We have left out of our consideration of folk music so far that all-important element of modern song, the mainspring of lyricism--romantic love. In an age when man’s entire spiritual life was dictated by religious dogma, his natural instincts, branded as profane and unworthy, were naturally excluded from the objects of his poetic expression. 'But the church could not completely triumph over Nature. The fundamental human sentiments--above all, profane love--after having for more than ten centuries been excluded from the expression which musical science might have vouchsafed to them, now seemed to take their revenge, to free themselves from long subjection, to let voices hitherto condemned to silence be heard at last. By the side of the altars where psalms were sung, where the things of the world were condemned, the free and subtle stories of exalted love arose, like irresistible protests of the human heart. The cult of the ideal woman, the mother of the Saviour, the Virgin immaculate, continued; but beside it was heard the praise of the woman of France [of Germany, of Italy]; the subject of another sort of devotion, as exalted and often as pure. The chivalrous qualities of the race, disciplined and refined by Christian dogma, but rebelling against asceticism, reappeared and reclaimed their rights with a new vivacity.’[75] This new spirit pervaded all classes of society. The nobility, especially, now affected a finer, more spiritual manner of life. Christian metaphysics, superior education, and the advanced social position of women were the things which prepared the way for chivalry, that new moral code propagated by formal orders of knighthood. The Crusades and contact with Eastern culture confirmed its establishment. [Illustration: MEDIÆVAL FRENCH SCULPTURE SHOWING TROUVÈRES AND JONGLEURS WITH INSTRUMENTS.] With this first renaissance of the modern spirit came also the awakening of a new appreciation of the beauties of Nature. Man began to notice the first flowers, the song of birds, the signs of spring’s awakening. This gave rise to a species of popular song known as the pastoral--_pastourelle_--which was afterward adopted and cultivated by the Troubadours, who subjected it to certain rules, respecting the sequence of different lengths of verses, etc. Besides the _pastourelle_, numerous other forms of love songs (we need only mention the serenades peculiar to the south--the Basque country and Corsica especially) are of truly popular origin.