The Love Generation of the Sixties - That is the 1160s Actually

Celebrating Beatriz de Dia and the Trobairitz who were the Pussy Riot of the high Medieaval period of the European Middle Ages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Middle_Ages

Beatritz or Beatriz de Dia (born c. 1140 - flourished circa 1175 in Provence) was the most famous of a small group of trobairitz, or female troubadours who wrote courtly songs of love during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trobairitz

Typical subject matter used by Comtessa de Dia in her lyrics includes her sense of optimism, her self appreciation as a woman and as a lover, as well as the theme of betrayal.

In one chantar, Comtessa plays the part of a betrayed lover, who retaliates in praise of herself.

In Fin Joi (see second video) however, Comtessa makes fun of the lausengier, a person known for gossiping, comparing those who gossip to a "cloud that obscures the sun."

The Countess of Dia composed songs in the Occitan language of the Languedoc region in southeast France that were passionate and incisive commentaries on contemporary society in the Middle Ages.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languedoc
  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occitan_language

The songs of courtly love that the troubadours composed and performed changed the status of wealthy women from mere possessions to the very meaning of life and love itself, so who were the Troubadours and what became of them?

Wikipedia says:-A troubadour originally [tɾuβaˈðoɾ]) was a composer and performer of Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubadour

The troubadour school or tradition began in the eleventh century in Occitania, but it subsequently spread into Italy, Spain and even Greece. Under the influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up throughout Europe: the Minnesang in Germany, trovadorismo in Galicia and Portugal and that of the trouvères in northern France.

Dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia defined the troubadour lyric as fictio rethorica musicaque poita: rhetorical, musical, and poetical fiction.

Here we seem to have the rock 'n' roll stars of the Middle Ages whose 'good vibrations' caught on all across western Europe as the genre spread.

Whilst the courtly love they serenaded is not exactly equivalent to the Free Love of the 1960s, it nevertheless was a liberation that was not only for men.

There were also the Trobairitz...the female troubadours in the 12th century who responded to this changed perception of women with a form of proto feminism.

As gender historian of the Middle Ages William D. Paden has noted, "Our most direct access to the experience of medieval women lies in their own writing " and the trobairitz offer some of this insight.

The trobairitz epitomize these sorts of women, and the fact that we have any written work from them at all, shows that they must have had some kind of freedom and status to be able to offer up their voices and reveal their artistic creativity.

The trobairitz wrote their works in a variety of forms, but they all tend to have one central theme, much like their male counter parts.

Almost all of the poetry derived from the trobairitz centre around the theme of "fin'amor" or the idea of a pure or perfect love.

Their poems, like many in the middle ages, celebrate a form of ideal romance, or what has come to be known as "courtly love."

The term "courtly love" was first popularized by Gaston Paris in 1883, and has since come under a wide variety of definitions and uses, even being dismissed as nineteenth-century romantic fiction. Its interpretation, origins and influences continue to be a matter of critical debate.

Courtly love was both erotic and spiritual, illicit and morally elevating at the same time, some even have accused the Troubadours of devising a guide book to adultery with their adoring canon of courtly love.

The idolisation of women expressed in the songs of the Troubadours is largely influenced by cults worshipping the Virgin Mary but these are said to pre-date Christianity and seem to be linked to pagan Goddess rituals.

There is an unresolved debate about the true origins of the Troubadours one can distinguish at least eleven competing theories according to Wikipedia. Some experts argue it had Arab roots originating in Spain, others say Celtic or Pictic origins and yet others see it's embryo in Classical Latin or feudal folk lore.

Wherever it came from it had an impact on the powerful social classes of the day and apparently altered their morality and relations with the opposite sex.

The parallels between youth cultures that began in the 1960s and the medieval troubadour movement illustrate the power of music and art to shape attitudes and influence cultures.

The female expression of that cultural revolution the Trobairitz illustrates the freedom of thought that would eventually give rise to protestantism and serves to confound some of our stereotypes of gender relations in the Middle Ages.

As historian Liz Hale concludes:-

The trobairitz compose of a very interesting subset of women in the Middle Ages.

They wrote incredibly beautiful and explicit prose with, what can be thought of, as a somewhat progressive style.

These women exemplify some of the few women of status and power of the age, and much of their prose combat the stereotypical notion of the submissive and obedient woman of the day.

Their writing suggests a class of women who were not afraid to tell of their own opinions and emotions, and who formed their own mini-movement by throwing their voices out into the oppressive society of the day.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Blair/Courses/MUSL242/s02/trobar.htm#style

So what happened to this courtly love and the roaming troubadours that gave Christendom it's first wave of hit love songs and the idealised trobiaritz feminist poet songsters?

How did patriarchy regain the upper hand after the troubadours message came to an abrupt end in the mid fourteenth century?

The reason is simple....The Black Death that had peaked in Europe between 1347 and 1351.

Figures for the death toll vary widely by area and from source to source as new research and discoveries come to light.

It killed an estimated 75–200 million people in the 14th century. In Britain almost half the population was wiped out.

This event really changed everything and ushered in the birth of modernity.

The troubadours, the trobairitz have have left their mark on modern society, but that path of progress was curtailed by the plague, which cut through human history like a great chasm that separates the Middle Ages from modern times.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Middle_Ages

Beatritz or Beatriz de Dia (born c. 1140 - flourished circa 1175, Provence) was the most famous of a small group of trobairitz, or female troubadours who wrote courtly songs of love during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trobairitz

Typical subject matter used by Comtessa de Dia in her lyrics includes optimism, self appreciation, as well as betrayal.
In a chantar, Comtessa plays the part of a betrayed lover, who retaliates in praise of herself. In Fin Joi however, Comtessa makes fun of the lausengier, a person known for gossipping, comparing those who gossip to a "cloud that obscures the sun."

Countess of Dia composed songs in the langue d'oc language that were passionate and incisive.
The songs of courtly love that the troubadours composed and performed changed the status of wealthy women from mere possessions to the very meaning of life and love itself, but who were the Troubadours and what became of them?

Wikipedia says:-A troubadour originally [tɾuβaˈðoɾ]) was a composer and performer of Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350).

The troubadour school or tradition began in the eleventh century in Occitania, but it subsequently spread into Italy, Spain and even Greece. Under the influence of the troubadours, related movements sprang up throughout Europe: the Minnesang in Germany, trovadorismo in Galicia and Portugal and that of the trouvères in northern France.

Dante Alighieri in his De vulgari eloquentia defined the troubadour lyric as "fictio rethorica musicaque poita": i.e. rhetorical, musical, and poetical fiction.

Here we have the rock 'n' roll stars of the Middle Ages whose 'good vibrations' caught on all across western Europe as the genre spread.

Whilst the courtly love they serenaded is not exactly equivalent to the Free Love of the 1960s, it nevertheless was a liberation that was not only for men.

There were also the Trobairitz...the female troubadours in the 12th century who responded to this changed perception of women with a form of proto feminism.

Liz Halt has written about the trobairitz.

"They lived during the heart of the Middle Ages, and in a sense they contradict the often-depicted image of the meek and sub-status women of the times....."

The female expression of that cultural revolution the Trobairitz illustrates the freedom of thought that would eventually give rise to protestantism and serves to confound some of our stereotypes of gender relations in the Middle Ages.

Here is what a trobairitz probably sounded like according to a contemporary interpretation recorded in Languedoc, France.... the home of the fabled troubadour tradition and the proto-feminist movement that emerged out of it.

 
The language is Occitan, the original language of Languedoc and one that is making a comeback today in that region of modern France.

Song translation:

"End joi" makes me happy,
and that is why I sing cheerfully.
And slanderers say that does not hurt me,
instead I'm 2 times happy.
They are like clouds that obscure the sun ..."

The fiddle is built according to the archaeo-musicological sources known at the time of the troubadours, to find these old sounds and reproduce them.