ever, appear to have run into the same extremes, and their muse, though equally inspired by chivalry and love, seems, in accordance with the less passionate and more thoughtful genius of the north, to have inclined to more serious studies. While, therefore, the gravest works produced by the troubadours are limited to violent diatribes against the corruptions of the times, we find among the productions of the trouvères works of history and science, which, though dressed in the fanciful garb of the day, nevertheless give evidence of more profound studies and more earnest minds than were then generally found among men of the world. As for the second point in dispute between the north and south of France, history decides it in favour of the north; for though his works are not extant, it is recorded in the chronicles of the province that Thibaud de Vernon, canon of Rouen in Normandy, who lived in the commencement of the eleventh century, wrote poems in the vulgar tongue—that is, in the Romance language of the north; while the first poet of the south of whom we have any knowledge-William IX. Count of Poitiers-was only born in 1071. As regards the influence exercised by the poets of north or south, it must without a doubt have been reciprocal; for though the territory of France did not then, as now, form one compact monarchy, but was divided into many independent principalities, these were nevertheless in a certain measure connected by the link-within-link system established by the modes of feudal tenure, and a constant intercourse was kept up between their inhabitants by the peculiar institutions and pageants of chivalry. Besides this, the roving lives generally led by the trouvères and troubadours, and the prevalent fashion of making their compositions known to the world at large by means of itinerant jongleurs, cannot but have made the poets of the north and south acquainted with each other's productions, particularly as the difference of language was not sufficiently great to preclude this knowledge. Their appreciation of each other does not, however, seem to have been equal; for though the troubadours frequently allude to the talents and attainments of the trouvères, the latter make no mention of their rivals of the south.

Appearing on the horizon as morning-stars of a new civilisation, just as the thick mists of the dark ages of our era had rolled away from France, these poets stand forth as utterly unconnected with the past, and are therefore the first literary representatives of modern European society, as distinguished from the ancient societies of Greece and Rome. 'Though several allusions and imitations,' says Reynouard-a writer who has devoted immense labour to the study of the language and writings of the troubadours' prove that they were not quite unacquainted with the master-works of the Latin and even Greek languages, it is nevertheless apparent that their taste was not sufficiently cultivated to enable them effectually to admire and reproduce the beauties of the classic writers of Greece and Rome. The new literature which they created was, therefore, in no manner beholden to the lessons and examples of the ancients. It possessed its own distinct and independent means, its native forms, and its own peculiar spirit and local colouring. The ignorance so generally prevalent, the absence of all serious studies, abandoned these poets of the middle ages entirely to the influence of the religious ideas, the chivalrous manners, and the political views of the times, as also to the influence of the reigning

prejudices and the national peculiarities; and it was therefore easier for them to invent a new school of poetry than to imitate the classics.'* Another writer, who has likewise profoundly studied the subject,† maintains, however, that the lays of the Celtic bards, which can never have been quite forgotten in Gaul, and the poetry of Scandinavia, introduced with the Norman conquest of one of the provinces of Gaul, has exercised some influence on the poetry of the trouvères at least, if not on that of their brothers of the south. This opinion seems indeed to be well-founded, particularly when we consider how slowly the popular songs die out on the lips of a nation; and that in spite of its Roman organisation and administration, the mass of the population in Gaul must in a great measure have retained its nationality and its language. However this may be, it is certain that the trouvères and troubadours were preceded by popular poets, commonly designated by the name of jongleurs, who, though their compositions, from a literary point of view, were greatly inferior to the productions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, nevertheless invented all those different kinds of poetry in which their successors so greatly distinguished themselves. The jongleurs were a class of men, who, uniting the arts of poetry and music, sang the verses which they composed, to the accompaniment of divers instruments—a custom which very likely they inherited from the ancient Gallic bards, whose name does not appear in history after the fifth century, but whose functions and privileges seem in a great measure to have devolved upon the jongleurs, which latter denomination dates only from the reign of the second race of French kings (687– 987.) The change of name, however, indicated a change of character also. The character of the bards was serious, and even sacred; their muse never condescended to treat of any but elevated subjects, and the nobleness of their strains corresponded to the dignity of their themes. But in the eighth and ninth centuries-during which period they were in such high repute that even bishops, abbots, and abbesses used to have jongleurs attached to their personal service-the poets lost their ancient gravity, and began to accompany their songs with gesticulations and feats of agility, calculated to excite the wonder, but also the merriment, of their auditors—a custom to which they owe the name of jongleur or juggler, derived from the Latin word joculator, from jocus, to play. The battle of Hastings, which subjected England to the Normans, was commenced, says the chronicler Robert Ware, by the jongleur Taillefer, attached to the army of William the Conqueror, who advanced singing of the fabulous exploits of some hero of the times, and performing feats of agility with his lance and sword, which struck terror into the Saxons, who thought his dexterity must be the effect of witchcraft. Like the bards, the jongleurs formed a separate corporation, under the special protection of the laws, and headed by a chief, who was called king of the jongleurs, and who was nominated by the chief of the state. They were also attached to the courts of kings and princes, and barons, whose glorious exploits formed the theme of many of their songs; and they were admitted to all public festivities and assemblies. But when the jongleurs began to rove through the country, accompanied

* Reynouard-Choix des Poésies Originales des Troubadours.

+ De la Rue-Histoire des Trouvères, Normands et Anglo-Normands.

by troops of women, dancers and mountebanks, all affinity between them and their predecessors ceased, and they gradually degenerated, until their once so honourable craft sank into such contempt that their name became a term of reproach, and their morals so scandalous, that it was considered degrading to receive them, or to be present at their representations. They continued, however, to exist until the sixteenth century, and must probably have retrieved their character somewhat, subsequent to the period when Philip Augustus, king of France, caused them to be expelled from his domains; for in the lives of several troubadours we read of their having jongleurs in their service, who followed them in their peregrinations, sang their compositions, and shared in the honours of their masters: and instances are also mentioned of troubadours, who, having lost their fortunes, became jongleurs, and of jongleurs who attained to the honour of knighthood. The latter fact seems, however, to have been of very rare occurrence; but it is believed that the jongleurs were generally engaged by the high-born knights and mighty barons, who cultivated the art of poetry, to sing their compositions in public, to do which was probably considered below their own dignity; and that they were in like manner employed by the lady poetesses, several of whom bear an honourable name in the literary annals of the times.

When the jongleur travelled on foot, his instrument—a kind of violin with three strings-was suspended round his neck; when on horseback, it was attached to the saddlebow. Sometimes, however, these itinerant poets made use of harps, but then the ancient romances denominate them harpers. Their dress was frequently party coloured; and from the belt was suspended a kind of purse, which they called a malette or almoner, in which they deposited the money they received in return for the amusement they bestowed; for, unlike the trouvères and troubadours, who cultivated poetry as a liberal art, the jongleurs exercised their art for money—a circumstance which probably had no small share in their degeneracy, as the desire of gain led them to flatter the vices of the times, and to sell their services to whoever would bid for them. Thus, at the time when their licentious manners and libellous tongues had caused their expulsion from France, they overspread all the adjoining countries, and numbers came over to England on the invitation of William de Longchamps, bishop of Ely, who governed this kingdom during the absence of King Richard the Lionhearted, and who, desirous of blinding the people to the vices of his administration, hired the voices of these strolling singers to proclaim his virtues to the public.* At times, also, the jongleurs were rewarded with gifts of horses and fine clothes; and when a wealthy knight or baron wished to confer an uncommon favour, he pulled off his own rich cloak, and placed it on the shoulders of the minstrel. Such marks of esteem were, however, only bestowed during the period when the jongleurs were held high in honour; afterwards they were conferred on trouvères and troubadours only. Indeed, passages which occur in the works of the troubadours and trouvères point it out as a distinctive mark between these poets and the jongleurs, that the former receive only presents in return for the pleasure they bestow, while the latter accept of money. Another dis

* De la Rue-Essais Historiques sur les Bardes, les Jongleurs et les Trouvères.

No. 84.

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tinction was, that the troubadours and trouvères never sung or recited any but their own compositions; and altogether the profession of the jongleur was considered much inferior to that of the troubadour, even when the latter, like the former, went from castle to castle with his mandoline on his back, claiming hospitality in return for his music and poetry.

Like the bards, the jongleurs held a kind of neutral character, which gave them admittance to hostile camps and castles; and the garb of these strolling minstrels was therefore not unfrequently assumed by barons and knights when engaged on some clandestine mission. Thus we are told that when Ela, Countess of Salisbury, had lost her parents in England, and was by her guardians detained in secret in a castle in Normandy, King Richard I.-who desired to give the rich heiress in marriage to his illegitimate brother, William Longsword, the son of Fair Rosamond-sent a knight called William Talbot, disguised as a pilgrim, to traverse the province in search of the fair prisoner. Talbot was lucky enough to discover the castle in which she was concealed, but was unable to penetrate within its gates until he assumed the dress of a jongleur. This gained him admittance; and having found the means of informing the young countess of his mission, he returned with her to England, where the marriage was celebrated.

The compositions of jongleurs, trouvères, and troubadours, were alike distinguished by a variety of names, which must not, however, therefore be accepted as indicating as many distinct kinds of poetry, for very frequently they only designate a difference of form, or are used to indicate the subjectmatter of the poem. In fact, but four different kinds of poetic compositions can be distinguished-namely, romances,* dramatic compositions, fabliaux or tales, and the more strictly lyrical poems; because, though all compositions not dramatic in those days were chanted to the accompaniment of music, we cannot comprise under the latter denomination narratives sometimes containing 20,000 verses, nor satirical delineations of character, and anecdotes borrowed from private and domestic life, such as the fabliaux. The romances, which seem to have derived their name from the language in which they originated are, from the historical point of view, the most interesting of all the literary productions of the middle ages, though in point of æsthetic value they are perhaps inferior. They are, as M. de Villemain justly observes,† invaluable supplements to the history of the times, and supplements which narrate all that history has forgotten. So fully do they initiate the reader into the manners and customs of the bygone times which they depict, that from their pages has been compiled a description of the chivalric institutions, laws, and customs, so minute and complete in all its details, that we can hardly form a clearer conception of any institution of our own day, than we may

* We must observe that in thus classifying the compositions of the middle ages, we comprehend under the name of romances a variety of works which are very different from such as we now designate by that name. For instance, moral and religious allegories, philosophical treatises, works on natural history, and works professedly purely historical, in all of which the trouvères more particularly distinguished themselves.

+ Cours de Littérature Française.

obtain of chivalry from M. Lacurne de St Palaye's essays upon the subject, compiled from these sources. The romances of the middle ages are of various character, but the most numerous and the most important are the love romances and the chivalrous romances-the former being purely fictitious, and treating exclusively of love adventures; while in one class of the latter, chivalrous exploits are the only theme, and in another these and amorous adventures bear an equal share, while in those of later date at least some degree of historical truth prevails. The principal object which the old romancers had in view, was not only to amuse their auditors, and to inspire the knights and esquires with the virtues belonging to their station, but also to stimulate their warlike ardour by placing before them ideal deeds of strength and valour, surpassing all those which history recorded. The effect of these exciting narratives in an age when men were but too prone to consider warlike enterprise or its mimic sports the sole occupation worthy of them, was such that the sentiments of honour which chivalry had contributed so greatly to develop, and which exercised so beneficial an influence as long as they were kept pure, ultimately degenerated into a kind of fanaticism, which in a measure reproduced the ferocity they had at first helped to subdue; and the welfare and safety of the state, which were originally the chief objects of the institution of chivalry, were forgotten in a desire for personal glory. The share which women had in the abuses as well as the merits of chivalry are also distinctly traced in these old romances. We there see the weaker sex using the almost boundless influence which they possessed, to stimulate their admirers to deeds of the utmost temerity, for no other purpose than to gratify their own vanity and to test the strength of the passion they inspired. We see them presiding over the tournaments, rewarding valour with their sweetest smiles, punishing cowardice and want of skill with a contempt with which they did not always visit moral depravity, and giving the signal for the action to begin. Until this signal was given, the knights, who gloried in the title of slaves to the ladies, were considered bound in their chains, and unable to begin the combat before their fair mistresses had condescended to unrivet their fetters and give free scope to their valour. But if the ladies on these occasions fanned the flame of military ardour, they also endeavoured to prevent its degenerating into ferocity; and when the combat threatened to become too fierce, a sign from them arrested the upraised lances, and re-established order and chivalrous decorum. Each tournament ended with a tilt in honour of the ladies; and a kiss from the Queen of Beauty, as the lady who presided over the fête was sometimes termed, was considered by the victor a reward far above the value of the prize awarded to him by the judges of the combat. And if his wounds prevented him from appearing in the festive assembly which terminated the pleasures of the day, he is represented as forgetting the tediousness of his sick-bed in listening to the romances, which recorded loves and achievements similar to his own.

One of the most remarkable of these romances is the 'Vows of the Heron,' a production of the middle of the fourteenth century, which, if space permitted, we should like to give in outline, as exhibiting in a strong light that mixture of savage ferocity and chivalrous courtesy which characterised the manners of the middle ages. In commenting upon this