In the poems of the historic and didactic orders rhyme and metre were to a great extent mere accessories, and of many of them prose versions, made evidently for the sake of cheapness and convenience, are actually in existence, such as the transcription of the Song of the Albigeois Crusade, also of the Gospel of Nicodemus, and other legendary poems. These and numerous other prose works, theological, moral, medical, and juridical,[3] are entirely beyond the scope of the present work—with one exception. This is a curious collection of biographies of the principal troubadours found in several manuscripts, and varying from a few lines of matter-of-fact information to lengthy and circumstantial accounts of a suspiciously romantic character, including attempts at furnishing a commentary, critical and anecdotal, for single poems. In some cases several biographies of the same poet are found, one richer than another in interesting details, and showing evidently the desire on the part of later authors to improve upon an originally simple story. But in spite of this the immense value and general authenticity of this source cannot be denied, especially in cases where the author gives his name and declares himself an eye-witness of the events he describes. At the end of the biography of Bernard de Ventadorn, we read, for instance, the following interesting notice:—‘Count Eble de Ventadorn, the son of the viscountess whom Sir Bernard loved, told me Uc de St. Cyr what I have caused to be written down of Sir Bernard.’ The same Uc de St. Cyr, himself a well-known troubadour, also wrote (or at least composed, for his powers as a scribe may seem doubtful on his own showing[4]) the life of Savaric de Mauleon and probably of several other contemporary poets. Another biography is claimed by one Miquel de la Tor, and in many other instances references to eye-witnesses, or claims to personal and immediate knowledge, are made. Unfortunately accounts of only 104 out of about 400 troubadours of whose existence we know have been preserved. But even as it is we ought to be thankful to the mediæval scribes, who, as regards the Troubadours, have at least partially removed the darkness which overhangs, for instance, the personal histories of North-French Trouvères or German Minnesingers, not to name more recent and infinitely more important epochs of English literature. CHAPTER V. APOCRYPHA.