JAMES I., king of Aragon (1213-1276), Peire Cardinal, Bernart Sicart de Maruejols, Guiraut Riquier, At de Mons; PETER III., king of Aragon (1276-1285), Paulet of Marseilles, Guiraut Riquier, Serveri de Girone; ALPHONSO IX., king of Leon (1138 1214), Peire Rogier, Guiraut de Borneil, Aimeric de Pegulhan, Hugh de Saint Circq; ALPHONSO X., king of Castile (1252-1284), Bertran de Lamanon, Bonifaci Calvo, Guiraut Riquier, Folquet de Lunel, Arnaut Plages, Bertran Carbonel.
Italy.—BONIFACE II., marquis of Montferrat (1192-1207) , Peire Vidal, Raimbaut de Vacqueiras, Elias Cairel, Gaucelm Faidit (?) ; FREDERICK II., emperor (1215-125o), Jean d'Aubus son, Aimeric de Pegulhan, Guillem Figueira ; Azzo VI., marquis of Este (1196-1212), Aimeric de Pegulhan, Rambertin de Buvalelli; Azzo VIII., marquis of Este (1215-1264), Aimeric de Pegulhan.
The first thing that strikes one in this list is that, while the troubadours find protectors in Spain and Italy, they do not seem to have been welcomed in French-speaking countries. This, how ever, must not be taken too absolutely. Provencal poetry was appreciated in the north of France. There is reason to believe that when Constance, daughter of one of the counts of Arles, was married in 998 to Robert, king of France, she brought along with her Provencal jongleurs. Poems by troubadours are quoted in the French romances of the beginning of the 13th century; some of them are transcribed in the old collections of French songs, and the preacher Robert de Sorbon informs us in a curious passage that one day a jongleur sang a poem by Folquet of Marseilles at the court of the king of France.
The decline and fall of troubadour poetry was mainly due to political causes. When about the beginning of the 13th century the Albigensian War had ruined a large number of the nobles and reduced to lasting poverty a part of the south of France, the pro fession of troubadour ceased to be lucrative. It was then that many of those poets went to spend their last days in the north of Spain and Italy, where Provencal poetry had for more than one generation been highly esteemed. Following their example, other poets who were not natives of the south of France began to com pose in Provencal, and this fashion continued till, about the middle of the 13th century, they gradually abandoned the foreign tongue in northern Italy, and somewhat later in Catalonia, and took to singing the same airs in the local dialects. About the same time in the Provencal region the flame of poetry had died out save in a few places—Narbonne, Rodez, Foix and Astarac—where it kept burning feebly for a little longer. In the 14th century composition
in the language of the country was still practised; but, the pro ductions of this period are mainly works for instruction and edifi cation. As for the poetry of the troubadours, it was dead forever.
Form.—Originally the poems of the troubadours were intended to be sung. The poet usually composed the music as well as the words; and in several cases he owed his fame more to his musical than to his literary ability. Two manuscripts preserve specimens of the music of the troubadours, but, though the subject has been carefully investigated, we are not able to form a clear opinion of the originality and of the merits of these musical compositions. The following are the principal poetic forms which the trouba dours employed. The oldest and most usual generic term is vers, by which is understood any composition intended to be sung, no matter what the subject. At the close of the 12th century it be came customary to call all verse treating of love canso—the name vers being then more generally reserved for poems on other themes. The sirventesc differs from the vers and the canso only by its subject, being for the most part devoted to moral and political topics. The tensors is a debate between two interlocutors, each of whom has a stanza in turn. The partimen (Fr. jeu parti) is also a poetic debate, but it differs from the tension in so far that the range of debate is limited. This poetic game is mentioned by William, count of Poitiers, at the end of the 11th century. The pastoreta, afterwards pastorela, is in general an account of the love adventures of a knight with a shepherdess. All these classes have one form capable of endless variations : five or more stanzas and one or two envois. The dansa and balada, intended to mark the time in dancing, are pieces with a refrain. The alba, which has also a refrain, is, as the name indicates. a waking or morning song at the dawning of the day. All those classes are in stanzas. The descort is not thus divided, and consequently it must be set to music right through. Its name is derived from the fact that, its component parts not being equal, there is a kind of "discord" be tween them. It is generally reserved for themes of love. Other kinds of lyric poems, sometimes with nothing new about them except the name, were developed in the south of France ; but those here mentioned are the more important.