The music in this chapter comes from a large area of what is now Southwest France, in which Occitan (or the langue d‘oc) was the principal vernacular language. From the network of courts and their noble rulers came the culture of the troubadours, poet-composers whose love songs in Occitan constitute the first large body of medieval vernacular literature to be written down. We explore the lives of a range of troubadours, considering the various positions they occupied in courtly society, and examine how the conventions and practicalities of courtly life informed the literary theme of ‘courtly love’ that they cultivated. The contemporary tradition of Latin song and polyphony from monasteries in the same area is then discussed. We look at the changes in Latin poetry that have been described as nova cantica (‘new song’), and the polyphonic techniques of Aquitanian composers. Lastly, the connections between these two traditions are charted, and a range of shared contexts, themes, and approaches are brought to light.

The chapter analyses some of the informations about the first generations of Norman dukes given byAdemar of Chabannes in his Chronicle,which had been often considered as spurious or doubtful. It first gives an outline of Ademar’s career and the composition of his work in order to clarify the changes and additions made by him across versions of his chronicle and to shed light on his sources, influences and intentions. Several passages were reworked, sometimes substantially, in ways that bring up questions about the information Ademar had at his disposal and how he used it in the fabric of his narrative. Despite a bad reputation, one can see author’s efforts to bring coherence and credibility to his narrative, to amend his text as new information reached him and to create a credible version of the beginnings of Norman history. The chapter explores what kind of information he was given at different stages of the composition of the chronicle, and examines possibilities of identifying persons who possibly may have help him to modify his version of the Norman past.