What is a troubadour?

A troubadour was a lyric poet from the 11th to 13th century who wrote in the langue d’oc in areas including southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. The word troubadour comes from the Occitan word trobar , meaning "to find" or "to invent," because troubadours created new poems and verses for their love lyrics. Their songs, often about courtly love, were performed to music and comprised a major body of medieval secular music. Troubadours had unprecedented social influence and were favored in courts, allowing them great freedom of speech.

Where and when did troubadours live?

Troubadours were lyric poets who lived in southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy from the late 11th to the late 13th century. The word troubadour comes from the Old Occitan word meaning "to compose". They flourished in courts and had great freedom of speech. They created an aura of cultivation around the ladies of the court. Troubadours wrote poems and sang about chivalrous love, creating the mystique of refined damsels and glorifying the gallant knight. Troubadour poetry influenced all later European lyrical poetry and is preserved in manuscripts known as chansonniers.

What kinds of poems or songs did troubadours compose?

Troubadours were lyric poets from the late 11th to the late 13th century who flourished in southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. They wrote in the langue d’oc of Provence and invented new poems, often elaborate love lyrics. Troubadours composed various types of songs and poems, including: * Canso : The verse form used most frequently, consisting of five or six stanzas with an envoy. * Dansa (or balada ): A dance song with a refrain. * Pastorela : Tells the tale of a knight's love request to a shepherdess. * Jeu parti (or débat ): A debate on love between two poets. * Alba : A morning song warning lovers that day approaches and a jealous husband may surprise them. Troubadour songs were set to monophonic music (unharmonized melody), and about 300 melodies still exist.

What languages did troubadours use in their works?

Troubadours, who flourished from the late 11th to the late 13th century, were lyric poets from southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. They wrote in the langue d’oc of Provence, also known as medieval Occitan , which was a standard and literary language in France and northern Spain from the 12th to the 14th century. The word troubadour comes from the Occitan word trobar , meaning "to find" or "to invent," highlighting their creation of new poems and verses for love lyrics.

How did troubadours influence the culture of medieval Europe?

Troubadours, who flourished from the late 11th to the late 13th century, were lyric poets from southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy who wrote in the langue d’oc of Provence. Their social influence was unprecedented in medieval poetry, as they were favored in courts and had great freedom of speech. Troubadours significantly shaped medieval European culture by:

What is the difference between troubadours and similar poets, like trouvères and minnesängers?

Troubadours, trouvères, and minnesingers were all lyric poets and musicians of the Middle Ages, each with their own distinct traditions. Troubadours flourished in southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy, composing in the langue d’oc from the late 11th to the late 13th century. Their counterparts, the trouvères , wrote in northern France in the langue d'oïl from the 11th to 14th century, adopting the troubadours' themes and forms but developing their own distinct lyric poetry. Minnesingers were German poet-musicians of the 12th and 13th centuries who, like the troubadours and trouvères, composed both the words and music for their songs.

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troubadour

medieval lyric poet

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Oct. 8, 2026 •History

Top Questions

What is a troubadour?
A troubadour was a lyric poet from the 11th to 13th century who wrote in the langue d’oc in areas including southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. The word troubadour comes from the Occitan word trobar, meaning "to find" or "to invent," because troubadours created new poems and verses for their love lyrics.

Their songs, often about courtly love, were performed to music and comprised a major body of medieval secular music. Troubadours had unprecedented social influence and were favored in courts, allowing them great freedom of speech.
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Where and when did troubadours live?
Troubadours were lyric poets who lived in southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy from the late 11th to the late 13th century. The word troubadour comes from the Old Occitan word meaning "to compose". They flourished in courts and had great freedom of speech. They created an aura of cultivation around the ladies of the court. Troubadours wrote poems and sang about chivalrous love, creating the mystique of refined damsels and glorifying the gallant knight.

Troubadour poetry influenced all later European lyrical poetry and is preserved in manuscripts known as chansonniers.
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What kinds of poems or songs did troubadours compose?
Troubadours were lyric poets from the late 11th to the late 13th century who flourished in southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. They wrote in the langue d’oc of Provence and invented new poems, often elaborate love lyrics.

Troubadours composed various types of songs and poems, including:
* Canso: The verse form used most frequently, consisting of five or six stanzas with an envoy.
* Dansa (or balada): A dance song with a refrain.
* Pastorela: Tells the tale of a knight's love request to a shepherdess.
* Jeu parti (or débat): A debate on love between two poets.
* Alba: A morning song warning lovers that day approaches and a jealous husband may surprise them.

Troubadour songs were set to monophonic music (unharmonized melody), and about 300 melodies still exist.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What languages did troubadours use in their works?
Troubadours, who flourished from the late 11th to the late 13th century, were lyric poets from southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy. They wrote in the langue d’oc of Provence, also known as medieval Occitan, which was a standard and literary language in France and northern Spain from the 12th to the 14th century. The word troubadour comes from the Occitan word trobar, meaning "to find" or "to invent," highlighting their creation of new poems and verses for love lyrics.
5 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How did troubadours influence the culture of medieval Europe?
Troubadours, who flourished from the late 11th to the late 13th century, were lyric poets from southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy who wrote in the langue d’oc of Provence. Their social influence was unprecedented in medieval poetry, as they were favored in courts and had great freedom of speech.

Troubadours significantly shaped medieval European culture by:
- Elevating courtly love They created an aura of cultivation and amenity around the ladies of the court, influencing later European lyrical poetry. Their poems and songs about chivalrous love contributed to the mystique of refined damsels and glorified knights.
- Impacting music Troubadour songs, set to unharmonized melody, form a major body of medieval secular music. They influenced the metric system and formal patterns in music.
- Spreading ideas As they moved among courts, troubadours spread new lifestyles and attitudes, particularly those engendered by chivalry and the Crusades.
- Innovating poetry They invented new poems and verse forms, such as the canso, dansa, pastorela, jeu parti, and alba.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is the difference between troubadours and similar poets, like trouvères and minnesängers?
Troubadours, trouvères, and minnesingers were all lyric poets and musicians of the Middle Ages, each with their own distinct traditions. Troubadours flourished in southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy, composing in the langue d’oc from the late 11th to the late 13th century. Their counterparts, the trouvères, wrote in northern France in the langue d'oïl from the 11th to 14th century, adopting the troubadours' themes and forms but developing their own distinct lyric poetry. Minnesingers were German poet-musicians of the 12th and 13th centuries who, like the troubadours and trouvères, composed both the words and music for their songs.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

troubadour, lyric poet of southern France, northern Spain, and northern Italy, writing in the langue d’oc of Provence; the troubadours, flourished from the late 11th to the late 13th century. Their social influence was unprecedented in the history of medieval poetry. Favoured at the courts, they had great freedom of speech, occasionally intervening even in the political arena, but their great achievement was to create around the ladies of the court an aura of cultivation and amenity that nothing had hitherto approached. Troubadour poetry formed one of the most brilliant schools that ever flourished, and it was to influence all later European lyrical poetry.

The word troubadour is a French form derived ultimately from the Occitanian trobar, “to find,” “to invent.” A troubadour was thus one who invented new poems, finding new verse for his elaborate love lyrics. Much of the troubadours’ work has survived, preserved in manuscripts known as chansonniers (“songbooks”), and the rules by which their art was governed are set out in a work called Leys d’amors (1340). The verse form they used most frequently was the canso, consisting of five or six stanzas with an envoy. They also used the dansa, or balada, a dance song with a refrain; the pastorela, telling the tale of the love request by a knight to a shepherdess; the jeu parti, or débat, a debate on love between two poets; the alba, or morning song, in which lovers are warned by a night watchman that day approaches and that the jealous husband may at any time surprise them. Other forms were frameworks for a lyrical conversation between two or more persons discussing, as a rule, some point of amorous casuistry or matters of a religious, metaphysical, or satirical character.

Troubadour songs, put to music, are monophonic (consisting solely of unharmonized melody) and comprise a major extant body of medieval secular music. Somewhat fewer than 300 melodies survive. Set to a remarkable variety of poems, they display a certain consistency of style yet are far more varied than was once suspected. Some of the melodies were composed by the poets themselves. The Provençal “life” of the troubadour Jaufre Rudel states that he wrote many songs “with fine melodies but poor texts.” Evidently the writer thought the melodies were by Jaufré and that his distinction lay therein.

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Many of the melodies, however, were not by the poet. According to a contemporary account, Raimbaut de Vaqueyras wrote his famous poem “Kalenda maya” (“The Calends of May”) to a dance tune played by some vielle (fiddle) players at Montferrat (now Monferrato, Italy). At least four troubadour songs are based directly on Latin sacred melodies. Several troubadour melodies are slightly different in form from the poem to which they are attached, and it must be assumed that these were originally composed for another poem, perhaps in another language. Conversely, many troubadour melodies were appropriated from songs in French and German. Even when a melody was written expressly for its poem, it is possible that the poet devised it with the help of a more experienced musician. Most of the poems have attributions, for the poets valued their originality. For the music, however, anonymity was the rule; authorship was a subsidiary consideration.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Chelsey Parrott-Sheffer.

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