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The Troubadours and Trobairitz
Music was an integral part of courtly life in the Midi. High-born women and men wrote verse in very sophisticated forms and sang them to their company at banquets and other events. Sometimes two people, often a man and a woman but not always, would carry on lengthy conversations—or arguments—in verse back and forth, using courtly conventions and strict metrical forms.
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Vielle
The vielle was a medieval stringed instrument played with a bow. Its distinctive leaf-shaped body identifies it in images of the time.
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Citole
This is the medieval precursor to the guitar, a stringed instrument that is plucked rather than bowed. Its body is shaped a little like a holly leaf. This is the instrument Azalaïs sees on the back of the musician who passes by at the beginning of the book, just before she finds the mysterious scroll.
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Rebec
Another bowed stringed instrument, this one played by resting on the arm or under the chin.
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Trobairitz Music
This video gives you an idea of what the trobairitz music might have sounded like.
