Occitania, known today as the 'south of France', had its own language and culture in the Middle Ages. Its troubadours created 'courtly love' and a new poetic language in the vernacular, which were to influence European literature for centuries; and its Cathar heretics were the first victims of the Inquisition. This is the first comprehensive study of the society in which the troubadours lived. For readers of literature it offers a wide-ranging insight into the realities which lay behind the poetic mystique. For historians it opens up an important and and neglected area of medieval Europe, comparable to France, Germany and Catalonia, drawing on sources not readily accessible to those without specialist linguistic and literary expertise. It addresses major issues, such as the nature of feudalism, knighthood, courts, medicine, women, and the family, and is accessible to the reader interested generally in the Middle Ages or Occitan culture.
Reviews
'This is a book of major importance to all medievalists ... The world of the troubadours successfully challenges or at leaxst questions many of the received orthodoxies about the South of France ... Dr Paterson's erudition and grasp of her subject are enviable, and she has produced a book which will certainly become a classic in its field.' The Times Literary Supplement



Book Information
ISBN 9780521558327
Author Linda M. Paterson
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 586g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 152mm * 25mm