Troubadour
one of a class of poets which appeared first in Provence, in the S. of France, at the end of the 11th century. They were the inventors of a species of lyrical poetry almost entirely devoted to romantic and amatory subjects , and generally very complicated in its meter and rhymes. They flourished till the end of the 13th century. There is reason for supposing that the art of the troubadours, generally called the gay science, was derived the East, coming into Europe through the Spaniards, and the troubadours of Provence learning from their neighbors of Spain. Troubadours frequently attached themselves to the courts of kings and nobles, whom they praised or censured in their songs; but it was a rule that some lady was selected, and to her, under some general or fancy title, love songs, complaints, and other poems were addressed. The "love service" of the troubadours was often nothing more than mere artificial gallantry, but there are instances on record where it became something more earnest. The poems of the troubadours were not always confined to subjects of gallantry; sometimes they treated of the conditions of society, the evils of the times, the degeneracy of the clergy, and other subjects. See PROVENÇAL.