Mahieu le Juif was an

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 intelligib ...

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- ...

. His name means "Matthew the Jew" and, if his own songs are to be believed, he was a convert from

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. Only two of his songs survive, one with a melody. He has been conflated with

Mahieu de Gant Mahieu de Gant ('' fl.'' mid–late 13th century) was a Flemish trouvère (poet- composer) from Ghent associated with the so-called "school of Arras". He has been conflated with Mahieu le Juif, but the same manuscript containing both their works ...

, but the same manuscript that contains both their works clearly distinguishes them. Mahieu's song, ''Par grant franchise'' (RS 782), was very widely copied and today exists in twelve

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 ...

s, including one in

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

. It recounts how the ''je'' (the first-person persona, perhaps to be equated with Mahieu himself) converted from Judaism to Christianity for the sake of his lady. Instead of love, however, he is ridiculed by her. The melody shows some variation between sources and there is intertextual similarity between a piece of the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

Albertet de Sestaro and ''Par grant'', but the direction of any influence of the one on the other cannot be ascertained: though Jeanroy assumed that the trouvère was influenced by the troubadour. Mahieu's other piece, ''Pour autrui movrai'' (RS 313), likewise refers to his Jewishness, but it was not as widely copied, appearing only 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 ...

(Trouvère chansonnier M) and the

Chansonnier de Noailles 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 ...

(Trouvère chansonnier T).

References

*Falck, Robert
"Mahieu le Juif."
''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online''. Accessed 20 September 2008. * Jeanroy, Alfred (1898)
"Une imitation d'Albert de Sisteron par Mahieu le Juif,"
''Romania'', 27, 150. With a

from the

Biblioteca Estense The Biblioteca Estense ('' Estense Library''), was the family library of the marquis and dukes of Este. The exact date of the library's birth is still under speculation, however it is known for certain that the library was in use during the fourte ...

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

. {{Authority control Jewish composers Trouvères Male classical composers