Gace Brulé

Gace Brulé (* around 1160 probably in Champagne ; † after 1213 ) was a northern French minstrel and trobador .

Little is known about his life today. He probably came from the lower nobility from Champagne . It is also believed that he was temporarily at the court of the patroness of the northern French minstrel, Marie de Champagne .

On the basis of a reference in the Chroniques de Saint-Denis, he is regarded as the teacher of Thibaut de Champagne . Later he seems to have been forced to leave his home. He found acceptance in Brittany .

About 50 songs ( chansons ) have been preserved from the very extensive work of the very fertile poet . Its importance lies in the successful adoption of the Provencal models for the northern French region. One of his songs ( Ire d'amor qui en mon suer repaire ) is mentioned by Dante Alighieri , to whom he erroneously ascribes it to Thibaut de Champagne .

One of his controversial poems ( Jeu-parti ), one of the earliest of this genre, has also been preserved. It is about a dispute between him and Gottfried II , the Duke of Brittany. In this work, the often unsuccessful minstrel defends the attitude that a lover must hold on to his love for his lady, even if she treats him dismissively or cruelly, even if she cheats or betrays him. In another song, however, the somewhat melancholy poet comes to a somewhat different insight:

Les oiseillons de mon païs

Ai oïs en Bretaigne;

A lor chant m'est il bien avis

K'en la douce Champaigne

Les oï jadis,

Se n'i ai mespris.

Il m'ont en si dols panser mis

K'a chanson faire me sui pris

Tant que je parataigne

Ceu q'Amors m'a lonc tens promis.

The birds from my home

I heard in Brittany;

Your singing reminds me of this

That in the sweet champagne

I once heard you

So I'm not mistaken.

They made me mind so sweet

That I began to write a song

To finally get

What love has promised me for so long (in vain)