Raoul de Soissons
Encyclopedia
Raoul de Soissons was a French nobleman
, Crusader
, and trouvère
. He was the second son of Raoul le Bon
, Count of Soissons
, and became the Sire
de Coeuvres in 1232. Raoul participated in three Crusades.
In 1239 Raoul joined the Crusade of Theobald I of Navarre
. During a sojourn in Kingdom of Cyprus
he met and wed Alice (died 1246), the queen-mother and a claimant to the Kingdom of Jerusalem
, in 1241. In 1243 he returned to France, but joined the Seventh Crusade
led by Louis IX
in 1248. He is last mentioned on the Eighth Crusade
in 1270, and it is usually assumed that he died on the expedition.
Raoul composed the jeu parti
"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
s of Theobald's. Raoul was also the judge of a jeu parti between Henry III of Brabant and Gillebert de Berneville.
In total, seven chansons are attributed to Raoul in various chansonnier
s. One alone, "E, cuens d’Anjou, on dit par felonie", is uncontested by other attributions, and dedicated to Charles of Anjou. 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:
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
.
Thierri de Soissons (floruit
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:
French nobility
The French nobility was the privileged order of France in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern periods.In the political system of the Estates General, the nobility made up the Second Estate...
, Crusader
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, and trouvère
Trouvère
Trouvère , sometimes spelled trouveur , is the Northern French form of the word trobador . It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France...
. He was the second son of Raoul le Bon
Ralph, Count of Soissons
Ralph the Good , also known as Raoul III de Nesle, was the Count of Soissons from 1180. He was the third son of Raoul II de Nesle and Gertrude de Montaigu....
, Count of Soissons
Count of Soissons
This is a list of those who bore the title Count of 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 Soissonnais.-Carolingians:...
, and became the Sire
Sire
Sire may refer to:* Father, the counterpart of a dam, particularly in animal breeding. See also stallion* James W. Sire, author on worldviews* Sire Records, a record label* Sire Advertising, an advertising agency...
de Coeuvres in 1232. Raoul participated in three Crusades.
In 1239 Raoul joined the Crusade of Theobald I of Navarre
Theobald I of Navarre
Theobald I , called the Troubadour, the Chansonnier, and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne from birth and King of Navarre from 1234...
. During a sojourn in Kingdom of Cyprus
Kingdom of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...
he met and wed Alice (died 1246), the queen-mother and a claimant to the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
, in 1241. In 1243 he returned to France, but joined the Seventh Crusade
Seventh Crusade
The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, was captured and defeated by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya...
led by Louis IX
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
in 1248. He is last mentioned on the Eighth Crusade
Eighth Crusade
The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade...
in 1270, and it is usually assumed that he died on the expedition.
Raoul composed the jeu parti
Jeu parti
Jeu parti [Fr.; Occitan joc partit, “partimen”]. A debate or dialogue in the form of a poem. According to Guilhem Molinier, the author of Las leys d'amors, a 13th-century treatise on how to write poetry in the style of the troubadours, there is a clear difference between a partimen and a tenso: 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
In poetry, an envoi is a short stanza at the end of a poem used either to address an imagined or actual person or to comment on the preceding body of the poem.-Form:...
s of Theobald's. Raoul was also the judge of a jeu parti between Henry III of Brabant and Gillebert de Berneville.
In total, seven chansons are attributed to Raoul in various chansonnier
Chansonnier
A chansonnier is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally "song-books," although some manuscripts are so called even though they preserve the text but not the music A chansonnier is a manuscript or...
s. One alone, "E, cuens d’Anjou, on dit par felonie", is uncontested by other attributions, and dedicated to Charles of Anjou. 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)
- "Mere, douce creature" (Jaque de CambraiJaque de CambraiJaque de Cambrai , sometimes Jacques, was a trouvère from Cambrai. He composed four chansons courtoises, one pastourelle, six devotional chansons, and one Marian rotrouenge. The Berne manuscript, in which most of his works are uniquely preserved, notes that his Haute dame, com rose et lis was...
, without music) - "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
Mensural notation is the musical notation system which was used in European music from the later part of the 13th century until about 1600."Mensural" refers to the ability of this system to notate complex rhythms with great exactness and flexibility...
.
Thierri de Soissons (floruit
Floruit
Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...
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)
External links
- Hardy, Ineke, ed. http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/lfa/activites/textes/ineke/index.htm Les chansons attribuées au trouvère picard Raoul de Soissons. Edition critique. Accessed 4 November 2011.