Guillaume de Ferrières,

Vidame de Chartres Vidame de Chartres was a title in the French nobility. There are a few vidame titles in France, of which that of Chartres is probably the best known, because a number of holders have been notable in widely different ways over the centuries. Vida ...

(''c''. 1150 ?April 1204) was a

French nobleman The French nobility (french: la noblesse française) was a privileged social class in France from the Middle Ages until its abolition on June 23, 1790 during the French Revolution. From 1808 to 1815 during the First Empire the Emperor Napolé ...

, probably the same person as the trouvère whose works are recorded only as by the

, his title. Eight songs in total have been attributed to the

Vidame Vidame () was a feudal title in France, a term descended from mediaeval Latin . Like the ''avoué'' or ''advocatus'', the ''vidame'' was originally a secular official chosen by the bishop of the diocese—with the consent of the count—to pe ...

, though all but one with conflicting attributions to others. He is not to be confused with Raoul de Ferrières (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1200–10), also a trouvère. Guillaume took part in the Third (1188–92) and Fourth Crusades (1201–4), and died in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

as part of the latter. A reference in the Vidame's song ''Combien que j'aie demouré'' to a forced sojourn in a "hated land" probably refers to Guillaume's stay in southwestern France in 1188, before the departure of the Crusade, while the leaders ( Richard the Lionheart and

Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French m ...

) were squabbling. Further evidence linking the trouvère with Guillaume includes a quotation of two stanzas of the Vidame's most popular song, ''Quant la saison du dous tens s'asseure'', in the

chivalric romance As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric k ...

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 was written probably in the 1220s. ''Quant la saison'' was, by implication, written some years prior. The rather garbled and uncertain melodies which accompany the Vidame's poems further support an early (pre-1200) date for the trouvère. One piece of evidence relating to the identity of the Vidame has not yet been adequately explained. The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

with which the trouvère is depicted in his miniature portrait in the

Chansonnier du Roi The ''Manuscrit du Roi'' or ''Chansonnier du Roi'' ("King's Manuscript" or "King's Songbook" in English) is a prominent songbook compiled towards the middle of the thirteenth century, probably between 1255 and 1260 and a major testimony of Europea ...

belonged mid-century to the Meslay family, who became

vidame Vidame () was a feudal title in France, a term descended from mediaeval Latin . Like the ''avoué'' or ''advocatus'', the ''vidame'' was originally a secular official chosen by the bishop of the diocese—with the consent of the count—to pe ...

s of

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

only in 1224. Only one of the eight songs variously attributed to the Vidame is not also ascribed to another. Only three, however, are regularly doubted to be his, and only one of these—''Quant foillissent li boscage''—is almost certainly not his. One of the remaining two, ''Desconsilliez plus que nus hom qui soit'', which survives without music, is attributed in one manuscript to ''Li viscuens de Chartres'' (the

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

of Chartres), probably an error for vidame. Five of the Vidame's songs are basically

isometric The term ''isometric'' comes from the Greek for "having equal measurement". isometric may mean: * Cubic crystal system, also called isometric crystal system * Isometre, a rhythmic technique in music. * "Isometric (Intro)", a song by Madeon from ...

and

decasyllabic Decasyllable (Italian: ''decasillabo'', French: ''décasyllabe'', Serbian: ''десетерац'', ''deseterac'') is a poetic meter of ten syllables used in poetic traditions of syllabic verse. In languages with a stress accent (accentual v ...

. The remaining three are heterometric but mainly

octosyllabic The octosyllable or octosyllabic verse is a line of verse with eight syllables. It is equivalent to tetrameter verse in trochees in languages with a stress accent. Its first occurrence is in a 10th-century Old French saint's legend, the '' Vie de ...

. With the sole exception of ''Li plus desconfortés du mont'', all his melodies are preserved 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 ...

and cover more than an

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

in range each. Though most survive with modal structures, these vary from manuscript to manuscript and are unreliable.

List of songs

*''Chascuns me semont de chanter'' *''Combien que j'aie demouré'' *''D'amours vient joie et honours ensement'' *''Quant la saison du dous tens s'asseure'' *''Tant ai d'amours qu'en chantant m'estuet plaindre'' *''Tant con je fusse fors de ma contree'' ;Doubtful works *''Desconsilliez plus que nus hom qui soit'' (no music) *''Li plus desconfortés du mont'' *''Quant foillissent li boscage''

References

* Karp, Theodore C.br>"Vidame de Chartres."
''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online''. Accessed 20 September 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillaume de Ferrieres 1150s births 1204 deaths Trouvères Christians of the Third Crusade Christians of the Fourth Crusade Male classical composers