Thibaut de Champagne

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Thibaut de Champagne was born in 1201 in Troyes and was Count of Champagne from his birth. His father died less than a week before, and his mother Blanche of Navarre ruled as regent until he came of age in 1222. In 1234 he became King of Navarre as Theobald I, succeeding his uncle. In 1239 he led the Barons' Crusade to the Holy Land, which was militarily not very glorious but, through negotiations with the Ayyubids, led to the recovery of Jerusalem. He died in 1253 in Pamplona.

Music and breakthrough

Outside politics he was a well-known trouvère, a poet and singer from the north of France. Many of his songs have survived, some of them with music. In the French court life of the thirteenth century, such poetry about courtly love belonged to chivalric culture, and a nobleman who wrote songs himself was no exception. Thibaut also wrote a poem for his wife while he was staying in Acre.

Influence

His importance for music history lies in the songs that have been handed down. Because a lord like him had his own texts and melodies written down, we have one of the richest collections of medieval trouvère repertoire. That makes him a bridge between politics, chivalric culture and early Western song, long before popular music as we know it.

Listening