Literary History of the Troubadours

...that I would not make it a duty for myself to assist them.

The adventures, and even the gallant poems original: "pièces galantes"; these were courtly poems focused on love, social grace, and the refined etiquette of the medieval courts. of the troubadours, purified of everything that modesty must forbid, can serve, without pedantry, either to characterize the spirit and manners original: "mœurs"; the social customs, moral character, and daily life of a historical period. of the centuries of chivalry The religious, moral, and social system of knighthood., or to depict hateful vice when it disturbs the harmony and duties of society. Under the pen of Fénélon François Fénélon (1651–1715) was a French archbishop and influential writer. His work The Adventures of Telemachus used mythological tales to teach moral and political lessons., the enchanting island of Calypso A reference to the sea nymph in Homer's Odyssey; Fénélon used her island as a setting to show the dangers of being led astray by passion. and the deceptive delights of love provided material for the lessons of wisdom. This great man did not doubt that, to be solidly protected against disorders, it was necessary to know their nature and dangers. Thus history and morality are closely linked to one another. The first offers the facts; the second draws the consequences from them.

Even the indecent satires of some troubadours against the clergy, or against the court of Rome, all become matter for instruction. They relate to historical facts and the manners of the time: they prove that the centuries of ignorance were centuries of disorder; that the ministers of the church did much harm to religion itself, through abuses and excesses only too capable of stirring up minds; that their mi-