troubadours
Wandering lyric poets
Troubadours were poet-musicians of southern France in the 11th to 13th centuries who composed and performed songs of courtly love.
The term now applies more loosely to any wandering singer or minstrel, especially one performing romantic or folk music: a coffeehouse troubadour with an acoustic guitar.
The word carries connotations of artistry, romanticism, and itinerancy.
Metered poetic passage
- lyricSong's text
- cansoTroubadour love lyric
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
- meterDevice that measures usage
stanza · couplet · refrain · ode · ballad · imagery · composition · recitation
Refined and dignified
- amourRomantic liaison, often illicit
- cansoTroubadour love lyric
- devotionDeep, loyal commitment
- unrequitedNot returned in kind
beloved · lady · adoration · wooing · suitor · paramour · gallantry · ardor
Medieval wandering entertainer
- bardPoet of epics
- minstrelTraveling performer of songs
- performerOne who entertains audiences
- entertainerOne who amuses others
reciter · gleeman · singer · songwriter · itinerant · court · patron · repertoire
Refined and dignified
- chivalryKnightly code of honor
- ProvenceSoutheastern French region
- AquitaineSouthwestern French region
- manuscriptsHandwritten or typed originals
nobility · courts · patronage · Eleanor · feudal · castles · knights · crusades
Pear-bodied fretted strings
- rebecMedieval bowed string instrument
- harpPlucked orchestral strings
- psalteryPlucked medieval string instrument
- hurdy-gurdyCranked wheel-friction chordophone
tabor · flute · accompaniment · strings · plucked · melody · composition
verse
Metered poetic passage
meter · stanza · couplet · refrain · ode · ballad · imagery · composition · recitation · oral
courtly
Refined and dignified
unrequited · beloved · lady · adoration · wooing · suitor · paramour · gallantry · ardor · longing
jongleur
Medieval wandering entertainer
entertainer · reciter · gleeman · singer · songwriter · itinerant · court · patron · repertoire · oral
courtly
Refined and dignified
manuscripts · nobility · courts · patronage · Eleanor · feudal · castles · knights · crusades · heraldry
lute
Pear-bodied fretted strings
- rebecMedieval bowed string instrument
- harpPlucked orchestral strings
- psalteryPlucked medieval string instrument
hurdy-gurdy · tabor · flute · accompaniment · strings · plucked · melody · composition
itinerant
Moving for work
- journeyTravel from place to place
- roamingMoving without fixed purpose
- courtsJudicial bodies or playing areas
patronage · travel · pilgrimage · roads · wayfarer · nomadic · circuit · vagabond · wanderlust · quest
- FranceParis, Notre-Dame, Lyon, croissant, Toulouse
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- Medieval Europekings, queens, knights, castles, castle
- medieval lifechivalry, royal courts, jousting, knighthood, falconry
- medieval societyserfs, noble lineage, peasants, serf, heir
- Middle AgesMiddle Ages, medieval period, castles, knights, Dark Ages
troubadoursaudiences
Assembled viewers or listeners
listeners · scribes · monks · copyists · chroniclers
troubadoursserfs
Feudal bound laborers
peasants · villeins · bondsmen · landed nobility · monks
troubadourscynics
Doubters of sincerity
ascetics · stoics · celibates · misanthropes · pragmatists