The Trobairitz

1. The Trobairitz

2. The Origins of the Trobairitz • 1170 – 1260 • Occitania • Provençal • Role of women

3. William IX, Duke of Aquitaine • Born October 22, 1071 • First known Troubadour • Popularized the use of vernacular • Relationship with the Church • Grandfather to Eleanor • Died February 10, 1126

4. Fin’ Amors • Occitan Courts • Possible Influences • Arabic poetry • Classical Latin • Cult of the Virgin Mary • Love in Chivalric terms

5. Women and Fin' Amors • Married, Noble Ladies • Venerated the Lady • Idealized love • Submissive • Possible Motives

6. Who Are the Trobairitz? • Ladies of the courts • Patrons • Subjects of their male counterparts’ poems

7. Tune by Countess of Dia

8. Trobairitz and Troubadours Troubadours Trobairitz • Diverse social classes • Dukes and Knights • Lower classes • Took on personas • Defended ideals of fin’ amors • Symbolic value in their Ladies • Ladies • Subject of poems • Patrons • Wrote in 1st person singular • Skepticism about courtly love • Concrete understanding of their worth

9. Types of Trobairitz Poetry • Chanson • Tenson • Sirventes

10. Lives of the Trobairitz • Difficulties with histories • Vidas • Razos • Attribution and Manuscripts

11. Countess of Dia • Most prolific surviving female troubadour • Beatrice? • Four chanson • Only surviving work with music • Betrayed lover • Keeps her pride • Ends with a warning

13. Bieiris de Romans • Trobairitz writing about another woman • Unique in Occitan poetry • Possible interpretations

14. Decline of the Trobairitz • Albigensian Crusade • Cathars and Waldensians • Heretical Poetry • Evolution of fin’ amors

15. Gormonda de Monpeslier • Only Sirventes • 1226 – 1229 • Defends Albigensian Crusade