The role of music in Jaufre Rudel's songs of love and crusade

The article provides a close; interdisciplinary reading of the earliest extant vernacular lyrics in which the spheres of crusading and courtly love intersect This aspect is examined in three CANSOS by the early troubadour Jaufre Rudel, probably composed in the period preceding the Second Crusade (1147-1149). As these songs are preserved in notated versions, the analysis focuses on how this thematic intersection goes hand in hand with unusual melodic, modal, and formal means that articulate not only syntactical and rhetorical aspects within their texts, but also kef ideas such as longing, distance, and spiritual quest. It is also demonstrated how such mullilayered representations of processes shared by the different media inherent of this genre result in ingenious links between different songs, in this case by the same poet-composer. Thus, the joint examination of these three songs demonstrates the extent to which generic interplay takes a significant role in the conveyance of meaning in medieval song.