Helm was referring to the art of the troubador.
The term "troubadour" is used to refer to a composer and performer of Old
Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages.
We are going to expand on his implicatures, or rather, the implicatures of
the troubador's art for a theory of Griceian meaning.
Since "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is
usually called a "trobairitz" -- but most find this sexist today.
The troubadour tradition began in the late 11th century in Occitania, but
it subsequently spread into Italy, as it should.
Under the influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up
throughout Europe, notably the Minnesang in Germany that the Italians of
Bologna
adored!
In his "De vulgari eloquentia", Aligheri (better known for his more boring,
to some, "Divine Comedy") defined the troubadour lyric as
"fictio rethorica musicaque poita",
i.e. rhetorical, musical, and poetical fiction.
After the heyday of troubadorism, around the turn of the 13th century and a
mid-century resurgence, the art of the troubadours declined in the 14th
century and eventually died out around the time of the Black Death (1348)
--but then most things died during this horrible death.
Now, as to implicatures, the texts of troubadour songs deal mainly with
themes of chivalry and courtly love.
Most were metaphysical, intellectual, and formulaic.
Many were humorous or vulgar satires.
Works can be grouped into three styles:
-- the trobar leu (light)
-- the trobar ric (rich), and
-- the trobar clus (closed).
It might be argued that the most Griceian style is the 'closed' one since
it would be more implicatural. But some Griceians think the 'rich' style is
more Griceian since the keyword here is 'enrichment' (semantic enrichment,
of course).
There are many genres, the most popular being the "canso", but sirventes
and tensos were especially popular in the post-heyday period, in Italy.
The oldest mention of the word as "trobadors" is found in a 12th-century
Occitan text by Cercamon.
The French equivalent was first recorded in 1575 in an historical context
to mean a langue d'oc poet at the court in the 12th and 13th century (Jean
de Nostredame, Vies des anciens Poètes provençaux, p. 14 in Gdf. Compl.).
The French word is borrowed itself from the Occitan "trobador".
It is the oblique case of the nominative "trobaire", composer, related of
course to some verb or other, in this case, "trobar", “to compose, to
discuss, to invent" (Wace, Brut, editions I. Arnold, 3342).
The verb is said to come from the Late Latin "tropare", “to compose, to
invent a poem" by regular phonetic change.
This form, "tropare" is deduced from the Latin root "tropus," 'trope' and
the various meanings of the Old Occitan related words. Of course Latin
"tropus" derives ultimately from Greek "τρόπος" meaning "turn, manner". The
intervocal Latin "p" (in 'tropare') shifts regularly to "b" in Occitan (cf.
Latin sapere --> Occitan saber “to know") (cf. French "savoir:).
The Latin suffix "-ātor": explains the Occitan suffix, according to its
declension and accentuation: Gallo-Romance 'tropator' and Occitan ;trobaire',
nominative case) and 'tropatore' and Occitan 'trobador', oblique case.
The word "trover" is mentioned in French as soon as the 10th century before
"trobar" in Occitan and the word "trovere" and "trouvère" appears almost
simultaneously in French as "trobador" in Occitan
In troubadour poetry, the word is only used in a mocking sense, having more
or less the meaning of "somebody who makes things up".
Thus Cercamon writes: "Ist trobador, entre ver e mentir/Afollon drutz e
molhers et espos/E van dizen qu'Amors vay en biays
"These troubadours, between truth and lies/corrupt lovers, women and
husbands,/ and keep saying that Love proceeds obliquely."
By 'obliquely', Cercamon surely means 'implicaturally'.
Peire d'Alvernha also begins his famous mockery of contemporary authors
cantarai d'aquest trobadors, after which he proceeds to explain why none of
them is worth anything.
When referring to themselves seriously, troubadours almost invariably use
the word "chantaire" (singer) -- as in Ionesco, "The bald singer".
The early study of the troubadours focused intensely on their origins.
Then one could distinguish many competing theories.
According to the Bernardine-Marianist or Christian theory, it was the
theology espoused by Bernard of Clairvaux and the increasingly important
Mariology that most strongly influenced the development of the troubadour
genre.
Specifically, the emphasis on religious and spiritual love,
disinterestedness, mysticism, and devotion to Mary would explain "courtly
love".
The emphasis of the reforming Robert of Arbrissel on "matronage" to achieve
his ends can explain the troubadour attitude towards women.
Chronologically, however, this hypothesis is hard to sustain: the forces
believed to have given rise to the phenomenon arrived later than it.
But the influence of Bernardine and Marian theology can be retained without
the origins theory.
This theory was advanced early by Eduard Wechssler and further by Dmitri
Scheludko (who emphasises the Cluniac Reform) and Guido Errante. Mario
Casella and Leo Spitzer have added "Augustinian" influence to it.
The survival of pre-Christian sexual mores and warrior codes from
matriarchal societies, be they Celtic, Germanic, or Pictish, -- and
Chivalric-matriarchal -- my pet theory is the chivalric one, since I love a
horse -- among
the aristocracy of Europe can account for the idea (fusion) of "courtly
love".
The existence of pre-Christian matriarchy has usually been treated with
scepticism as has the persistence of underlying paganism in high medieval
Europe.
The Ancient Roman Latin theory emphasises parallels between Ovid,
especially his Amores and Ars amatoria, and the lyric of courtly love.
The aetas ovidiana that predominated in the 11th century in and around
Orléans, the quasi-Ciceronian ideology that held sway in the Imperial court,
and the scraps of Plato then available to scholars have all been cited as
classical influences on troubadour poetry.
On the other hand, according to the Crypto-Cathar thesis, troubadour poetry
is a reflection of Cathar religious doctrine.
While the theory is supported by the traditional and near-universal account
of the decline of the troubadours coinciding with the suppression of
Catharism during the Albigensian Crusade (first half of the 13th century),
support for it has come in waves.
The explicitly Catholic meaning of many early troubadour works also works
against the theory.
The troubadour lyric may be a development of the Christian liturgy and
hymnody.
The influence of "The Song of Songs" has even been suggested.
There is no preceding Latin poetry resembling that of the troubadours.
On those grounds, no theory of the latter's origins in Ancient Roman Latin
can be constructed, but that has not deterred some, who believe that a
pre-existing Latin corpus must merely be lost to us -- most likely in Naples --
a very complex city (vide "History of Italian literature").
That many troubadours received their grammatical training in Latin through
the Church (from clerici, clerics) and that many were trained musically by
the Church is well-attested.
The musical school of Saint Martial's at Limoges has been singled out in
this regard.
"Para-liturgical" tropes were in use there in the era preceding the
troubadours' appearance.
The feudal-social or sociological theory or set of related theories has
gained ground in the 20th century.
It is more a methodological approach to the question than a theory.
It asks not from where the content or form of the lyric came but rather in
what situation/circumstances did it arise.
Under Marxist influence, Erich Köhler, Marc Bloch, and Georges Duby have
suggested that the "essential hegemony" in the castle of the lord's wife
during his absence was a driving force.
The use of feudal terminology in troubadour poems is seen as evidence.
This theory has been developed away from sociological towards psychological
explanation.
According to María Rosa Menocal, Alfred Jeanroy first suggested that also
folklore oral tradition and spring folk ritual gave rise to troubadour
poetry in 1883.
According to F. M. Warren, it was Gaston Paris, Jeanroy's reviewer, in
1891 who first located troubadour origins in the festive dances of women
hearkening the spring in the Loire Valley.
This theory has since been widely discredited, but the discovery of the
jarchas raises the question of the extent of literature (oral or written) in
the 11th century and earlier.
Hans Spanke analysed the intertextual connexion between vernacular and
medieval Latin (Madiolatin such as Goliardic) songs.
This theory is supported by Reto Bezzola, Peter Dronke, and musicologist J.
Chailley.
According to them, trobar means "inventing a trope", the trope being a poem
where the words are used with a meaning different from their common
signification, i.e. metaphor and metonymy.
I..e. what Griceians call a "Griceianism" (vide M. L. Pratt and her
Griceian approach to lit.crit.
This poem was originally inserted in a serial of modulations ending a
liturgic song.
Then the trope became an autonomous piece organized in stanza form.
The influence of late 11th-century poets of the "Loire school", such as
Marbod of Rennes and Hildebert of Lavardin, is stressed in this connexion by
Brinkmann.
This neo-platonic theory on the other hand is one of the more
intellectualising.
The "ennobling effects of love" in specific have been identified as
Neoplatonic.
It is viewed either as a strength or weakness that this theory requires a
second theory about how the Neoplatonism was transmitted to the troubadours.
Perhaps it can be coupled with one of the other origins stories or perhaps
it is just peripheral.
Käte Axhausen has "exploited" this theory and A. J. Denomy has linked it
with the Arabist (through Avicenna) and the Cathar (through John Scotus
Eriugena).
The earliest troubadour whose work survives is Guilhèm de Peitieus, better
known as Duke William IX of Aquitaine.
Peter Dronke, author of The Medieval Lyric, however, believes that "his
songs represent not the beginnings of a tradition but summits of achievement
in that tradition."
His name has been preserved because he was the Duke of Aquitaine, but his
work plays with already established structures.
Eble II of Ventadorn is often credited as a predecessor, though none of his
work survives, alas.
Orderic Vitalis referred to William composing songs about his experiences
on his return from the one of the many Crusades
This may be the earliest reference to troubadour lyrics.
Orderic also provides us with what may be the first description of a
troubadour performance: an eyewitness account of William of Aquitaine.
Picauensis uero dux ... miserias captiuitatis suae ... coram regibus et
magnatis atque Christianis coetibus multotiens retulit rythmicis uersibus cum
facetis modulationibus ("Then the Poitevin duke ... the miseries of his
captivity ... before kings, magnates, and Christian assemblies many times
related with rhythmic verses and witty measures").
The first half of the 12th century saw relatively few recorded troubadours.
Only in the last decades of the century did troubadour activity explode.
If you are interested in Grice, there are over 2,500 troubadour lyrics
available to be studied as lingusitic artifacts (Akehurst, 23).
The troubadour tradition seems to have begun in western Aquitaine (Poitou
andSaintonge) and Gascony, from there spreading over into eastern Aquitaine
(Limousin and Auvergne) and Provence (i.e. Ancient Rome's "province").
At its height it had become popular in Languedoc and the regions of
Rouergue, Toulouse, and Quercy
Finally, in the early 13th century it began to spread into Italy.
During the earliest period the lyric art of the troubadours reached the
height of its popularity and the number of surviving poems is greatest from
this period.
During this period the canso, or love song, became distinguishable as a
genre.
The master of the canso and the troubadour who epitomises the earlieset
period is Bernart de Ventadorn.
He was highly regarded by his contemporaries, as were Giraut de Bornelh,
reputed by his biographer to be the greatest composer of melodies to ever
live, and Bertran de Born, the master of the sirventes, or political song,
which became increasingly popular in this period.
The classical period came to be seen by later generations, and outside of
Occitania, as representing the high point of lyric poetry and models to be
emulated.
The language of the earliest poets, its grammar and vocabulary, their style
and themes, were the ideal to which poets of the troubadour revival in
Toulouse aspired.
During the classical period the "rules" of poetic composition had first
become standardised and written down, first by Raimon Vidal and then by Uc
Faidit.
The 450 or so troubadours known to historians came from a variety of
backgrounds.
They made their living in a variety of ways, lived and travelled in many
different places, and were actors in many types of social context.
The troubadours were not wandering entertainers (so Gilbert is wrong, "A
wand'ring minstrel I" -- he makes him Japanese, too).
Typically, they stayed in one place for a lengthy period of time under the
patronage of a wealthy nobleman or woman.
Many did travel extensively, however, sojourning at one court and then
another.
The earliest troubadour, the Duke of Aquitaine, came from the high
nobility.
He was followed immediately by two poets of unknown origins, known only by
their sobriquets, Cercamon and Marcabru, and by a member of the princely
class, Jaufre Rudel.
Many troubadours are described in their vidas as "poor knights".
It was one of the most common descriptors of status: Berenguier de Palazol,
Gausbert Amiel, Guilhem Ademar, Guiraudo lo Ros, Marcabru, Peire de
Maensac, Peirol, Raimon de Miraval, Rigaut de Berbezilh, and Uc de Pena.
Albertet
de Sestaro is described as the son of a noble jongleur, presumably a petty
noble lineage.
Later troubadours especially could belong to lower classes, ranging from
the middle class of merchants and "burgers" (persons of urban standing) to
tradesmen and others who worked with their hands.
Salh d'Escola and Elias de Barjols were described as the sons of
merchants and Elias Fonsalada was the son of a burger and jongleur. Perdigon
was
the son of a "poor fisherman" and Elias Cairel of a blacksmith. Arnaut de
Mareuil is specified in his vida as coming from a poor family, but whether this
family was poor by noble standards or more global ones is not apparent.
Many troubadours also possessed a clerical education.
For some this was their springboard to composition, since their clerical
education equipped them with an understanding of musical and poetic forms as
well as vocal training.
The vidas of the following troubadours note their clerical status: Aimeric
de Belenoi, Folquet de Marselha (who became a bishop), Gui d'Ussel,Guillem
Ramon de Gironella, Jofre de Foixà (who became an abbot), Peire de
Bussignac, Peire Rogier, Raimon de Cornet, Uc Brunet, and Uc de Saint Circ.
The Occitan words trobador and trobaire are relatively rare compared with
the verb trobar (compose, invent), which was usually applied to the writing
of poetry.
It signified that a poem was original to an author (trobador) and was not
merely sung or played by one.
The term was used mostly for poetry only and in more careful works, like
the vidas, is not generally applied to the composition of music or to
singing, though the troubadour's poetry itself is not so careful.
Sometime in the middle of the 12th century, however, a distinction was
definitely being made between an inventor of original verse and the
performers of others'.
These last were called "joglars", from the Latin "ioculatores", giving rise
also to the French jongleur, Castilianjuglar, and English juggler, which
has come to refer to a more specific breed of performer.
The medieval jongleur/joglar is really a minstrel.
At the height of troubadour poetry (the "archaic period"), troubadours are
often found attacking jongleurs and at least two small genres arose around
the theme: the ensenhamen joglaresc and the sirventes joglaresc.
These terms are debated, however, since the adjective joglaresc would seem
to implicate "in the manner of the jongleurs".
Inevitably, however, pieces of said genres are verbal attacks at jongleurs,
in general and in specific, with named individuals being called out. It is
clear, for example from the poetry of Bertran de Born, that jongleur swere
performers who did not usually compose.
They often performed the troubadour's songs: singing, playing instruments,
dancing, and even doing acrobatics.
In the late 13th century Guiraut Riquier bemoaned the inexactness of his
contemporaries and wrote a letter to Alfonso X of Castile, a noted patron of
literature and learning of all kinds, for clarification on the proper
reference of the terms trobador and joglar.
According to Riquier, every vocation deserved a name of its own and the
sloppy usage of joglar assured that it covered a multitude of activities,
some, no doubt, with which Riquier did not wish to be associated.
In the end Riquier argued—and Alfonso X seems to agree, though his
"response" was probably penned by Riquier—that a joglar was a courtly
entertainer
(as opposed to popular or low-class one) and a troubadour was a poet and
composer.
Despite the distinctions noted, many troubadours were also known as
jongleurs, either before they began composing or alongside.
Aimeric de Belenoi, Aimeric de Sarlat, Albertet Cailla,Arnaut de Mareuil,
Elias de Barjols, Elias Fonsalada, Falquet de Romans, Guillem Magret,
Guiraut de Calanso, Nicoletto da Torino, Peire Raimon de Tolosa, Peire Rogier,
Peire de Valeira, Peirol, Pistoleta, Perdigon, Salh d'Escola, Uc de la
Bacalaria, Uc Brunet, and Uc de Saint Circ were jongleur-troubadours.
A vida is a brief prose biography, written in Occitan, of a troubadour.
The word vida means "life" in Occitan.
In the chansonniers, the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour
poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a short prose
biography.
The vidas are important early works of vernacular prose nonfiction.
Nevertheless, it appears that many of them derive their facts from literal
readings of their objects' poems, which leaves their historical reliability
in doubt.
Most of the vidas were composed in Italy in the 1220s, many by Uc de Saint
Circ.
A razo (from Occitan for "reason") was a similar short piece of Occitan
prose detailing the circumstances of a particular composition.
A razo normally introduced the poem it explained; it might, however, share
some of the characteristics of a vida. The razos suffer from the same
problems as the vidas in terms of reliability. Many are likewise the work of
Uc
de Saint Circ.
A phenomenon arose in Italy, recognised around the turn of the 20th century
by Giulio Bertoni, of men serving in several cities as podestàs on behalf
of either the Guelph or Ghibelline party and writing political verse in
Occitan rhyme.
These figures generally came from the urban middle class.
They aspired to high culture and though, unlike the nobility, they were not
patrons of literature, they were its disseminators and its readers.
The first podestà-troubadour was Rambertino Buvalelli, possibly the first
native Italian troubadour, who was podestà of Genoa between 1218 and 1221.
Rambertino, a Guelph, served at one time or another as podestà of Brescia,
Milan, Parma, Mantua, and Verona.
It was probably during his three-year tenure there that he introduced
Occitan lyric poetry to the city, which was later to develop a flourishing
Occitan literary culture.
Among the podestà-troubadours to follow Rambertino, four were from Genoa:
the Guelphs Luca Grimaldi, who also served in Florence, Milan, and
Ventimiglia, and Luchetto Gattilusio, who served in Milan, Cremona, and
Bologna, and
the Ghibellines Perceval Doria, who served in Arles, Avignon, Asti, and
Parma, and Simon Doria, sometime podestà of Savona and Albenga.
Among the non-Genoese podestà-troubadours wasAlberico da Romano, a nobleman
of high rank who governed Vicenza and Treviso as variously a Ghibelline
and a Guelph.
He was a patron as well as a composer of Occitan lyric.
Mention should be made of the Provençal troubadour Isnart d'Entrevenas, who
was podestà of Arles in 1220, though he does not fit the phenomenon Giulio
Bertoni first identified in Italy.
Cheers,
Speranza
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