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A troubador (or troubadour) was a composer and performer of songs in particular styles during the Middle Ages in Europe.

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) (Butterfield, 1997). The style flourished in the twelfth century and was often imitated in the thirteenth (ibid). Many troubadors travelled for great distances, aiding in the transmission of news and from one region to another.

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.

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, troubadors. But they have distinctive features of their own.

Troubadors whose works have survived to the present day include Arnaut DanielArnaut Daniel was a Provencal troubadour of the 13th century, praised by Dante and called "Grand Master of Love" by Petrarch. In the 20th century he was lauded by Ezra Pound as the greatest poet to have ever lived. Daniel was born of a noble family at the and Jaufré RudelJaufre Rudel was a troubador, probably living in the mid- 12th century. He is noted for developing the theme of "love from afar" amor de lonh in his songs. Very little is known about his life, but a reference to him in a contemporary poem says that he wen.

1 See also

• List of troubadoursA list of troubadours Aimeric de Peguilhan Arnaut Daniel Bertran de Born Jehan Bodel Peire Cardenal Martin Codax Ernoul le Vieux Folquet de Marselh Gaucelm Faidit Guiot de Dijon Guiraut de Bornelh Guiraut Riquier Jaufre Rudel Marcabru The monk of Montauda
• Provençal literatureProvencal literature is much more easily defined than the Provencal language in which it is expressed. Introduction Starting in the 11th and 12th centuries in several centres it thence gradually spread out, first over the greater portion, though not the w
• SestinaThe sestina is an highly structured form of poetry, dating back to the 12th century. It consists of thirty-nine lines; six six-line stanzas ending with a triplet. There are no restrictions on line length. In the five stanzas following the first one which
• KyrielleThe kyrielle is a poetic form that originated in troubadour poetry. Name and Form The name kyrielle derives from the kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy), which is part of the Roman Catholic liturgy. A kyrielle is written in rhyming couplets or quatrains and u
• EnvoiIn 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. Form The envoi is relatively fluid in form, depending on the overall form of the poem and the n
• Minstrel
• Medieval music