Troubadour literary tradition

Timeline

1. c. 1100–1150Aquitaine and Languedoc · OccitaniaTroubadours composed Occitan lyric poetry on the theme of 'fine love' in the courts of dukes and counts, establishing rhymed verse forms, musical accompaniment and performance etiquette, forming a secular chivalric cultural expression distinct from Latin ecclesiastical literature.
2. c. 1170–1180Castle and monastery poetry gatherings in Occitania · OccitaniaAround 1175 poets such as Bernard de Ventadorn fused love, political loyalty and poetic self-reflection, and the troubadour tradition tended toward mature norms through genre differentiation (such as the canso and narrative poetry) and performance competitions.
3. c. 1180–1220Southern France to northern Italy · Southern EuropeThe troubadour tradition spread to northern Europe and Italy, spawning northern trouvères and Italian poets in imitation; in the early 13th century the Albigensian Crusade severely struck the Occitan cultural heartland, and the tradition's center shifted south and gradually waned.