A Handbook of the Troubadours / Edition 1

by F. R. P. Akehurst, Judith M. Davis

Overview

This book is a reference volume and a digest of more than a century of scholarly work on troubadour poetry. Written by leading scholars, it summarizes the current consensus on the various facets of troubadour studies.

Standing at the beginning of the history of modern European verse, the troubadours were the prime poets and composers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the South of France. No study of medieval literature is complete without an examination of the courtly love which is celebrated in the elaborately rhymed stanzas of troubadour verse, creations whose words and melodies were imitated by poets and musicians all over medieval Europe.

The words of about 2,500 troubadour songs have survived, along with 250 melodies, and all have come under intense scholarly scrutiny. This Handbook brings together the fruits of this scrutiny, giving teachers and students an overview of the fundamental issues in troubadour scholarship. All quotations are given in the original Old Occitan and in English. The editors provide a list of troubadour editions and an index, and each chapter includes a list of additional readings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520079762
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	11/17/1995
Series:	Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA , #26
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	508
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

F.R.P. Akehurst is Professor of French at the University of Minnesota. He is the translator of The Coutumes de Beauvaisis of Philippe de Beaumanoir (1992). Judith M. Davis is Professor of French and Humanities at Goshen College.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Introduction 
F. R P. Akehurst

1. An Overview: Why the Troubadours? 
Paul Zumthor

The Essentials
2. The Lyric Texts 
Amelia E. Van Weck

3. Fin'amor 
Moshe Lazar

4. Versification
Frank M. Chambers

5. Music 
Hendrik van der Werf

Accessory Texts

6. The Non-lyric Texts
Suzanne fleischman

7. The Vidas and Razos 
Elizabeth W Poe

A Subgroup: The Women Troubadours

8. The Trobairitz 
Matilda Tomaryn Bruckner

Origins and Diffusion

g. Origins 
Gerald A. Bond

10. Northern France
Deborah H. Nelson

11. The Minnesingers 
Stephanie Cain Van D'Elden

12. The Iberian Peninsula 
Joseph T. Snow

13. Italy 
Ronald Martinez

14. Italian Troubadours 
Hans-Erich Kel1£r

General and Technical Considerations

15. Manuscripts 
William D. Paden

16. Translation 
Roy S. Rosenstein

17. Language 
Frede Jensen

18. Rhetoric 
Nathaniel B. Smith

19. Topoi 
Elisabeth Schulze-Busacker

20. Imagery and Vocabulary 
Eliza Miruna Ghil

21. Bibliography 
Robert Taylor

Appendix: Editions of the Troubadours and Related Works 
F. R P. Akehurst and Robert Taylor

CONTRIBUTORS 
INDEX

Editorial Reviews

A text to be used in conjunction with one of the many collections of primary material in a college course on the troubadours, and a reference for students of medieval literature or history who keep finding troubadours wandering into their studies and must find out something about them. Some of the chapters present recent scholarly work, while others synthesize the core information and interpretations shared by troubadour specialists. Covers the essential and accessory texts, women troubadours, origins and diffusion, and general and technical considerations. Also lists editions of particular troubadours. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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