10 differences between PLAYERS and TROVERS

In the Middle Ages Two types of trades emerged that were linked to the cultural world and the diffusion of the new languages ​​that emerged from the romances. We are talking about the troubadours and the minstrels, two very prominent figures who had two purposes in society: to entertain and instruct at the same time. In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to know the main differences between minstrels and troubadours, as well as the definition and characteristics of each of these professionals who also laid the foundations of popular music.

Index

1. What is a troubadour: definition and characteristics
2. What is a minstrel: definition and characteristics
3. X differences between minstrels and minstrels

Before we begin to point out the differences between minstrels and troubadours, it is important that we understand what exactly each of these professions are. We will start with the

The troubadours were people who were socially considered as artists: they were poets and musicians who showed their creations at court. They composed their own songs and melodies, works that could be performed by themselves or that could be performed by minstrels.

Characteristics of the troubadours

• They belonged to the higher social classes
• They composed his own works, both poetry and music
• In Spain, his works can be classified within the so-called Mester of clergy
• Often they had the minstrels so that they would play their music and offer, thus, the musical accompaniment to the poet
• The troubadours could also be accompanied by the minstrel, a figure in charge of interpreting music
• The first troubadours appeared in the South of France of the XI and expanded throughout Europe
• The presence of the troubadours was very influential until the arrival of the Renaissance
• The first troubadours created their compositions in the Provençal language; This made the troubadours of the rest of Europe begin to cultivate their texts in Romance languages
• In the twelfth century the "trovers", a figure very similar to that of the troubadours but who focused on love themes and who used the d'Oil language, the basis of current French

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Instead, minstrels were people who, through music and entertainment, they traveled through different localities. They sang, they danced and played music with different instruments that encouraged people and entertained them. Their performances were accompanied by acrobatics and different shows that entertained the public.

Characteristics of the minstrels

• They were men who belonged to a lower class
• They were musicians traveling
• In Spain, his works are part of the Mester of Juggler
• They did not compose songs, they only interpreted those that were composed by the troubadours
• Using a more informal language and close to the employee by the people
• They acted in the plazas of towns and in public spaces
• They did not usually have a high reputation, they were considered as entertainers, but not like artists
• The work of the minstrels has achieved that, to this day, they have reached us traditional stories from medieval times

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Now that we have been able to know in detail the definition and characteristics of each of these figures in society, we are going to enter fully into the differences between minstrels and troubadours. As we have seen, they were two professions with many similarities, but with great differences. Here we leave you a list with all of them so that you can get to know them better:

1. Social class: the troubadour was a cultured person, read and of high social class; the minstrel was a person belonging to lower social classes.
2. Compositions: Thanks to the instruction that the troubadours had received, they composed their works, both on a musical and poetic level; instead, the minstrel interpreted what the troubadours composed, they were not composers.
3. Performance: troubadours performed at court and in palaces, in refined settings and with an upper-class audience; minstrels performed in town squares and in the streets for the most general public.
4. Language: the troubadours used to use a more cultured, rich and formal language; while the minstrels bet on a more informal style and closer to the people.
5. Job: the troubadours performed their shows as an act of love for culture and art; the minstrels acted with an economic motivation, to be able to live, as their trade.
6. Shows: the troubadours read their texts with emotion and solemnity; the minstrels played more with the texts and introduced mimicry or excesses of dramatization to reach the people more.
7. Collaboration: the troubadours used to count on the minstrels to make them musicalize the melody. At court, literature was well regarded, but music was regarded as one more art of the vulgar; For this reason, the troubadours used to compose and recite and the minstrels to sing and make music.
8. Art they perform: troubadours were artistically linked with literature, therefore, they were authors, poets and composers; the minstrels were mainly the musicians, as well as the actors of the texts.
9. Type of life: the troubadours resided in their residences and went to court to do their performances; minstrels were nomads who traveled to different towns to earn a living.
10. Genres in Spain: the troubadours cultivated the Mester de Clerecía, texts in Castilian that narrated the history of the country from the hand of cults and clergymen; the minstrels, on the other hand, cultivated the Mester de Juglaría, a type of text written by the minstrels and which had a more popular and universal character.

If you want to read more articles similar to Jugglers and troubadours: differences, we recommend that you enter our category of History of Literature.

• Pidal, R. M. (1927). Minstrel poetry and minstrels. Verbum, 20 (69), p-207.
• Massari, J. M. H. (1999). Jugglers and Troubadours (Vol. 75). Akal editions.
• Llull, R. (1949). Book of the order of chivalry: princes and minstrels (Vol. 889). Espasa-Calpe.