“Merie sungen the muneches binnen Ely, Tha Cnute Ching, reu ther by Rowe cnihtes, næw the land, And here we thes muneches sæng,” which may be rendered in English thus:— “Sweetly sang the Monks of Ely, As King Canute rowed there by, Row men, nearer to the shore And hear we these Monks’ song.” The minstrels of England from the first, took a more peaceful and religious turn than those of Wales and Ireland. The most of the really authentic pieces of their era, take the shape of Christmas carols. CHAPTER XXIV. THE TROUBADOURS AND MINNE-SINGERS. We now come to an era in music, where the most cultivated minds gave their attention to the art; and where it is no longer confined to the narrow channels of ecclesiastical, and even heraldic and martial use, but finds a broader outlet in the subjects of Love, and Nature. The troubadours were gentlemen (often knights), who held themselves totally distinct from those musicians who wrote for pay. The rise of chivalry in the middle ages, elevated woman from an unjustly low position, to an absurdly high one. She was held to be the arbiter of Fate; the Queen to whom all service was due; and was almost religiously worshipped. From this exaggerated devotion arose the school of troubadour and minne-singer composition. When knights racked their brains, as to what new offering they could bring to their lady, it was but natural that they should find, in the combination of poetry and song, a series of never-ending tributes with which they could pay homage to their chosen one. It is easy to imagine that once launched into this fertile field, they would not wholly confine themselves to Love, but that an occasional poem on Nature, or War, would attest their versatility so that even the puerile “Courts of Love,” of the chivalric age, brought a general onward impulse to art; it was not to be expected that the knights could step at once from a condition of rudeness, to a state of culture, and it is not surprising to see a vast exaggeration of politeness, where little had been before. In the beautiful country of Provence (South France), this branch of art took its rise. The lyrical songs of the troubadours were written in the Provencal tongue, which soon became, for all South France the court language for amatory poetry. It was called also the _Langue d’oc_ (from the affirmative “_Oc_,” or “yes”), to distinguish it from the _Lingua di Si_ (Italian) and the _Langue d’öil_ (North France); the name afterwards was attached to another province of France. The Trouvères, were the poets and minstrels of North France, and wrote in the _langue d’öil_. They wrote chiefly epic poetry, (fables, tales and romances), while the lyrical school was left to their southern competitors. The troubadours composed and sang their own songs, but did not play their own accompaniments; that branch of music was turned over to hired musicians, called _jongleurs_.