Foundations and Foundation Myths of the Troubadours

Abstract

A review of several origin myths relating to the creation of medieval Occitan lyric poetry. We see a preference for a “great man theory” of origins, though the “great man” may be a fictional woman. Medieval and early Renaissance Occitan authors, including Uc de Saint Circ, Guilhem Molinier, and Jean de Nostredame, used differing origin myths to validate literature in a language that was perceived not to carry the prestige of twelfth- and thirteenth-century Latin or fifteen- and sixteenth-century French.