The troubadours were poets and compers who wrote their songs for coutrly audiences throughout the souther part of France beginning in the eleventh century.

Includes the war poetry of Bertan de born

The earliest troubadour whose works have been preserved was Guillaume IX of Aquitaine (1071-1127). Of the more than 400 troubadours known to have lived, the majority were nobles and some were kings; for them, composing and performing songs was a manifestation of the ideal of chivalry. Troubadour music gradually disappeared during the 13th century


Originally, the troubadours sang their own poems to their assembled courts and often held competitions, or so-called tournaments of song; later, they engaged itinerant musicians, called jongleurs, to perform their works. The subjects included love, chivalry, religion, politics, war, funerals, and nature.




The trouvères were court poet-musicians of northern France. Their songs were strongly influenced by those of the troubadours, a group first brought to northern France about 1137. The northern poet-musicians copied and adapted the works of the troubadours, finally developing their own genre, which although similar in subject and musical form to that of the troubadours, placed more emphasis on heroic epics. The trouvères wrote in the northern French language (also called langue d'oïl). About 1400 melodies and 4000 poems by them have survived. The most famous trouvère was Adam de la Halle.