Provence

pro-voNs', an old province of southeastern France. It comprised the region about the mouth of the Rhone and the region eastward as far as the Maritime Alps.It was an important province of the Roman Empire. Roads, baths, theaters, triumphal arches, and other remains indicate that it was the seat of much wealth. It was the seat also of an early western civilization. Arles and Marseilles were important cities. The customs and language of the people seem to have been inherited from the Romans, but they were not Italian, neither were they French. Even to this day, ancient Provence seems like a country sandwiched in between France and Italy. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Provence was noted for its troubadours or minstrels. They shared the religious enthusiasm of the period of the Crusades, but were developed by chivalry. It was the custom of the time for a knight to devote his lance to the service of some lady, quite usually the wife of his superior. His feats at arms were won in her name. His trophies of war he laid at her feet. Conversation was stilted and artificial, and, we may well believe, without sincerity. The troubadours went from castle hall to castle hall with their harps singing the adventures of knights and the trials they underwent, all for the sake of their lady loves. Adventurous love for lady was the one theme of the troubadours, on which they literally "harped" for two centuries. As the singing passed away before the invention of printing, few of their lays have been preserved. The troubadours belonged to the period of knight-errantry, to a time of castles, lords, and ladies. They sang of gay hunting parties, pennons, feats of arms, and stately dames. They dressed in gay apparel and were followers of the aristocratic few. They knew little and cared less about the joys and sorrows of the common people.