Projects

Statement of intent: I hope to explore the material grounding of lineage and honor in Betran de Born's canos "B'em platz lo gais temps de pascor" in this project.Thicker than Water:Bertran de Born’s Quest for Rebirth in “Be’m platz lo gais temps de pascor”To reach the castle at Quéribus, tourists climb a craggy, sandy path that weaves steeply up the mountainside. From outside, the castle looms darkly down at the viewer; from inside, it corners the inhabitant with its angled walls.

Statement of intent: This second podcast explores the symbolism of the bird in ancient and modern poems and music.

Statement of intent: This project looks at material references of roses in troubadour lyric to explore potential channels for the medieval introduction of roses.

Stanford has a copy of the legal Statuta Civitatis Massilie that dates to 1265-1319 as additions to the document were made to include information such as lists understood to reflect vibrant economic activity. The lists include an entry for “Rozas sequas” or dried roses. Linda Paterson’s The World of the Troubadours contains an extensive survey of medieval Occitan society, including the economy, and she has found no evidence of rose cultivation or trade in the region, despite the occasional name of an object like a ship or barrel.

Statement of intent: This project looks at material references of roses in troubadour lyric to explore potential channels for the medieval introduction of roses.

 In my final paper, I bring to light some connections that critics drew between the troubadours and the Cathars. In order to do so, in the first part of my paper I present some elements of the Cathar doctrine. The gallery of pictures illustrates some of their dogmatic characteristics.   Catharism was a dogma that essentially expressed the dualism between good and evil, light and dark powers. In Languedoc, two different versions of the dogma developed in time.

Link to tumblr project page : http://translatingtroubadours.tumblr.com/ In my project, my goal was to create an online environment that immerses the viewer in the process of translating France’s medieval past into the modernist era of Ezra Pound during the late 19th and early 20th century. I chose to make a tumblr page that allowed me to post images, videos (click on the magnifying glass in the corner to play videos and to read some of the image captions), and text that could move horizontally.

In his fourth Cantiga de Santa Maria, Alfonso narrates the conversion of a Jewish mother and son to Christianity after the father attempts to burn the son alive for receiving communion from the Virgin Mary. Mary acts as a guide towards the vera vía of Christianity by giving the Jewish boy communion; although she still acts as a powerful domna, she is much less sexualized and physically idealized than the domnas of previous troubadours. She presents an image that Alfonso describes as "resplendent" as she cradles her son in her arms.

Amelia, a music major at Oklahoma Christian University recently discovered, while looking at The Garden of Earthly Delights, the triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, a partition written on the butt of one of the infernal characters. Amelia decided to transcribe the song based on her knowledge of Gregorian chants. She mentionned that she assumed the second line of the staff was C, since it is common for Gregorian chants for this era.

As in the dialogue songs, all the action of this scene of When Harry met Sally is conveyed through words. 

While the vida of la Comtessa de Dia does not say much, we know from her forthright cansos that she was a strong woman who believed in the female right to declare her love. She often sung of romantic longing and sensuous desire, "reclaiming and reconverting the role of love's marytr" (Bruckner et. al. xxx). La Comtessa de Dia is, in fact, the most famous and influential trobairitz of her time. A feminist and revolutionary, she assumes the typical male role in the song; she demands the power in the relationship.

A song can be broken down into two main components: music/sound and lyrics. The lyrics are often dissected and analyzed piece by piece for literal and hidden meanings. On the other hand, the interpretation of the sound varies depending on the audience since it is strongly affected by personal schema. Thus, in “T’ant m’abelis” by Berenguier de Palou, the meaning that is gathered through the music and sound can be vastly different during the height of the Troubadours compared to the contemporary era.

The Troubadour King, Alfonso X (King of Castille and Lord of the Holy Roman Empire), composed songs for the Virgin Mary. “And that which I seek is to praise the Virgin, Mother of our Lord, Holy Mary, the most wondrous of His creations. Therefore I wish, from this day forth to be Her troubadour, and I pray that She will have me for Her troubadour and accept my songs, for through them I seek to reveal the miracles She performed.