What is a troubadour?

A troubadour was a poet-musician who flourished from the late 11th to the mid-13th century in the Occitan-speaking regions of France. They were influential poets and singers and were often responsible for crafting love songs, ballads, and chansons. Typically, troubadours were men from the nobility who wandered around the courts of feudal lords, entertaining with their songs and poems. They were generally not professional singers, and they wrote and performed their own works, often accompanying themselves on the lute or some other instrument. Troubadours were highly respected as artists and were often patrons of their local lords. Their themes included chivalry, courtly love, social satire, and political protest. Troubadours played an important role in the rise of the vernacular language and contributed to the development of modern European literature.