one of the themes of this literature: the poet expressing overwhelming love for a
beautiful married noblewoman who is far above him and utterly unattainable. But this
was only one of the many sorts of loves that the troubadours sang about: some
boasted of sexual conquests; others played with the notion of equality between
lovers; still others preached that love was the source of virtue. The real theme of
these poems was not courtly love; it was the power of women. No wonder southern
French aristocratic women patronized the troubadours: they enjoyed the image that it
gave them of themselves. Nor was this image a delusion. There were many powerful
female lords in southern France. They owned property, commanded vassals, led
battles, decided disputes, and entered into and broke political alliances as their
advantage dictated. Both men and women appreciated troubadour poetry, which
recognized and praised women’s power even as it eroticized it.
From southern France, Catalonia, and northern Italy, the lyric love song spread to
northern France, England, and Germany. Here Occitan was a foreign language, so
other vernaculars were used: the minnesinger (literally, “love singer”) sang in
German; the trouvère sang in the Old French of northern France. In northern France
another genre of poetry grew up as well, poking fun at nobles, priests, and
pretentiousness and stupidity in general. This was the fabliau (pl. fabliaux), which
boasted humbler folk as its protagonists:
Long ago
There lived a peasant who had wed
A maiden courteous, well bred,
Wise, beautiful, of goodly birth.
He cherished her for all his worth
And did his best to keep her pleased.
The lady loved the parish priest,
Who was her only heart’s desire.
The priest himself was so afire
With love for her that he decided
To tell his love and not to hide it.^13
The priest tricked the peasant, had a rollicking love-making session with the peasant’s
wife, and left the house with the peasant none the wiser.
