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RUTEBEUF
(+1285)
This French trouvère was born in the first half of
the 13th century and he died in the year 1285. His name is no
where mentioned by his contemporaries. In his verse, he frequently plays on
the word Rutebeuf, which was probably a pseudonym. Some of his poems have
autobiographical value. In his Le Mariage de Rutebeuf, he says
that on 2 January 1261 he married a woman old and ugly, with neither dowry
nor amiability. In his Complainte de Rutebeuf, he details a series
of misfortunes which have reduced him to utter destitution. In these
circumstances, he addresses himself to Alphonse, comte de Poitiers, brother
of Louis IX, for
relief. In the Pauvreté de Rutebeuf, the author addresses Louis
IX himself. The
piece which is most obviously intended for popular recitation is the Dit
de l’Herberie, a dramatic monologue in prose and verse supposed to be
delivered by a quack doctor. Rutebeuf was also a master in the verse
conte, and the five of his fabliaux that have come down to us
are light-hearted and amusing. Rutebeuf’s serious work as a satirist
probably dates from 1260. His chief topics are the foibles and laxity of
the mendicants. He was a mighty champion of the university of Paris in its
quarrel with the religious orders. Though hard on other religious, he
writes well of the Trinitarians in Les Ordres de Paris and La
Chanson des Ordres. Rutebeuf expresses admiration for their strong
sense of brotherhood, their practice of setting aside one-third of all their
income for the ransom of captives and their humility in using donkeys as
their means of transport. He urges the members of the Order to be on guard
lest they too grow lax in these observances. Rutebeuf delivered a series
of eloquent and insistent poems (1262, 1263, 1268, 1274) exhorting princes
and people to take part in the crusades. To his later years belong his
religious poems. A miracle play of his, Le Miracle de Théophile,
is one of the earliest dramatic pieces in French. The best work of Rutebeuf
is to be found in his satires and his tales in verse.
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