingthe codifiedversion of a public feminine
personaand respondingat the same timeto these normativeimpulses,in some ways
exposesthe imprisoning effectthediscourseironicallyplaysin its seemingelevationof
femaleroles,even while exercisingthe ennoblingeffectsand "superiorbeing"thatthe
statusof "beingin love" conferred. Insteadofrejectingthepedestalsoutright, trobairitz
poetryassumes the seeminglypassive stance of the male lover paralyzedby love in
orderto mobilizea forceful sense of femaleagencyand desire.This paradoxicalgesture
seizes male identityand forcesupon it the same distancingforcesof containment used
by thetroubadours on the femalebeloved.The desireof thefemalespeakercodifiedin
thepoems,bythenatureof its veryperfection, bothennoblesherand excludesthemale
fromsimilarlydesiring,in trobairitz poetry,it is themale who,to borrowBloch's terms
is "indifferent"
and "dissatisfying" (Bloch 147).
Withoutabdicatingtheprivilegesgainedbythissystemofrelations,then,trobairitz
poetrythus claims a space for the expressionof the femininewithinthe already

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6 Amtower
Laurel

sanctioneddiscourse,translating the termsand affectations of the troubadours intoa

new poetic capable of expressinga femininedesire beyondthe model providedby
courtlyconvention.Trobairitzword-play, like thatin thepoetryattributed to Garsenda,
invokesallusionand ambiguity to push the expectedparametersthatnormallycontrol
the interpretation of courtlyverse. Even as it acknowledgesthe "unmaking"enacted
upon themin the typicaldiscourseof love, and even as it nods towardthe rhetorical
paradoxesthatdiscursiveidentityinevitablyentails,trobairitz poetrymanipulatesthat
discoursein orderto replacethe inaccessibleand mysterious femininetopossuggested
by its male counterparts witha veryconcreteand vocal femininefigurewho loves. By
deployingthe force of noble female love and unrequiteddesire, trobairitzpoetry
demonstrates the voice and authority of the woman aristocrat,whose corresponding
politicaland economiclibertyarejustifiedbytheveryworthiness ofhercharacter.
Of course,theestablishment of a trobairitz corpuscan be at bestimprecise.Of the
forty-sixpoems withfemalenarrators identified by AngelicaRiegerin 1991, onlyfive
authorsare corroborated bythevidas- theliterary biographiesofthetroubadours - as
historicalwomen:Tibors,the Comtessade Dia, Azalais de Porcairagues,Castelloza,
and Lombarda.4The Razos, third-party textsexplainingthe originand compositionof
the troubadour'ssongs,appear to corroborate eighttrobairitz who mightotherwisebe
dismissedas fictiveparticipantsin the tensos:Almucsde Castelnau,Iseut de Capio,
Maria de Ventadorn,GuiHelmade Rosers,Alamanda,Garsenda,Clara d'Anduza,and
Gaudairenca (Bruckner206-207). Other ladies, includingIsabella Cairel, Alaisina
Iselda and LadyCarenza,have been postulatedas trobairitz because theyare specifically
namedin thetensos,butthereis no evidenceto confirm thesepoetsas historicalwomen
who existedoutsidetheirdialogues,and scholarlydebateseems inclinedto dismissat
least some of themas literaryfictions.5 The situationis complicated,however,by the
formand transmission ofthepoems.Insolaras thetextswereoriginally setto musicand
transmitted orally,the questionof authorshipbecomes troubled.RupertPickenshas
arguedthatthevariationwe see acrossmanuscripts is due to the factthatmanypeople
may have reworkedthe songs beforetheirfinalversionsever became authorizedin
manuscriptform.Simon Gaunt,elaboratingthis argument,pointsout thateven the
notionof authorship is somewhatanachronistic whenit comesto dealingwithmedieval
verse:"The composerof a troubadour lyricwas notan autor,but a trobador,one who
'finds,'the implicationbeingthatthe textpreexiststhe poet and is an objectthathas
somehowto be retrieved"(Gaunt 234). The formof manyof the extantsongswould
corroboratethese problems:tensos, or lyricdialogues, frequently posed women as
participants,but it is impossibleto know forcertainwhetherthe femaleinterlocutors
spokeforthemselvesorweremerelyimpersonated bya male troubadour.
Whatwe can analyzein termsofthetrobairitz canon,then,is less theactualvoice
or spokendesiresof historicalwomen,thanthe socio-cultural projectionof a feminine
voice thatrecognizesboth the limitationsof being an idealized love object and the
potentialforassuminginsteadthe active,desiringvoice of the lover.These voices,I
assert,originatewitha femalepoet,eveniftheyare dilutedand reworkedbythevarious
singersand scribeswho transmitted herwork.For as SimonGauntpointsout,medieval
transmitters still concernedthemselveswith deliveringthe "true intentions"of the
originator-such is the conceptof "discovery"so vital to the workof the troubadours
(Gaunt234-235). This paperthusfollowsFrankChambers(46) in limitingits scope to

3 C£ Bums,PeterHaidu,andShapiro.
4 The catalogale
of femalepoetswas initially
limitedto eighteen
byMeg Bogin,whoseThe WomenTroubadours
was based primarilyupon Oskar Schultz-Gora'snineteenth-century monograph,Die provenzalischen
Dichterinnen.Thatnumber, however,hasbeencontested Huchet,andZuffery,
byChambers, amongothers.
5 See AndersonandTavera.

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Trobairitz Poetry 7

thosetrobairitz identifiedby name in eitherthe song or the manuscript. If we include

the ratherselect groupof poetswhose identitiesare corroborated in someway outside
the verse theycompose,thisleaves the sixteenladies mentionedabove - onlynine of
whomcan be associatedwithsurviving poems.6
As Matilda Brucknerpointsout, limitingthe canon of the trobairitzto such a
numbermaydo a vastdisserviceto theanonymous womenwriters, whoseworkswill be
unfairly lostwithinthehugecorpusoftroubadour poetrythatsurvives.7 Moreover,even
circumscribing therangeof poetrytreateddoes notmitigatethepossibilityoftreating a
whollyfictitiousdomnaas a real woman.Nonetheless,attention to the strategiesand
ironies invoked in the body of writingsof this group may shed lightboth on the
experiencesof otheranonymousfemalewritersand a more generalunderstanding of
femaledesire as it was culturally conceivedin the age of the troubadours.8 Although
othershave attemptedvariousrhetoricalanalyses of femalewriting,sketchingwhat
differences, if any,distinguish thetrobairitz fromtheirmale counterparts,9 myintention
is less to identify thespecificgenderdifferences manifested in trobairitzpoetrythanto
analyzethe poetictechniquesutilizedby the trobairitz(or even by the troubadours, if
thefemalevoice ofthepoemsis contrived) to suggestsudi differences.
Of course,as thediscourseofthetrobairitz reveals,theconstruction of selfhoodis
not antitheticalto the adept manipulationof rhetoric.Selfhood is enactedthrough
language,which offersthe resourcesthroughwhich the desires of the will may be
accomplished,whetherthatoccurconsciouslyor withouttheknowledgeofthe speaker.
Thus discursivelystaged monologuesand conversationin the femalelyricstructure
different subjectivepositions.Conversationalists maybe identified as specificspeaking
entities,as in thetensobetweenIseutde Capio and Almucsde Castelnau,in whicheach
addressestheotherbynamein a dialogueabouta recreantlover.This techniquehas the
effect- whethergenuineor illusionary - of localizingidentityto a particularauthoror
persona. But other lyrics leave the speaker unnamed, suggestingpossibly richer
alternatives forinterpretation thanthetensosand razos mightindicate.
Thoughthe lyricsappearconventional on the surface,theirauthorsmanipulatethe
genericutteranceso as to suggestalternateloci forestablishingthe authority of the
poet's voice. The subjectiveframework suggestedby the courtlylyricsis expressedby
several of the trobairitz,such as the Comtessa de Dia and Clara d'Anduza, whose
poems, though leaving the desirous narratorunnamed,nonethelessrepresentthe
discourseof love as lendingbothshape and expressionto the otherwisenamelessand
unidentifiable femalevoice. Beginningwitha completeequationbetweenthe statesof
identity ofloverand beloved,a canso bytheComtessainitiallyasserts,"...mosamieses
lo plus gais / per q'ieu sui coindet'e gaia" [mylover is the merriest,and so I am
attractive and merry], and followswiththefollowing philosophyof feminineym 'amor.

6 The remaining trobairitz

arenamedas participants in thetensos,buttheirowncontributions tothedialogiehave
notsurvived
7 In additionto Bogin's list of twenty-threepoems,Bruckner identifiestwo additionalnamedtrobairitz- Na
Gormonda ofMontpellier andAzalais d'Altier.She also notesnineothersongsbyanonymous poetsthatassume
thewoman'svoice("The Trobairitz" 214-15).
8 Care mustbe taken,of course,notto confusethepoeticpersonathetrobairitz adoptsin herresponseto courtly
convention withtheactualpersonofthepoetherselfWhenBogjnasserts,forexample,thatthetrobairitz, unlike
thantheirmale counterparts, expresseda truelikenessofthemselves througitheirpoeticvoices,she igioresthe
possibilitythatthe women migjitbe inventions in thetensosin whichtheyappear,orthat,at theveryleast,they
migit be inventingthemselves.I thinkBogin is correct,however,in identifying the particular
interestin
the
establishing femaleself as authoritative
speakerintrobairitzpoetry.I wouldliketo suggest, thatthe
therefore,
creationof these fictivevoices exposesand delimitsthe immobilizing posturesallocatedforwomenbymale
courtly discourse.
9 See, forexample,Bec, Ferrante.

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8 Laurel
Amtower

E dompnaq'en bonpretzs'enten
deu ben pausars'entendenssa
en un procavalliervalen,
pois gw'illconoissa valenssa,
que l'aus amara presenssa;
que domna,pois am'a presen,
ia pois li proni £11avinen
no£ndirantmas avinenssa.
[Anda ladywhodevotesherselfto merit
shouldindeedsethersights
on a worthy, courageousknight
once she knowshis worth
so thatshe shoulddareto love himopenly.
Andprovideda ladyloves openly,
people ofworthand seemliness
will neversayanything butcompliments aboutit.]10
On the fecetheComtessa'scanso seeminglyreplicatestheessentialideologyof courtly
love: the male functions as a "master"who in some way controlsaccess to a stateof
being,whichthe ladyotherwiselacks and whichshe mustlook to hermodelto confer
upon her. He is her model in all emotionaland moralrespects;his happinessis her
happiness;his aspectis heraspect.The sensationoí beingconferred to theladythrough
the lover grantsalso a means of expressingthe newfoundidentity.The canso also
reveals,however,howthelimitations ofthismodeofbeingmightbe appropriated intoa
nexus forpower forthe lady herself.The lady wins public praise in the formof
"compliments" thatextendsher appeal and influencein the public marketplace.The
Comtessa's vida would confirmthese sentiments: afterinforming us brieflythatthe
Comtessawas thewifeoftheLordGuillemde Poitou,itgoes on to notethatshe "fellin
love withLordRaimbautd'Aurengaand composedmanygood songsabouthim,"11 as if
indeedtheComtessa'sactuationdid notoccuruntilherpublicassertionof feelingin her
poetry.
The Comtessa's song concludeswithan act of self-reflection as she justifiesher
sublimationof herselfintoherlover:the ladywho seeks affirmation through her social
conditioncan do so onlyby allegorizingherselfthroughconventional literarymeans.
The lady's "valens"is inextricably boundwithnotionsofsocialand publicpresentation:
she seeks validationthrough the lover,in otherwords,butit is nothe who assertsher
poetic identity,but the public who hears of her love. The key rhymewords of
"entendenssa,""valenssa," "presenssa," and "avinenssa" metonymically shift the
foundingprincipleof identityfromintentionto social actuation.What begins as the
lady's "intention"(perhapsmerelya desire) is translatedintotheabstractprincipleof
"merit"- here arguablyplaced as that"state of
being"thatfunctions as an idealized
modelor formforidentity. Yet meritcan be acknowledgedin womenonlybysanctioned
means. The lady seeks the social embodimentof her worththrough"presenssa" - the
expressionof her innerstatethroughacceptablydiscursiveand behavioralconvention.
As her rewardforthis successfultranslation,gracious"compliments"("avinenssa")
reflectthe social image back to her; she is validatedby being turnedinto uttered
expression.She thusessentiallybecomestheideal,themodelforothersto emulate.12

10 Fortheeditionandtranslation oftheComtessade Dia I referto SarahKay'sexcellent

versioninthe appendixof
herarticle,
"Derivation,DerivedRhyme,andtheTrobairitz".
11 ' ...Enamoretse d'En Raembaut e
d'Aurenga, fetz
de luimaintasbonaschanssose bellas,"Rieger585. Translation
fromEgan,28.
12 For a verysimilarexample,see Clarad'Anduza,whoseversealso exploitstheidealizingaspectsofthelover's

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TrobairitzPoetry 9

The Comtessa's ode concernsa loveraddressedin thethird-person, whichhas the

effectof further distancingthe male lover fromthe positionof authorizing her poetic
identity.Other trobairitz,however,mediatetheirfeminineidentitiesthroughdirect
addressto the loverwho confersbeing.As JoanFerrante(64) notesin herstudyon the
rhetoricof the trobairitz,second-personaddress demarcatesthe single greatest
characteristicthatdistinguishes the songs of the womenfromthe songsof theirmale
counterparts. More strikingly still, Ferrante'sstudyshows thatwhen male poets do
invokethe second-person address,theydo notrestrict themselves,as thewomendo, to
addressingthebelovedobject.This achievestheeffectof deliberatede-authorization on
the part of the trobairitz,as if the femalepoets posit theirmale interlocutors as
"masters"throughwhomall expressionmustbe mediatedand affirmed. At the same
time,however,the femalepoet's awarenessand manipulation of thisdominating voice
allows her to investigatethe kinds of identitythatare imposedon the femalelover
accordingto the conventionsoffin'amor. This affords,as PeterDronkenotes in his
analysisof a canso by the Comtessa de Dia, a greateramountof self-analysisand
psychologicalinsightthanmightotherwisebe allowed,eventhoughit is stillthepoetess
who createsthe "vos" thatseeminglyaffirmsher (Dronke 104). Tibors,the earliest
knownProvençalpoetess,identifiedin her vida as livingin the castle of the Baron
Blacatz,proclaimsin the singlefragment thatsurvivesofherversethat"anc no foq'eu
estes ses désir/pos vos conucni^us prisper finama«" [I've neverbeen withoutdesire
since it pleased you thatI have you as my courtlylover].13She invokesthe second-
personaddressto suggestnotonlythe sentiment thattheone in love lives trulyonlyin
thepresenceof thebeloved,butmorepowerfully and problematically,thatthebeloved
conferseventheverypossibilityoflovingthrough his owndesires(Egan 69). i4Her vida
would certainlyconfirmher assertions:thoughits historicalfactsmay be scanty,the
vida is lavishin its description ofhercharm,learning,generalknowledge,and literary
abilities. This brief example of Tibors' poetic gifts would seem to belie the
commonplacethatthe woman is grantedauthority in the courtlytradition.Moreover,
insteadof acceptingthe positionof power againstwhichthe male lover's serviceis
measuredin troubadour poetry,and insteadof activelyassertingagencyand desireas a
counterpart to the tradition,Tibors imaginesthe femaleloveras frozenand reactive,
desiringonlybecause herloverdesires,and actingonlywhenhe grantsheragency.It is
ofcourseimpossibleto speculatehow or whetherthispassivitymightbe resolvedin the
poem,since all thatremainsis a fragment of whatappearsto be a muchlongercanso.
At the same time,however,we can observethatTibors' complaintpointsdirectlyand
possiblyironicallyto the immobilizedpassivityof femaleagencyas characterized by
troubadour verse. It is as if she pretendsto adoptthe rhetoricalattitudeof the fictive
beloved,who existsonlyso longas the songcirculates.This is a portrait ofwoman-as-
character,woman-as-device. Her song cuts straightto the paradox thatis woman in
troubadour verse.
Knowledge of how the rhetoricworks certainlyallows that rhetoricto be
reappropriated.Maria de Ventadorn, thedaughterofRaimonn of Turenneand thewife
of the Viscountof Ventadour(Egan 69), expressesa variationon thissentiment when
she declarestheneed essentiallyto coerceherinterlocutor intodiscourseaboutlove:

evenwhilesuppressing
paralysis thenameoftheloveobjecthimself
iò ine Bruckner,et al. translation
is basedon theireditorial
emendation: "ancnonfoq'ieu estesses désir/posvos
convenque£usteneperfinaman."
14 Bogin'seditionandtranslation, basedon Schultz-Gora's 1888 edition.As Bruckner, andWhite'sedition
Shepard,
notes,thesecondlineofthemanuscript is unreadable.
Theireditionsuppliesthefollowing"qu ancno foq'eu
estesses désir/pos vos conoscni.usprisperfinaman"[I haveneverbeenwithout /
desire sinceI metyouand
tookyouas truelover].

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10 Laurel Amtower

Gui d'Uissel, be£m pesa de vos

carvos etz laissatzde chantar;
e carvos i volgratornar
- perque sabetzd'aitals razos -
vuoiliqu£m digatzsi deu faregalmen
dompnaperdrut,qan lo qier francamen,
- cumel perlieis - totcanttaingad amor,
segonlos dreitzque tenon1'amador.
[Gui d'Ussel, I'm troubledaboutyou,
because you'veleftoffsinging;
so, as I wishto bringyoubackto it,
and because youknowso muchaboutsuchthings,
I wantyouto tellme ifa ladyshoulddo equally
forherloverall thatpertainsto love,
whenhe asks honestly, as he does forher,
accordingto thelaws thatlovershold.]
This particularcanso is unusualin thatit is accompaniedby a razo providinga brief
explanation-which may certainlybe fanciful-of its originand rightful interpretation.
DeclaringMaria "themostesteemedladywho everlivedin Limousin,and theone who
did themostgood and who mostkeptherselffromevil,"15therazo claimsthatthesong
derivedfroman argumentwiththe Count of La Marche over the sovereignty a lady
shouldhold overher knight.Like the Comtessaand Tibors,Maria acceptsthecourtly
persona as a legitimating expressionof privateidentity.Unlike othertrobairitz, her
poetrytendsto advocatethepositionthatthewomanshouldideallyremainthemaster
in the love-relationship, though her tenso with Gui elsewhere shows the male
interlocutor arguingforcompleteequality.The fancifulrazo withwhichthis tensois
associatedattributes Gui's suddensilenceto his bereavement overa different ladythan
Maria. Yet thereasonforhis silenceis ultimately unimportant, since it is thenecessity
ofhis singingat all thatcreatesthepublicspace forfeminineidentity and desire.Maria
is keenlyaware that both her power and her presenceremainonly so long as the
discourseis in play. She expressesher powerfulsense of disembodiment thatresults
whenGui's songsaboutlove end,signalingherdissatisfaction witha tradition in which
female desire remainsonly so long as the male troubadoursings. This is identity
refractedentirelythroughdesire made public; thus the interruption of the discourse
means, essentially,the cessation of the lady's being. Ironically,the song does not
necessarilyneed to be directedtowardthe lady herself- thatis, she doesn'tneed to
hear it in orderto receivethe requisiteaffirmation. As long as the song is repeated
publicly,her identityremainsintact.Thus she masterfully directsGui to continueto
sing.Even if he refuses,however,Maria createsin thistensoher own songto sustain
herpublicidentity instead.
The Comtessade Dia, describedearlier,also strugglesto overcomethe feelingof
indeterminacy to whichthefemale'srhetorical positioninfin'amorultimately relegates
her.m a bittercomplaintaboutbeingwrongedin love, she describestheendingofthe
relationship as thesilencingofhervoice and thenegationofherphysicalbeing:
A chantarm'er de so q'ieu nonvolria,
tantme rancurde lui cui sui amia
careu Tarnmais que nuillarenque sia;
vas lui no^m vai mercêsni cortesia,

15 "Ben avetzauzitde ma dompnaMariade Ventedomcomella fola pluspreziadadompnaqe ancfosenLemozin,

et aqellaqe plusfetzde be e plusse gardetde mal,"Rieger255. Translation
byEgpn,p. 68.

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TrobairitzPoetry 11

ni ma beltatzni mospretzni mos sens,

c'atressi^m sui enganad'etrahia
cumdegr'esser,s'ieu fosdesavinens.
[I mustsingofwhatI'd rathernot,
I'm so angryabouthimwhosefriendI am,
forI love himmorethananything;
mercyand courtliness don'thelp me,
withhim,nordoes mybeauty,or myrank,or mymind;
forI am everybitas betrayedand wronged
as I'd deserveto be ifI wereugly.]
The Comtessa de Dia 's openinglines on her anger over being ignoredreveals the
double-blowthatundermines the womanabandoned:not onlydoes she lose the lover;
she also loses the public affirmation his poems in praise of her granted.Thoughshe
writeselsewhereas beloved,and fromwithinthe contextof love, thatsame discourse
thatprovidedoriginalexpressionand being now threatensreversal;thewomanwhose
authority is establishedin love is equally de-authorized whenlove is takenaway. She
speaks in this canso alone, struggling againstthe sensationof nothingness thatnow
threatensthe self who is unloved.The whole of her genuineidentity, encompassedin
the signifiersof beauty,virtue,and intellect,are in effectnonexistent, fortheyare
unacknowledgedby the other who alone, accordingto troubadourtradition,can
authenticate her. Thus it is thatshe mustsing of what she'd "rathernot";thatis, she
mustcreateherownidentity through songthatremindsthelisteningpublicnotonlythat
a womanretainsher"mercyand courtliness"even whenabandonedbytheauctorofthe
troubadour, but also thatthewomanfeelsthe wrathof theinjusticedoneto her.What
seems to be a perfectly conventional "F speaks fromtheveryabyssof silence,yetshe
refusesto succumbfurther to the convention,forsuch means completeannihilation.
Instead of returningto a descriptionand/orvalorizationof the male lover, she
emphasizesherown identity through thepowerfulangerofherabandonment. In sucha
way the stanzas graduallyrelocatethe authenticity of lady's experienceand being as
somethingbelong solelyto her. Thoughshe craves the affirmation fin'amorbestows,
she also pointsout thatsuch affirmation can be takenaway onlyif notremembered or
written down.
Courtlylove in thetroubadour traditionofferscertainly offersa kindofaffirmation,
but its affirmation represents onlytheillusionof identity - theidentity as beloved.Yet
whengroundedonlyin suchexchange,beingis constituted as a fiction,
which,too often,
thetroubadour ratherthanthebelovedcreates.Thus thesurplusofbeingrepresented by
themale poetis threatened whenhis acknowledgment ofheris removed.As longas she
lacks a strongvoice ofherown,theComtessa'sidentity and veryexistenceare fixed,in
hereyes,in the"covinens"- the"accord"or "convention" to whichtheyhaveagreed:
Proesagransq'el vostrecorss'aizina
e lo riespretzq'avetz m'en atayna,
e 'una nonsai loindanani vezina
si voi amarvas vos nonsi'aclina;
mas vos,Amies,etz bentantconoisens
que ben devetzconoisserla plus fina,
e membrevos de nostrescovinens.
[The greatvalorthatdwellsin yourperson,
and thehighrankyouhave,thesetroubleme,
forI don'tknowa woman,feror near,
who,ifshe wishedto love,wouldnotturnto you;

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12 Laurel Amtower

butyou,friend, are so knowing,

yousurelyoughtto knowthetruestone,
and remember whatouragreement was.]
Whatis themysterious covenantto whichthe Comtessalays claim?Meg Bogin's
edition,based on the Oskar Schultz-Goraeditionof 1888, reads,"em membrevos de
nostrespartimens,"whichshe translatesas "don't forgetthe stanzaswe exchanged,"
althoughthe sentencewould seem to translatemoredirectly as "remember thetermsof
our parting."Is theComtessa's angerthustheresultof thehigher-ranking male poet's
failureto sing her praises so that her worthmightcontinueto be made publicly
available?Or was someother,perhapsmoreintimatecontract been establishedbetween
the two? Thoughthis song is preservedin writtenform,boththe original"covenant"
and perhaps even the stanzas themselvesappear to be aural in nature,thereby
exaggerating, ironically,the illusionary"subjectivity
effect"constitutedthroughboth
fin'amor and the poet's verse. The Comtessathus flirtswithmakingand unmaking,
bothacknowledging thevacuumfromwhichshe speaksand intowhichshe threatens to
disappear,even while upholdingthehope thather codifiedbeingwill outlivebothhis
andherown.
corporeality
Imagesofmakingand unmakingare similarlyinterwoven in severalofthesongsof
the trobairitz.Na Castelloza, whose vida identifiesher as the wife of the Turc de
Maironaand theloverof N'Armande Breon,assertsin a canso thatwhatevervalue is
accordedthewomanin love is nonethelessundonewhenherloverignoresher:
Tot'autr'amorteinga nien,
e sapchazben que mais iois noXmsoste
mas lo vostreque m'alegr'eXmreve,
on mais en sentd'afane de destric;
eXm cuigades alegrare gauzir
de vos,Amies,q'ieu nonpuosc convertir,
ni ioi nonai, ni socorsnonaten,
mas sol aitantqan n'auraien dormen.
[I countall otherlove as nothing,
youcan be surenojoy sustainsme
exceptyours,whichcheersand revivesme,
whenI mostfeeltheanguishand distress
ofit;andnow I thinkI'll takepleasureandjoy
in you,friendwhomI cannotsummon;
I havenojoy,nordo I expecthelp
exceptas muchas I will have in sleeping.]
Castelloza's lyricsseek to countermand and replacetheillusoryagencygrantedthe
womanthroughthe male's song. Again, as her vida corroborates, Castelloza's social
value lies less in herrelationship to herhusbandthanin thequalitiesbestowedon her
bybeingin love (hervida declaresheras gay,beautiful, and learned)i6-qualitieswhich
are established,of course,in theverse she composes.Yet thereis a strangetransiency
in thelanguageof courtlydiscourse,as Castelloza seemsveryaware.The stanzaabove
describesthe womanas feelingjoy in the presenceof a friendwho is notphysically
present because she "cannot summon"him. His presencemust thereforebe made
knownto her aurally,throughthe troubadour'ssong,which"sustains,""cheers,"and
"revives."Identity songis a kindof death- or better,
in the absence of thisaffirming
endless sleep, in whichthe physicalentityof the womanis thereand notthereat the

16 "Et eradomnamoutgaiae meutenseingpada

e moutbella,"Rieger5 18.

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TrobairitzPoetry 13

sametime.By shifting
backandforth
between
thesetheseemingly modesof
contrary
feelingand being - meaninglessnessand value, distressand restoration, pain and
gladness- Castelloza reveals thatthe entireorderupon whichthe lady's identity is
foundedloses its ontologicalcertainty when it existsonlyin a transitory song.What's
leftin thewake ofthesongis a devastating sense ofnon-agency:
mi
Oimaisnonsai qu£us presen
que cercaiai et ab mal et ab be
vostredurcordon lo mieusno£is recre,
e no£us o man,q'ieu mezeussa^us o die
qu'enoia me si no£mvoletzgauzir
de calque ioi, e si^m laissatzmorir
faretzpechat,e serain'en tonnen
e seretzne blasmatzvilanamen.
[Fromnow on,I don'tknowhowto act
withyou:I've studied,withgoodand bad intent,
yourhardheart,fromwhichminedoes notshrink;
and I'm notsendingthis,I'm tellingyoumyself:
I'm angryifyourefuseme
anyjoy, and ifyouletme die
you'll commita sin. Til be in torment,
and you'llbe vilelyblamed.]
Ithas beennotedthatCastelloza,morethantheothertrobairitz, particularly insistsupon
the images of deathand negationin her courtlyexchanges(Paden, Kay 1990). If the
trobairitzconsentsto defineherlyricselfthrough theconventions of courtlydiscourse,
thereremainsa sense of frustration, especiallyinsofaras she can invokeonlya limited
rangeof identifying signifiers to expressthenatureof heressentialbeing.The extreme
end of sucha frustration can onlybe a completedenial of selfhood,as theladyretracts
thatwhichshe has formerly made throughsong.17ThoughCastelloza laterassertsthat
she will not "send this" (thatis, she will not send the song to her lover),she does
presumably writeit down.The historicalcertainty thatthispoem circulatedpubliclyin
writtenformis enoughto confirm the importantrole the third-party
audienceplaysin
hearingaboutand thusacknowledging thedifficult
positionofthewomanin love. Even
as Castelloza threatensa violentresolutionas a poetic equivalentto the denial of her
personthather loverhas alreadyenactedupon her, she also insinuateswhata rapid
changein fortunes can befalltheone who is writtenabout. Since Castellozaherselfis
theone who writesnow,she can castherdiscourteousloveras thevillainand as felling
shortoftheideal.
If her threateneddeath comes offas a kind of self-sacrifice, it is thusnot one
committednarcissistically.By portraying herselfas a potentialsacrificialvictim,
Castellozaopensup thepossibilityof forming a new kindof identity, withwhomother
women(thosewho will "blame" thevile beloved) will empathizeand identify. Yet this
wayof seeingtheselfcan onlybe modeledifhertextis takenbeyondtheparameters of
thetwonamedprotagonists in theexchangeand allegorizedto referto thekindeffacing
thatmaybe doneregularly to womenin discourseand verse.
Trobairitzverse mustconfront conventionwiththe acknowledgment thatany"F
thatexistsin songexistssolelyas text,as artificialconstruct. The questionofsovereign
controldepends upon the extentto which the trobairitzwill allow herselfto be

17 Bruckner (890) callsthissimultaneous

insistence
an "self-effacement"and"self-proclamation"a reversal
ofthe
expectedgenderpositionsin the courtlyhierarchy: the trobairitz's
choice of imagesand wordsseemingly
thestanceoftheabjecttroubadour
replicates beforehisbeloved,thusappropriating hisdiscourseintoherown.

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14 Laurel Amtower

appropriated as a figureof love. In thecanso ofAzalais de Porcairages,describedin her

vida merelyas lovingLordGui Guerrejat,desireis figuredin termsofexile, displacing
the lady and alienatingher fromher normalsocial identity: "Tant ai lo cor deseubut/
per qu'en soi a toz estraingna"[My heart'sin such disarraythatI am estrangedfrom
everyone].Reversingwhatbecomesa standardtopos- the springsongthathearkens
thecomingof love - Azalais speaksofthe"fregterns"[thecold time]thatbothsignals
the death of all living tilings and a period of mourning that remains,
uncharacteristically,withouthope of futurechange("que florni foillano£i nais / ni
rossignolsnon i crida / que am s'en mai me reissida" [neitherflowernor leaf is
sprouting there,nor,callingthere,thenightingale who wakes mysoul in May]). In her
final stanzas, a cynical appraisal of the inequitablebalance of power in fin'amor
ironicallydisplacestheexpectations of convention
whenshe turnsfromthelostloverto
a new one who promisesbettertreatment:

Bels amies,de bon talan

son ab vos toz /orzen gatge
cortez'ede bel semblan,
sol no£mdemandesoutratge;
tosten ve/rem a l'assai
qu'en vostramerce^mmétrai;
vos m'aves la feplevida
que noXmdemandesfaillida.
[Pairfriend, withgoodintent
I am at all timespromisedto you,
courteousand smiling
as longas youask ofme no outrage.
Soon we'll cometo thetest:
I'll putmyselfat yourmercy:
You have givenme yourword
to ask nothingwrongofme.]

Playingwiththe knowledgethatwordsand deeds are seldomin accord,Azalais' song

promisesservicewithoutservitude,and subjectivity withoutsubjection.Paradoxically,
however,she addressesone would-beloveras the"vos" whomightgrantfuture avenues
fortheexpressionof selfhood,whilebitterly complainingaboutthepast loverwho has
alreadystrippedherofthatveryidentity: "Cel/uiperdieic'a ma vida / en serai toz /orz
marida"[I've losthimwho has mylife,and will alwaysgrieveaboutit]. The failureof
thatlove resulted,she claims,in a betrayal"ab motzverais"[fromtruthful words]- her
own words,whichfailhernow and depriveherof voice,butalso his discourseof love,
whichprovedsemanticallyunstable.She concludes,then,thatthe lady who loves a
noblemanis "foolish"("fai il folleia").The ironyof thelesson learnedis undercutby
her continuedaffirmation thatthe one in love is the one who speaks- despiteher
assertionthatnexttime,she will notgive so muchofherself.Azalais writesa canso as
opposed to a dialogue- an attemptagain, perhaps,to masterthe discourse. The
affirmative "yes" of the "vos" is nonethelessan impliedpresence.The belovedmaybe
affirmedby her lover's songs, but she remainsthe otherthreatenedalways with
imminent silencing,and evenwhosepresentvoice is acknowledged and actedupononly
whenthereis participating interlocutor.
The paradoxof the poeticidentityis notnecessarilyalwaysviewednihilistically.
Acknowledgment of the ironyof figurativeconventionis playfullyencountered in the
workof Lombarda,whose tensowithBernâtd'Armagnacexposes the potentialof the
lyricforuncoveringthe veryillusionaryentitiesits languagecreates.Historicallywe

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TrobairitzPoetry 15

know littleof Lombarda;her verses appear accompaniedby a razo thatdescribesher

merelyas a noblewomanfromToulouse, who was inspiredto respondto couplets
composedforherbyBernâtLordArnaut,countofArmagnacfrom1217-1226.The razo
tells us thatafterdeclaringhis love to her in private,Bernâtwrotesome coupletsin
typicaltroubadour fashion,had themsentthemto her,then"mountedhis horsewithout
seeing her and went away to his land."18Lombarda's response,afterhearingof his
mysteriousdeparture,was to write some verses of her own, continuingBernat's
metaphors butinverting his suppositions
aboutmale identity in love.
The figuresof speech invokedin Lombarda's lyricstake on a pun in Bernat's
openinglines in orderto restructurebothloverand belovedas interchangeable in terms
of theirgender.Yet thisinterchangeabilityitselfis less a statement aboutthecorporeal
bodythanit is a seriouscritiqueof the'"unmaking" thatcan occurin courtlydiscourse.
AfterBernâtdeclaresin his versesthathe wouldlike to offerhimselfas "a Lombardfor
Lombarda,"herfemalepersonareturns withan insightful rejoinder:
Atomvolgr'averperBernaiNa Bernada
e perN'ArnautN'Arnaudaapellada;
e gransmercês,Seigner,car vos agrada
c'ab taLsdoas domnasm'aves nomnada.
Voil qeXm digaz
caLsmaisvos plaz
ses cubertaselada,
e£l mirailon miraz.
Car lo mirailze no veserdescorda
tanmonacordc'ab pauc vo£l desacorda;
mas can recordso q'el meusnomsrecorda
en bon acordtotzmonspensarss'acorda.
[I'd like to have thenameBernarda,
and to be called,forLordArnaut,Arnauda;
and manythanks,mylord,forbeingkind
enoughto mentionme withtwogreatladies.
I wantyouto say
and notconcealit:
whichone pleases youthemost,
and in whichmirror are yougazing?
For themirroring and absenceso discord
mychordsthatI can barelystayaccorded,
but,remembering whatmynamerecalls,
all mythoughts accordin good accordance.]
Lombarda's staged exchange,thoughostensiblyflirtatious and playful,exposes the
disturbingrhetorical illusionbeneaththecourtlypersonaofthetroubadour. Iftherazo's
explanationofcontextis true,and Bernâthas initiateda love affairwithhermerelyas a
staginggroundsforhis own assertionof noble identity, thenshe forcesherinterlocutor
to move beyond the conventionalrhetoricof fin amor by revealingthe unstable
structuresuponwhichhis narcissisticportrayal ofhis belovedis built.Bernâtstructures
both his sentimentand his beloved object as a figureof speech- Lombardais the
rhetorical
"mirror" ofmerit,reflectingin purelyconventional
termsa formofallegorical
virtuethat complimentshimself.This figuringof the beloved throughthe common
devices of rhetoricfunctionsas an act of appropriation, transforming the authentic

18 "..JEsi s'en anetinsua tera,"Rieger243; trans.E^n 64.

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16 Amtower
Laurel

identity oftheladyintothedomnaoftroubadour verseand expectation. Such a portrayal

substitutes, as Lombardaseems all too aware in her own response,the desires and
projectionsof the speaker forthe authenticity of the other.For the beloved lady to
participate in suchan appropriation is to consentto beingrelegatedto a figureofspeech
- moreover, a figurethatmerelyreflectsthebeingof boththeladyas alreadyrefracted
throughthe male lover's desires.His allegorizingof love reflectsdistortions bothof
himselfand her:insofaras his portrayal of the lady can onlybe based on deludedand
self-referential presumptions,Bernâtunwittingly revealshis own misconceptions about
himselfand the natureof his desire. But insofaras his reflectionof her as beloved
objectis groundedin narcissism,she,too,undergoesa kindof epistemological loss, as
bothherauthority and evenherphysicality are reducedto reflectiveshadow.
In otherwords,if thecourtlyloverexpressesthewish to containbothhimselfand
his manlinessinsidethe"name" of his beloved,thetoposis less a compliment thanthe
expresseddesireto findhimselftwinnedin both subjectand object.The femalelover
thusfindsherselfforeverdisplacedby thediscursive"mirror"thatframesherbodyin
her lover's eyes. Is the femalerepresentedin trobairitzpoetrythenhistoricalentity,
discursiveportrait, or merelya reference pointforthe courtlymale?Lombarda'sironic
rejoinderindicatesthatshe observeswhat Paul de Man calls the "infinitely deferred
conditionofindeterminacy betweenselfand other,betweenidentity and difference" that
necessarilydefinestherhetoricalstructure of the beloved (De Man 170): she does not,
however,feel herselfrequiredto participatein her own abnegation.The discourseof
courtlylove "interrupts" herown imageof the self- an imagethatcan onlybe remade
bybothunweavingand reweavingthesongsofcourtlydiscourse.
Thus Lombarda transforms, throughword-play,the discourseof courtlylove,
creatinga new kindof illusionof selfhoodby turningrhetoricintomusic.Troubadour
versewas fundamentally auralin constitution; Laura Kendrickhas written on theextent
to whicheventhewrittenlyricswere perceivedas "onlya semblanceor visiblesignof
the oral text"(Kendrick31). Medieval readersthusheardequivalencesamongwords
that seem otherwisestretchedto readers used to writtentexts. Lombarda's song,
however,depends on the transformation of scriptinto song. Playingon a series of
assonancescirculatingaroundthe rootword"cor" ("heart")or "cord-"("chord"),she
remakeshercourtlyidentity through music:thebelovedrecollectedin thisverseis one
made up of the very"harmonies"and "disharmonies"that are broughttogetherin
musical accord. In such a way Lombarda performsa dialectical reversal that
appropriatesthe experienceof love by reinterpreting it, and transforms the potential
impotenceofherpositionas belovedintoa new locus forgenerating meaning.
The lyricsof thetrobairitzmayvaryin theirappropriation of fictivepersonaeand
degreesof abjectionor sovereignty in love,buttheyseem in manywaysunitedin their
attempts, as Laurie Finkewrites,to "both[encode]and [resist]culturalrepresentations
of femininity'' (Finke33). By circulating songsaboutdesireand deferred love forpublic
consumption, theytradea seeminginteriority and passivityfora formofculturalcapital.
it is thusthe poetryof the trobairitz, as opposedto thepoetryof thetroubadours, that
functions as a groundforresistingthehierarchicaland centralizedforcesthatsoughtto
maintaincontroloverbothwomanand family,covertlyoverturning theinsidiousact of
appropriationimplicitin their male counterparts (Finke 38-40, 50; Kendrick15).
Althoughthetrobairitz graduallydisappearedoverthenextcentury, thechallengesthey
posed to the conventionsoffin'amor continueto resurface - albeit in otherforms -
throughout the Middle Ages. As adept readers and glossatorsof the deceptively
conventional models forfeminineidentitysustainedthroughcourtlyliterary forms,the
trobairitzrevealedhow stakesforthemarginalized mightbe reclaimed.
San Diego StateUniversity

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TrobairitzPoetry 17

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