Raoul de Soissons (1210x15 – 1270, or shortly thereafter) 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 ...

, Crusader, and

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- ...

. He was the second son of Raoul le Bon,

Count of Soissons This is a list of those who bore the title Count of Soissons (french: Comte de Soissons) and ruled Soissons and its '' civitas'' or diocese as a county in the Middle Ages. The title continued in use into modern times, but without ties to the actual ...

, and became the

Sire Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French. The words "sire" a ...

de Coeuvres in 1232. Raoul participated in three Crusades.

Life

In 1239, Raoul joined his lord

Peter I, Duke of Brittany Peter I (french: Pierre; 1187 – 26 May 1250), also known as Peter Mauclerc, was Duke of Brittany ''jure uxoris'' from 1213 to 1221, and regent of the duchy for his minor son John I from 1221 to 1237. As duke he was also 1st Earl of Richmond fr ...

, on the crusade of Theobald I of Navarre. There, he and Peter split off from the main army, split their force in half, and successfully conducted a cattle raid against a Muslim caravan. During a sojourn in

Kingdom of Cyprus The Kingdom of Cyprus (french: Royaume de Chypre, la, Regnum Cypri) was a state that existed between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan. It comprised not only the island of Cyprus, but it also had a foothold on the Anat ...

he met and wed Alice (died 1246), the queen-mother and a claimant to the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establishe ...

, in 1241. In 1243 he returned to France, but joined the Seventh Crusade led by

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 ...

in 1248. He is last mentioned on the

Eighth Crusade The Eighth Crusade was the second Crusade launched by Louis IX of France, this one against the Hafsid dynasty in Tunisia in 1270. It is also known as the Crusade of Louis IX against Tunis or the Second Crusade of Louis. The Crusade did not see ...

in 1270, and it is usually assumed that he died on that expedition.

Songs

Raoul composed the ''

jeu parti ''Jeu'' is a 2006 animated short by Georges Schwizgebel. Described as a film about the frenetic pace of modern life, ''Jeu'' is set to the scherzo of Prokofiev's Concerto for Piano No. 2, Opus 16. The film has received 12 international awards, in ...

'' "Sir, loez moi a loisir" with Theobald of Navarre. He also dedicated his "Rois de Navare et sire de Vertu" ('King of Navarre and lord of virtue') to the Navarrese king. Raoul is also mentioned in three ''

envoi Envoi or envoy in poetry is used to describe: * A short stanza at the end of a poem such as a ballad, used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem. * A dedicatory poem about sending the book o ...

s'' of Theobald's. Raoul was also the judge of a ''jeu parti'' between

Henry III of Brabant Henry III of Brabant ( 1230 – February 28, 1261, Leuven) was Duke of Brabant between 1248 and his death. He was the son of Henry II of Brabant and Marie of Hohenstaufen. He was also a trouvère. The disputed territory of Lothier, the form ...

and

Gillebert de Berneville Gillebert (Guillebert) de Berneville (''fl. '' 1250–70) was a French trouvère. According to Theodore Karp, in its time, "his poetry was much appreciated", but it is " ither original nor profound," rather he was and is admired more for "facility, ...

. In total, seven ''

chansons A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...

'' are attributed to Raoul in various ''

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''. One alone, "E, cuens d’Anjou, on dit par felonie", is uncontested by other attributions, and dedicated to

Charles of Anjou Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) i ...

. Four, however, are also attributed to Thierri de Soissons, who may be the same person as Raoul. Two more attributions are considered erroneous today. The song "Chançon m'estuet et fere et comencier" served as a model for two anonymous ''chansons'': "Par mainte fois m'ont mesdisant grevé" and "Chanter m'estuet de cele sans targier". But Raoul's most popular piece was doubtless "Quant voi la glaie meure", which was the model for five other works: *"Deus, je n'os nomer amie" (anonymous) *"Vierge des cieus, clere et pure" (anonymous) *"O constantie dignitas" (

Adam de la Bassée Adam de la Bassée (died 25 February 1286) was a canon of the collegiate church of Saint Pierre in Lille, and a poet and musician associated with the circle of trouvères around Arras. Around 1280, he composed the ''Ludus super Anticlaudianum'' (" ...

) *"Mere, douce creature" (

Jaque de Cambrai Jacques de Cambrai ('' fl. c.'' 1260–80), sometimes Jaque or Jaikes, was a trouvère from Cambrai. He composed four '' chansons courtoises'', one '' pastourelle'', six devotional ''chansons'', and one Marian '' rotrouenge''. The Berne manus ...

) *"Ausi com l'eschaufeure" (possibly Phelipe de Remi) Raoul also wrote a ''chanson'' called "Quant je voi et fueille et flour". All his melodies are written in bar form, with no

mensural notation Mensural notation is the musical notation system used for European vocal polyphonic music from the later part of the 13th century until about 1600. The term "mensural" refers to the ability of this system to describe precisely measured rhythm ...

Identification with Thierri

Thierri de Soissons (''

floruit ''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 ...

'' 1230–60) is unknown save for his appearance in the chansonniers. The four songs attributed to both him and Raoul are usually assigned to the latter by modern scholars, who still debate whether the two are different persons. There is no Thierri recorded in the family of the counts of Soissons. The two are mentioned together in one manuscript, but there Thierri occurs in a place where Raoul might have been expected (in a list of attributions from an earlier manuscript). Two works attributed to Thierri (and not Raoul)—"Destrece de trop amer" and "Quant avril et li biaus estés" (possibly not Thierri's)—are dedicated to Charles of Anjou. Though Thierri's musical settings are unlike those of Raoul, an insufficient number of melodies survives to "permit firm conclusions regarding the existence of two different artistic personalities". Thierri's other pieces are: *"A la plus sage et a la mieus vaillant" *"Amis Harchier, cil autre chanteour" *"Chancon legiere a chanter" *"Chanter m’estuet pour faire contenance" *"Se j’ai lonc tens esté en Romanie" *"Sens et raison et mesure" *"Helas, or ai je trop duré" (possibly not Thierri's)

Notes

Sources

* Karp, Theodore
"Raoul de Soissons."
''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online''. Accessed 20 September 2008. *Karp, Theodore
"Thierri de Soissons."
''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online''. Accessed 20 September 2008.

External links

*Hardy, Ineke, ed
''Les chansons attribuées au trouvère picard Raoul de Soissons. Edition critique''
Accessed 9 June 2015 Contains complete texts online with translations into modern French. {{DEFAULTSORT:Raoul De Soissons Trouvères Christians of the Barons' Crusade Christians of the Sixth Crusade Christians of the Seventh Crusade Christians of the Eighth Crusade 1210s births 1270 deaths Male classical composers Charles I of Anjou