The First Troubadours

About this episode

The episode explores how troubadours used love songs as political tools and their impact on medieval literature.

How could a love song become a political weapon? How were scandals, wars and crusades turned into some of the most influential poetry ever written? The songs of the troubadours - celebrities in their day - helped define the emotional landscape of the Middle Ages and left a legacy that still echoes through European literature. Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Linda M. Paterson to explore the poet-musicians who shaped medieval ideas of courtly love, chivalry, gender, power and performance. More: Erotic Medieval Poet: Gwerful Mechain Listen on Apple Listen on Spotify Crusades Against Heretics (Albigensian Crusade) Listen on Apple Listen on Spotify Gone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. Audio editor is Amy Haddow, the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff. All music used is courtesy of Epidemic Sounds. Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcast Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week plus ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Matt Lewis

Guest: Professor Linda M. Paterson

Topics covered

• troubadours
• courtly love
• medieval poetry
• chivalry
• gender
• power
• performance

Keywords

• troubadours
• medieval
• poetry
• courtly love
• chivalry
• gender
• political weapon

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: History Hit

Books & works: Gwerful Mechain

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