Editing Troubadour (section)

==Origins==
The early study of the troubadours focused intensely on their origins. No academic consensus was ever achieved in the area. Today, one can distinguish at least eleven competing theories (the adjectives used below are a blend from the [[Grove Dictionary of Music]] and Roger Boase's ''The Origins and Meaning of Courtly Love''):

===Arabic===
The sixteenth century Italian historian Giammaria Barbieri<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dainotto |first=Roberto M. |date=2006 |title=Of the Arab Origin of Modern Europe: Giammaria Barbieri, Juan Andrés, and the Origin of Rhyme |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40279344 |journal=Comparative Literature |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=271–292 |doi=10.1215/-58-4-271 |jstor=40279344 |issn=0010-4124}}</ref> was perhaps the first to suggest Arabian (also ''Arabist'' or ''Hispano-Arabic'') influences on the music of the troubadours.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Diminutives in the "dīwān" of Ibn Quzmān: A Product of Their Hispanic Milieu?|journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London|volume=52|issue=2|year=1989|page=241|last1=Abu-Haidar|first1=JA|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00035448|s2cid=162509292 }}</ref> Later scholars like J.B. Trend have asserted that the poetry of troubadours is connected to Arabic poetry written in the Iberian Peninsula,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Veldeman|first1=Marie-Christine|year=2001|volume=28|issue=2|pages=87–100|journal=Equivalences|title=Egypt, or the quest for syncretism and spiritual wholeness in Lawrence Durrell's Avignon Quintet|doi=10.3406/equiv.2001.1233}}</ref> while others have attempted to find direct evidence of this influence. In examining the works of [[William IX of Aquitaine]], [[Évariste Lévi-Provençal]] and other scholars found three lines that they believed were in some form of Arabic, indicating a potential Andalusian origin for his works. The scholars attempted to translate the lines in question, though the medievalist Istvan Frank contended that the lines were not Arabic at all, but instead the result of the rewriting of the original by a later scribe.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Malkin|first1=Peter|title=Provence and Pound|page=[https://archive.org/details/provencepound0000maki/page/326 326]|publisher=University of California|year=1979|isbn=978-0520034884|url=https://archive.org/details/provencepound0000maki/page/326}}</ref><ref name="Beech1992">{{cite journal|title=Troubadour Contacts with Muslim Iberia and Knowledge of Arabic: New Evidence Concerning William IX of Aquitaine |journal=Romania|year=1992|pages=14–26|last1=Beech|first1=George T.|volume=113|issue=449|doi=10.3406/roma.1992.2180}}</ref>

Scholars like [[Ramón Menéndez Pidal]] stated that the troubadour tradition was created by William, who had been influenced by [[Moorish]] music and poetry while fighting with the [[Reconquista]]. However, George T. Beech states that there is only one documented battle that William fought in the Iberian Peninsula, and it occurred towards the end of his life. Beech adds that while the sources of William's inspirations are uncertain, he and his father did have individuals within their extended family with Iberian origins, and he may have been friendly with some Europeans who could speak the Arabic language.<ref name="Beech1992" /> Regardless of William's personal involvement in the tradition's creation, [[Magda Bogin]] states that Arab poetry was likely one of several influences on European "courtly love poetry", citing [[Ibn Hazm]]'s "[[The Ring of the Dove]]" as an example of a similar Arab tradition.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bogin|first1=Magda|last2=Bogin|first2=Meg|title=The Women Troubadours|year=1995|publisher=WW Norton|pages=46–47|isbn=978-0393009651}}</ref>

Methods of transmission from Arab Iberia to the rest of Europe did exist, such as the [[Toledo School of Translators]], though it only began translating major romances from Arabic into Latin in the second half of the thirteenth century, with [[Expurgation|objectionable sexual content]] removed in deference to the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>{{cite book|year=1997|isbn=978-0415609845|title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies|editor=Mona Baker and Kirsten Malmkjaer|page=553|chapter=Spanish tradition|publisher=Routledge}}</ref> 

===Bernardine-Marianist===

According to the Bernardine-Marianist (or Christian) theory, it was the theology espoused by [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] and the increasingly important [[Mariology]] that most strongly influenced the development of the troubadour genre. Specifically, the emphasis on religious and spiritual love, disinterestedness, mysticism, and devotion to Mary explained "courtly love". The emphasis of the reforming [[Robert of Arbrissel]] on "matronage" to achieve his ends can explain the troubadour attitude towards women.<ref>Gerald A. Bond, "Origins", in Akehurst and Davis, p. 246.</ref>

Chronologically, however, this hypothesis is hard to sustain, as the forces believed to have given rise to the phenomenon arrived later than it, but the influence of Bernardine and Marian theology can be retained without the origins theory. This theory was advanced early by Eduard Wechssler and further by Dmitri Scheludko (who emphasises the [[Cluniac Reform]]) and Guido Errante. Mario Casella and Leo Spitzer have added "[[Augustine of Hippo|Augustinian]]" influence to it.

===Celtic or chivalric-matriarchal===
The survival of pre-Christian sexual ''mores'' and warrior codes from [[matriarchal]] societies, be they [[Celt]]ic, [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]], or [[Pictish]], among the aristocracy of Europe can account for the idea (fusion) of "courtly love". The existence of pre-Christian matriarchy has usually been treated with scepticism as has the persistence of underlying paganism in high medieval Europe, though the Celts and Germanic tribes were certainly less patriarchal than the Greco-Romans.

===Classical Latin===
The classical Latin theory emphasises parallels between [[Ovid]], especially his ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'' and ''Ars amatoria'', and the lyric of courtly love. The ''aetas ovidiana'' that predominated in the 11th century in and around [[Orléans]], the quasi-[[Cicero]]nian ideology that held sway in the [[Holy Roman Empire|Imperial court]], and the scraps of [[Plato]] then available to scholars have all been cited as classical influences on troubadour poetry.<ref>Gerald A. Bond, "Origins", in Akehurst and Davis, p. 243.</ref>

===Crypto-Cathar===
According to this thesis, troubadour poetry is a reflection of [[Cathar]] religious doctrine. While the theory is supported by the traditional and near-universal account of the decline of the troubadours coinciding with the suppression of Catharism during the [[Albigensian Crusade]] (first half of the 13th century), support for it has come in waves. The explicitly Catholic meaning of many early troubadour works also works against the theory.

===Liturgical===
The troubadour lyric may be a development of the Christian [[liturgy]] and [[hymnody]]. The influence of the [[Song of Songs]] has even been suggested. There is no preceding [[Latin poetry]] resembling that of the troubadours. On those grounds, no theory of the latter's origins in classical or post-classical Latin can be constructed, but that has not deterred some, who believe that a pre-existing Latin corpus must merely be lost to us.{{sfn|Warren|1912|p=4}} That many troubadours received their grammatical training in Latin through the Church (from ''clerici'', clerics) and that many were trained musically by the Church is well-attested. The musical school of [[St. Martial's Abbey, Limoges|Saint Martial's]] at [[Limoges]] has been singled out in this regard.{{sfn|Warren|1912|p=7}} "Para-liturgical" [[trope (literature)|trope]]s were in use there in the era preceding the troubadours' appearance.

===Feudal-social===
This theory or set of related theories has gained ground in the 20th century. It is more a methodological approach to the question than a theory; it asks not from where the content or form of the lyric came but rather in what situation or circumstances did it arise.<ref name=menocal47>Menocal, 47.</ref> Under [[Marxist]] influence, [[Erich Köhler]], [[Marc Bloch]], and [[Georges Duby]] have suggested that the "essential hegemony" in the castle of the lord's wife during his absence was a driving force. The use of [[feudal]] terminology in troubadour poems is seen as evidence. This theory has been developed away from sociological towards [[psychological]] explanation.

===Folklore===
This theory may relate to spring folk rituals. According to [[María Rosa Menocal]], [[Alfred Jeanroy]] first suggested that [[folklore]] and [[oral tradition]] gave rise to troubadour poetry in 1883. According to F. M. Warren, it was [[Gaston Paris]], Jeanroy's reviewer, in 1891 who first located troubadour origins in the festive dances of women hearkening the spring in the [[Loire Valley]]. This theory has since been widely discredited, but the discovery of the ''[[jarcha]]s'' raises the question of the extent of literature (oral or written) in the 11th century and earlier.<ref name=menocal47/>

===Medieval Latin or Goliardic===
Hans Spanke analysed the intertextual connexion between vernacular and [[medieval Latin]] (such as [[Goliardic]]) songs. This theory is supported by Reto Bezzola, Peter Dronke, and musicologist [[Jacques Chailley]]. According to them, ''trobar'' means "inventing a trope", the trope being a poem where the words are used with a meaning different from their common signification, i.e. [[metaphor]] and [[metonymy]]. This poem was originally inserted in a serial of modulations ending a liturgic song. Then the trope became an autonomous piece organized in stanza form.<ref name="DITL">[http://www.ditl.info/arttest/art4482.php Troubadour], ''Observatoire de terminologie littéraire'', [[University of Limoges]], France.</ref> The influence of late 11th-century poets of the "Loire school", such as [[Marbod of Rennes]] and [[Hildebert of Lavardin]], is stressed in this connexion by Brinkmann.<ref>Gerald A. Bond, "Origins", in Akehurst and Davis, 244.</ref>

===Neoplatonic===
This theory is one of the more intellectualising. The "ennobling effects of love" in specific have been identified as [[neoplatonic]].<ref>Menocal, 46.</ref> It is viewed either as a strength or weakness that this theory requires a second theory about how the neoplatonism was transmitted to the troubadours; perhaps it can be coupled with one of the other origins stories or perhaps it is just peripheral. Käte Axhausen has "exploited" this theory and A. J. Denomy has linked it with the Arabist (through [[Avicenna]]) and the Cathar (through [[John Scotus Eriugena]]).{{sfn|Silverstein|1949|p=118}}