I’ve just posted on Castelloza, the 13th-century trobairitz (female troubadour). It’s interesting what different interpretations there are of her work. I’ve been posting for the last year on the Facebook group, France’s Splendid Centuries. Check them out for more posts on French history.
Tag: Trobairitz
Time-Sensitive Historical Fiction
Today is the last day that you can buy my new novel, Love’s Knife, as an ebook on amazon.co.uk for a mere £0.99. The price goes back to its normal £4.99 in 17 hours or so. It’s also available as a paperback. Love’s Knife is a medieval murder mystery set in Toulouse at the turn…
Medieval vielle
I have just emerged from organising the Historical Novel Society UK 2024 conference at Dartington Hall in Devon. The conference had 250 delegates onsite and another 150 online. Speakers included Bernard Cornwell, Diana Gabaldon, Ian Mortimer, S.G. MacLean, Elizabeth Chadwick and Kate Quinn. The chairman of the society, Richard Lee, presented me with this replica…
Becoming Trobairitz
This week, The Occitan University was in my home village of Laguepie in southern France for its annual visit. The university consists of a packed week of Occitan language classes and workshops and events on Occitan culture, including cooking, dancing, music, history, literature, and radio. The week culminated in a magical street party of impromptu…
Be Your Own Troubadour
Be Your Own Troubadour with Tracey Warr and Amandine Rey Thursday 18 July and Friday 19 July 10am-12 noon Salle des Fetes, Laguépie 82250 In French, English and Occitan Create your own troubadour vida (introductory, often boasting autobiography) and tenso (debate song, usually between a man and a woman about love) or canso (love song)….
The Female Troubadours
Ladies and gentlemen, imagine yourselves back in time, nearly 900 years, to the middle of the 12th century. Imagine that you are in the Great Hall at the court of Raimbaut d’Aurenga in the castle of Courthézon, three days’ ride east of here, on a good horse, a little north of Avignon … Last week, in…
Medieval novel playlist
I’m currently undertaking NanoWriMo November – aiming to write 50,000 words of my new novel about a female troubadour (or trobairitz). NanoWriMo asked for a playlist for my novel so here it is: The working title for my novel, A Morsel of Love’s Bread, is taken from a line in the troubadour poem, ‘Ab la dolchor…
Of things I’d rather keep in silence I must sing
I’m currently preparing a teaching session for MA Poetics of Imagination at Dartington Arts School on the troubadours and trobairitz, which put me in mind of a wonderful writing residency I had a few years ago in the beautiful medieval village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie in France. In 2016, I collaborated with artist Tania Candiani on an…
Thwarted Lovers
Attended a riveting event yesterday where Martin Shaw retold the story of Tristan and Iseult in one day to an audience of 80 in Dartington’s medieval Upper Gatehouse. With lashings of humour and feeling, Shaw led us into an exploration of how the story conjures the rapture and damage of love. Romantic love thrives on…
Tracey Warr Writing 