Vertigo

This chapter explores the innovative poetry of the troubadour Bernart de Ventadorn (c. 1125–1190) as a foremost exponent of Occitan fin’amor . Concentrating on Bernart’s most famous canso (song), “Upon Seeing the Lark”, it highlights his use of religious imagery, the parlance of knightly oaths of fealty, and the motif of Tristan, to express themes of longing, suffering, amatory rivalry, and unrequited love, contrasting his introspective style, rooted in oral performance, with the more narrative-driven chivalric romances of Northern France. Through vivid imagery, “Upon Seeing the Lark”, a locus classicus of gentle love, depicts the tormented troubadour’s suffering from his lady’s dismissive attitude, ultimately leading to a breakdown of self and a contemplation of exile and death. Finally, this chapter traces the decline of troubadour culture amid religious and political upheavals in Languedoc (the Albigensian Crusade followed by the Papal Inquisition), noting how later writers like Matfre Ermengau (d. 1322) reinterpreted the troubadours’ passionate verse within orthodox Christian frameworks.