Andrieu Contredit d'Arras ( 1200 – 1248) was a trouvère from

Arras Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...

and active in the

Puy d'Arras The Puy d'Arras, called in its own day the Puy Notre-Dame, was a medieval poetical society formed in Arras for holding contests between trouvères and ''pour maintenir amour et joie'' (for maintaining love and joy, i.e. the courtly love lyric). ...

. "Contredit" is probably a nickname. He wrote mostly '' grand chants'', but also a ''

pastourelle The pastourelle (; also ''pastorelle'', ''pastorella'', or ''pastorita'' is a typically Old French lyric form concerning the romance of a shepherdess. In most of the early pastourelles, the poet knight meets a shepherdess who bests him in a batt ...

'', a ''

lai Lai or LAI may refer to: Abbreviations * Austrian Latin America Institute (Österreichisches Lateinamerika-Institut) * ''Latin American Idol'', TV series * La Trobe Institute, Melbourne, Australia * Leaf area index, leaf area of a crop or ve ...

'', and a '' jeu-parti'' with Guillaume li Vinier. Andrieu is probably the ' who in 1239, according to French royal documents, joined the

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

Theobald I of Navarre Theobald I (french: Thibaut, es, Teobaldo; 30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), also called the Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous ...

as a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

and minstrel. His appearance in royal documents may indicate his service (probably as a minstrel) to

Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

, and he addressed his song ' to Louis. His song ' was addressed to the Puy. One of the most important sources on his life is the register of the Puy. It records his death at Arras in 1248 and the death of his wife in 1225.She is referred to as ''Contredite femme Andrieu'', while Andrieu himself is referred to as ''Contredis Andrius''. Another member of the Puy named Contredit died in 1207. Contredit may therefore be a surname, c.f. Vigneras (1934). Besides the register of the Puy are Andrieu's poems themselves, since he wrote twenty and named himself as author in fourteen. He addressed ' to a "Marote", probably fellow trouvère Maroie de Diergnau de Lille. He praised the city of Arras in '. Andrieu twice refers to himself as ''messire'' (mister), a title reserved for

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

. His

blason Blason is a form of poetry. The term originally comes from the heraldic term "blazon" in French heraldry, which means either the blazon, codified description of a coat of arms or the coat of arms itself. The Dutch term is Blazoen, and in either Du ...

had once decorated

chansonnier A chansonnier ( ca, cançoner, oc, cançonièr, Galician and pt, cancioneiro, it, canzoniere or ''canzoniéro'', es, cancionero) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings o ...

known as MS 844 in the

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

, but it has now been lost. Andrieu's verses show little variation of form. They all begin with the same rhyme scheme (ABAB), all are in regular metre, and all use the same few lengths of line. Andrieu's music is more varied, though it is all in

bar form Bar form (German: ''die Barform'' or ''der Bar'') is a musical form of the pattern AAB. Original use The term comes from the rigorous terminology of the Meistersinger guilds of the 15th to 18th century who used it to refer to their songs and the ...

. The melodies are frequently non-repetitive and sometimes motivic.

List of works

*' *' *' *' *' *', survives without music *', survives without music and incipit *', survives without music and incipit *', his part of a ''jeu-parti'', survives without music *' *' *' *' *' *' *' *' *' *' *'

References

* Karp, Theodore
"Andrieu Contredit d'Arras."
''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online''. Accessed 20 September 2008.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Contredit Darras, Andrieu 12th-century births 1248 deaths Trouvères Christians of the Crusades People from Arras Male classical composers