A troubadour was a composer and performer of songs in particular styles during the Middle Ages in Europe. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... World map showing location of Europe When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ...

The word troubadour comes from the Occitan verb "trobar" which means find. It is used to designate artists using occitan or langue d'oc whose style spread to the trouvères who used the langues d'oïl of the north of France. The custom began in France during the 11th century; the earliest being William, IX Duke of Aquitaine (1071-1127, also Guillaume d'Aquitaine). The style flourished in the twelfth century and was often imitated in the thirteenth (ibid). Many troubadours travelled for great distances, aiding in the transmission of news from one region to another. Occitan, or langue doc is a Romance language characterized by its richness, variability, and by the intelligibility of its dialects. ... OC redirects here. ... Trouvère is the Northern French (langue doïl) version of troubador (langue doc), and refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadors but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France. ... The langue doïl language family in linguistics comprises Romance languages originating in territories now occupied by northern France, part of Belgium and the Channel Islands. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... William IX of Aquitaine (October 22, 1071 - February 10, 1126, also Guillaume dAquitaine), nicknamed the Troubador was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitiers as William VII of Poitiers between 1086 and 1126. ...

Troubadors mainly dealt with themes of chivalry and courtly love, although their songs might deal with all sorts of other themes as well. Perhaps most famous were the songs addressed by the singer to a married lover. Perhaps due to the prevalence of arranged marriages at the time, this theme of true love outside the bonds of marriage (usually chaste love, at least in formal works) apparently hit a strong chord with the listeners. The aubade formed one popular genre. See also order of chivalry Woman under the Safeguard of Knighthood, allegorical Scene. ... Court of Love in Provence in the 14th Century (after a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). ... An aubade is a poem or song of or about lovers separating at dawn. ... A genre is any of the traditional divisions of art forms from a single field of activity into various kinds according to criteria particular to that form. ...

Similar roles were filled in different times and regions by persons known as minstrels and jongleurs. The German Minnesingers are closely related to, and inspired by, troubadours, but have distinctive features of their own. Minnesang was the tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century. ...

Troubadours whose works have survived to the present day include Arnaut Daniel and Jaufré Rudel. Arnaut Daniel was a Provençal troubadour of the 13th century, praised by Dante and called Grand Master of Love by Petrarch. ... Jaufré Rudel, Lord of Blaye, was a troubador, probably living in the mid-12th century. ...

See also

• List of troubadours
• Provençal literature
• Sestina
• Kyrielle
• Envoi
• Minstrel
• Medieval music
• A Million Open Doors

A list of troubadours Aimeric de Peguilhan Arnaut Daniel Arnaut de Mareuil Bertran de Born Jehan Bodel Guillaume de Cabestang Peire Cardenal Martin Codax Ernoul le Vieux Folquet de Marselh Gaucelm Faidit Guiot de Dijon Guiraut de Bornelh Guiraut Riquier Jaufré Rudel Marcabru The monk of Montaudan Raimbaut de Vacqueiras... Provençal literature is much more easily defined than the Provençal language in which it is expressed. ... The sestina is a highly structured form of poetry, dating back to the 12th century. ... The kyrielle is a poetic form that originated in troubadour poetry. ... In poetry, an envoi is a short stanza at the end of a poem used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem. ... A minstrel was a bard who played songs to tell stories about other places or about historical events of the Middle Ages. ... A musician plays the vielle in a 14th century medieval manuscript. ... A Million Open Doors is a science fiction novel by John Barnes centered around a maturing adult who is transported to a faraway planet and encounters many obstacles which cause him to become a more productive member of the blossoming Interstellar culture than he would have been otherwise. ...

Additional reading

• Ardis Butterfield (1997). "Monophonic song: questions of category", Companion to Medieval & Renaissance Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198165404.

Other uses

• De Troubadour, sung by Lennie Kuhr, was one of the winning songs in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969.
• The Troubadour Theater Company is a Shakespearean acting troupe that performs productions of Shakespeare plays put to rock music from the 1970s.
• In some games in Intelligent Systems's Fire Emblem series, a Troubadour is a class, depicted as a healer on horseback.