Question | Answer |
Les Serments de Strasbourg | First document written in old French. Dated 1842. Written in Latin, Langue d'oil, and German. Partitioned the empire of Charlemange among grandsons: Luis the German, Charles the Bald, and Lothar. |
Langue d'oil | Spoken to the north of Gironde River to the Alps. Future French. |
Langue d'oc | Spoken to the south of the Gironde River. |
Le chanson de Roland | Greatest and earliest chansons de geste. Belongs to geste du roi. Focus is Charlemagne's campaign against Muslims in 778. Roland is his nephew. Franks slaughter Roland's army & Charlemagne seeks revenge. Probable author is Turold. Written ~1100. |
Chansons de geste | epic poem of 12th & 13th centuries transforming warrior into gentleman celebrating martial exploits of Carolingian France. Emphasis on honor, feudal loyalties, and religious obligations. ,anonymous authors, |
the Romances | Created by formally educated poets in 12th century. Flourished in Middle Ages. Subject from Antiquity but focus is on individual, not communal, actions. |
Troubadors | Aristocratic poets, with formal educations, who wrote of courtly love (love from afar) in 12th & 13th. Origin: Provence. Language: Provençal. Lady often married for money or family. Reflection of feudal loyalty. |
Bernard de Ventadour | Finest troubador poet. Musician. 12th. Traveled in England. Work known for emotional power, lyric delicacy, and simplicity. |
Jaufre Rudel | Troubador. 12th. Story of faraway love that eventually birthed Rostand's play "La Princesse Iontaine" in 1895. |
Bertrande Born | Troubador & Soldier. 12th. Poetry often violently militant, egged on Richard in his was with Phillip II of France. Represented in Dante's inferno carrying his own severed head as lantern. Also wrote pretty poetry. |
Arnaut Daniel | Troubador. 12th. Master of hermetic tradition. Master of trobar clus. Invented sestina (6 line unrhymed stanzas with elaborate word repitition). Admired by Petrarch and Dante. Gave speech in Provençal in Divine Comedy. |
William IV, Duke of Aquitaine | Earlist Troubador with surviving poetry. |
Eleanor of Aquitaine | Great patron of troubador's (Will's grandkid). Marriages to French and English kings expanded audience for chansons de geste. |
Chrétien de Troyes | 12th. Wrote 5 Arthurian romances. Well regarded work of medieval literature. Extension of chansons de geste but little role for ladies. Adapted courtly love style to narrative & adventure. Lancelot & Guinevere. Introduced Holy Grail. |
Marie de France | Late 12th. Earliest known French female poet. Creator of verse narratives on magical and romantic themes that inspired the "lais." Celtic themes. Composed in England. |
lai (lay) | Medieval poetic and musical forms cultivated by trouvères, poet-musicians of Northern France. Short, romantic poems. Octosyllabic. Sung. |
Roman de la Rose | 1225-1230. Most influential allegorical work popular into Renaissance. Celebrates and undermines courtly love. 2 authors. Birthed the the Querrelle des Femmes. Dichotomy of approach to love. |
Guillaume de Lorris | Wrote the first 4,058 lines of the Roman de la Rose. Young couple's love portrayed as a dream. Dreamer plucks rose = conquest of lady. Work left unfinished with frustrated dreamer. |
Jean de Meun | Added more than 17,700 lines to Roman de la Rose. Lost the allegory in favor encylcopedic info and opinions designed to impress others of bourgeois. Misogynistic tone via love is synonymous with procreation. |
Christine de Pisan | 1364-1430. Grand Rhetorician. Poet. Most notable female medieval author. Works of courtly love and works championing women. Wrote bio of Charles V of France, her father was his court astrologer. |
Guillaume de Machaut | 1300-1377. Grand Rhetorician. Poet and Musician. Compositions led to the Ars Nova music style of 14th century. Popularized new genres of rondeau, ballade, lai, & virelai. Leader of new rhetoric and poetic art. |
Jean Froissart | 1333-1400. Grand Rhetorician. Medieval poet and court historian. Lived at Black Prince's court. Wrote Chronicles: important, detailed document of feudal times. 100 Years War. Emphasized pegeantry and chivarly, overlooked suffering. |