Trovadores

Trovadores were medieval poet-musicians who composed and performed lyric poetry in vernacular languages before the rise of national literatures. The term originates from the Occitan word trobador, used for composers in the medieval troubadour tradition. Although best known from Occitania (southern France), the trovadores also worked in Catalonia, the Iberian Peninsula, and surrounding regions, influencing the development of medieval lyric across Europe.

Historically, trouvading flourished from the 11th through the 13th centuries. In Occitania, troubadours created a sophisticated courtly culture centered on chivalry, love, and political themes. In the Iberian sphere, poets produced works in languages such as Galician-Portuguese and Catalan, contributing to what later became cantigas de amigo, cantigas de amor, and other forms. Female counterparts in some regions were known as trobairitz in Occitan, though the male trovadores predominated in most sources.

Repertoire and performance often involved singing with instrumental accompaniment, typically at noble courts or public gatherings. The subject matter ranged from refined expressions of courtly love to political satire, personal praise, or denunciation. The lyric often prized wit, linguistic ingenuity, and innovation in form, and it was transmitted in manuscript anthologies that preserved long passages of traditional canções and debates about poetic technique.

Notable trovadores include Bernart de Ventadorn, Jaufre Rudel, Arnaut Daniel, Guilhem de Cabestany, and Raimbaut de Vaqueiras in the Occitan tradition, as well as Cerverí de Girona and other Catalan writers in the later period. The trovadores laid the groundwork for later vernacular literatures and influenced the broader European tradition of lyric poetry.