SOURCE: Bonner, Anthony. Introduction to Songs of the Troubadours, edited by Anthony Bonner, pp. 1-30. New York: Schocken Books, 1972.

In the following excerpt, Bonner discusses the historical background of the troubadours, the various types of poetry they wrote, what is known of their music, and the structure of the patronage system that nourished them.

Who Were the Troubadours?

To the average English-speaking reader the word “troubadour” conjures up little more than an image of a fellow dressed in a Robin Hood costume singing under his lady's window and accompanying himself with a lute. This was the notion implanted by Sir Walter Scott and since propagated by Hollywood. That the troubadours wrote great poetry and are therefore worthy of our literary consideration was an idea that, to my knowledge, was only suggested to the English-speaking public by two critics, Chaytor and Ezra Pound, who wrote in the years immediately...