Literary History of the Troubadours

...martial The text likely refers to the "martial Muse" or military poetry from the preceding page.: some serve as the trumpets of fanaticism; others depict customs and rail against public disorders; a few even touch upon philosophy. If Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (1503–1566), though famous for his prophecies, also wrote about the lives of the ancient Provençal poets, often with significant historical inaccuracies. had known only a portion of the manuscripts of Mr. de Sainte-Palaye Jean-Baptiste de La Curne de Sainte-Palaye (1697–1781), a pioneering scholar of medieval French culture and the troubadours.: however mediocre his talent for thinking and writing might have been, he would have at least left us a work that was instructive and curious.

I propose in this Discourse, not to highlight the importance of the subject, but to present it from a general point of view, which will allow its connections to be better understood. What was poetry before nations emerged from their initial state of simplicity? What progress did it make during the era of the troubadours? What idea should we form of the customs of their time, and especially of that famous gallantry original: "galanterie"; in this context, it refers to the refined code of courtly love and chivalrous conduct that defined the medieval era which constantly inspired them, because it was like... This sentence continues on the next page (xvij): "...the soul of society?"