One of the most popular and prolific of the TROUVÈRES,
Thibaut IV, count of Champagne and Brie,
wrote more than 60 poems that are extant—the
largest number of any of the trouvères.He was the
grandson of MARIE DE CHAMPAGNE and thus the
great-grandson of ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE and King
Louis VII.
Thibaut was born in Troyes in 1201. His father,
Thibaut III, had died before he was born, and in
order to gain the favor of King Philip II Augustus,
his mother Blanche of Navarre made the king
guardian of the child. Still, because of the circumstances
of his birth, Thibaut’s claim to the lordship
of Champagne was challenged twice before he
secured his position.
In support of Louis VIII, Thibaut fought the
English at La Rochelle in 1224. He also supported
the king in the Crusade against the Albigensians,
though he abruptly left the king’s service in 1226
and returned to Champagne. Three months later
Louis died, and his wife, Blanche of Castile, became
regent during the minority of her son.
Thibaut at first joined a group of powerful nobles
opposed to Blanche’s regency, but later switched
allegiance and became one of the queen’s chief
supporters during her regency of 1228–32. His
vacillation, however, angered his former allies, who
attacked Champagne and were forced to retreat
only when the queen threatened to intervene.
Thibaut’s relationship with Queen Blanche has
been the subject of a good deal of controversy. He
was accused of being the queen’s lover, and even of
poisoning Louis VIII to advance his own love. The
fact that many of his love poems were dedicated to
the queen only served to lend weight to these accusations,
but they appear to be pure fabrication.
Thibaut became king of Navarre in May of
1234 after the death of his uncle, Sancho VII,
called “Sancho the Strong.” Thibaut seems not to
have concerned himself much with the administration
of Navarre, however, simply letting his
deputies run the country. He was unpopular in
Navarre, and was criticized by the TROUBADOUR
SORDELLO in his lament for Blacatz. In 1239, he
was one of the leaders of the crusade organized
by Pope Gregory IX. His army was unsuccessful
in several battles, and Thibaut returned to Champagne
the following year, either because of his lack
of success or, according to some sources, his disillusionment
with the bickering among the other
leaders of the crusade.
Back in France Thibaut joined the French in renewed
battles against the English in 1242 and, in
1244, was defeated in Gascony by the English commander
Nicolas de Molis. In 1248, Thibaut made
a pilgrimage to Rome to be released from an interdiction
he had suffered because of ill relations with
the clergy. Beyond that not much is known about
Thibaut’s later years.When he died in 1253, he was
one of the most admired poets of northern France.
Thibaut’s poems are in the COURTLY LOVE vein of
the Provençal troubadours, and often depict the
paradoxical nature of love as joy and suffering.
One of the distinguishing marks of Thibaut’s verse
is his use of extended metaphors: the lover as a pelican,
for example, or as the prisoner of love. In the
following passage from one of his best-known
poems, he borrows the figure of the unicorn as a
metaphor for the lover:
I am like the unicorn
astonished as he gazes,
beholding the virgin.
He is so rejoiced by his chagrin,
he falls in a faint in her lap;
then they kill him, in treachery.
Now Love and my lady
have killed me just that way:
they have my heart, I cannot get it back.
(Goldin 1973, 467, ll. 1–9)
Thibaut is also known for his versatility:His extant
lyrics include at least 36 chansons (or CANSOS),
some 14 jeux-partis (or debate poems; see TENSO),
eight serventois (or SIRVENTES), a few PASTOURELLES,
and four crusading songs, written to raise support
for the crusade. One begins:
Lords, be sure of this: whoever does not now
depart
for that land where God died and lived,
and does not take the cross of the Holy
Land,
will hardly go to Paradise.
(Goldin 1973, 477–479, ll. 1–4)
Regarded as one of the most important lyric
poets of the 13th century, Thibaut is praised by
DANTE in his De VULGARI ELOQUENTIA, where he is
ranked with Guido GUINIZELLI and the troubadour
GIRAUT DE BORNELH.
Bibliography
Brahney, Kathleen J. The Lyrics of Tibet de Champagne.
New York: Garland, 1989.
Goldin, Frederick, ed. and trans. Lyrics of the Troubadours
and Trouvères: An Anthology and a History.
Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1973.
Pensom, Roger. “Thibaut de Champagne and the Art
of the Trouvère,”Medium Aevum 57 (1988): 1–26.
Tischler, Hans, ed. Trouvère Lyrics with Melodies:
Complete Comparative Edition. Neuhausen:
Hänssler-Verlag, 1997.
van der Werf, Hendrik. The Chansons of the Troubadours
and Trouvères: A Study of the Melodies and
Their Relation to the Poems. Utrecht, Netherlands:
A. Oosthoek, 1972.