Colin Muset (''fl''. ''c''. 1210–50 or 1230–70) 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- ...

and a native of

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

. He made his living in the

Champagne Champagne (, ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, that demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

by travelling from castle to castle singing songs of his own composition and playing the

vielle The vielle is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, three to five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs, sometimes with a ...

. These are not confined to the praise of

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing vari ...

that formed the usual topic of the trouvères, but contain many details of a

jongleur A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer who ...

's life. His complete works are eighteen: nine attributed in chansonniers, three self-referencing, and six whose attributions are based on modern scholarship (one of which is held to be mis-attributed in the manuscripts). Twenty one poems credited to him were edited and published by

Joseph Bédier Joseph Bédier (28 January 1864 – 29 August 1938) was a French writer and scholar and historian of medieval France. Biography Bédier was born in Paris, France, to Adolphe Bédier, a lawyer of Breton origin, and spent his childhood in Réunio ...

in 1912 (Paris). Two further editions appeared in 2005: one by Callahan and Rosenberg with translations into modern French, and, with translations into Italian, an edition by

Massimiliano Chiamenti Massimiliano Chiamenti (Florence, 1967 - Bologna, 2011) was an Italian poet and philologist who lived in Bologna, and taught at the "'' Liceo delle Scienze Sociali Laura Bassi and the "Liceo Scientifico Leonardo Da vinci"''". From 1993, he publis ...

, which reduced his authentic

corpus Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

to sixteen poems. Oxford Music online (effectively New Grove 2001), lists 12 songs. Nine of his poems have surviving music. Seven are ''chansons jongleuresques'', that is, songs describing the life of a jongleur. His three '' serventois'' condemn the avarice of the nobility, but his moralising is balanced by self-deprecating humour. He also wrote two ''

descort The ''descort'' () was a form and genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry used by troubadours. It was heavily discordant in verse form and/or feeling and often used to express disagreement. It was possibly invented by Garin d'Apchier when he wrote ''Qua ...

s'', one '' lai'', and one cynical ''

tenso A ''tenso'' (; french: tençon) is a style of troubadour song. It takes the form of a debate in which each voice defends a position; common topics relate to love or ethics. Usually, the tenso is written by two different poets, but several examples ...

n'' with

Jacques d'Amiens Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

. One of his patrons was Agnès de

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

duchess of Lorraine The royal consorts of the rulers of the Lorraine region have held varying titles, over a region that has varied in scope since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established r ...

. The nickname "Muset" may derive from his inspiration ("

muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

") or from his habit of ''muser'' (wandering about, wasting time).

References

Bibliography

* Joseph Bédier, ''Les chansons de Colin Muset''. 2nd edition, Classiques français du Moyen Age (Paris: H. Champion, 1938). * Christopher J. Callahan, and Samuel N. Rosenberg, ''Les chansons de Colin Muset: textes et mélodies'' (Paris: Champion, 2005).

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muset, Colin People from Lorraine 13th-century French people Trouvères Year of birth uncertain Year of death missing Male classical composers