The ''Chanson de toile'' (also called ''chanson d'histoire'') was a

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travelogue, etc.) or fictional ( fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller, novel, etc. ...

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

devised by the

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet ...

s which flourished in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Some fifteen of them remain; five were written by Audefroi le Bastart, the others are anonymous. Typically, they are set to music (though only four chansons remain with musical annotation) and tell the story of a young, often married woman pining for a lover, with a happy ending. The genre's name derives from

toile Toile (French for "canvas") is a textile fabric comparable to fine batiste with a cloth weave. Natural silk or chemical fiber filaments are usually used as materials. The word ''toile'' can refer to the fabric itself or to a test garment sewn ...

; that is, they are supposed to have been sung by women who were weaving, and the female main characters also sew as they relate their stories. The ''

Harvard Dictionary of Music ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' is a standard music reference book published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. The first edition, titled ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', was published in 1944, and was edited by Willi Apel. ...

'' says around 20 remain, but it includes several which were incorporated in larger works such as

Jean Renart Jean Renart, also known as Jean Renaut, was a Norman trouvère from the end of the 12th century and the first half of the 13th to whom three works are firmly ascribed: two metrical chivalric romances, ''L'Escoufle'' ("The Kite") and ''Guillaume de ...

's ''

Guillaume de Dole ''Guillaume de Dole'' (also known as ''(Le) Roman(s) de la Rose, or Guillaume de Dole'') is an Old French narrative romance by Jean Renart. Composed in the early 13th century, the poem is 5,656 lines long and is especially notable for the large n ...

'' (which incorporates no fewer than six ''chansons de toile''); it also suggests that since the woman's voice in the ''chanson de toile'' is so prominent some of them may have been composed by women. Musically some of them are quite ornate, considering the relatively simple narrative. In most cases, the song begins with a brief and sympathetic history of a woman: she is either absent from her lover or married unhappily to an older nobleman and in love with a knight. All but one end happily—the one exception is ''Bele Doette'', who learns that her lover has died and then founds a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

into which she retreats. The women sometimes appear careless, but their charm and demeanor are attractive. The chansons de toile are considered some of the most beautiful poems produced in Old French, and their importance was such that some of them were included in romances, in which they were sung by the heroines.

References

{{Western medieval lyric forms Medieval French literature Western medieval lyric forms Old French texts 12th-century poems 13th-century poems

See also

References