BLONDEL DE NESLE

(ca. 1155–ca. 1200)

Blondel de Nesle was one of the most important of the early TROUVÈRES, the northern French poets following in the tradition of the Provençal TROUBADOURS. Some 20 of Blondel’s lyrics are extant, all written during the last quarter of the 12th century. His lyrics show considerable variety in their stanza structure and their musical composition. The poems include a number of themes adopted from the COURTLY LOVE tradition of the troubadours, including the poet’s complaint to the god of love, the mistress’s indifference to the lover, and the poet’s dying for love. In the following verses from his lyric “Se savoient mon tourment,” Blondel expresses his suffering for love:

What is meant to be the whole world’s pleasure.

(Goldin 367, ll.10–14)

Nothing is known of Blondel’s life other than what can be gleaned from his poetry. None of the surviving manuscripts refers to him as “Messire,” so it may be assumed that he was either the younger son of a noble family, or a commoner. Nesle is apparently his place of birth—a town likely in Picardy judging by the language of his lyrics. He seems to have known other poets, as he dedicates lyrics to both GACE BRULÉ and CONON DE BÉTHUNE, though he is not mentioned in the poetry of his contemporaries.

The best-known incident in Blondel’s life never actually happened. A legend grew about him in the 13th century that he was minstrel to RICHARD I Lionheart, and that when Richard was captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria upon his return from the Third Crusade in 1193, Blondel roamed Europe searching for his master. He sang the first part of a song they had composed together, and, when Blondel sang the song at Dürrenstein fortress where Richard was being kept, the king sang the last part of the song. Blondel was then able to take the news of Richard’s whereabouts back to England and have him ransomed. The legend is of course completely fictional, but it does demonstrate how well-known Blondel was in his own time and in the following century, and suggests that he was traditionally associated with Richard I, who could well have been his patron. His poems were particularly widespread, some of them surviving in 10 or more manuscripts—a large number of individual trouvère lyrics.

■ Goldin, Frederick, ed. and trans.Lyrics of the Troubadours and Trouvères: An Anthology and a History. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1973.

■ Lavis, G.Les Chansons de Londel de Nesle. Liège: Faculté de philosophie et lettres de l’Université de Liége, 1970.

■ Tischler, Hans, ed.Trouvère Lyrics with Melodies: Complete Comparative Edition. Neuhausen, Germany: Hänssler-Verlag, 1997.