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purple motes

a journal of whimsy and hope

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Machaut

Guillaume de Machaut is the most famous, productive, and influential poet-musicians of fourteenth-century Europe. While he was born about Rheims in eastern France about 1300 and spent much of his life there, he was celebrated in many royal courts of Europe and served as secretary to King John I of Bohemia. Machaut wrote many poems and songs, often with music that he composed. He was a canon associated with cathedral churches at Verdun, Arras, and Rheims. He died in 1377,

Machaut’s Jugement dou Roy de Navarre: farce of gendered justice

Does a man suffers more from his beloved woman’s betrayal, or a woman from her beloved man’s death? Jugement dou Roy de Navarre gives the gendered judgment. … Read the post Machaut’s Jugement dou Roy de Navarre: farce of gendered justice

Amours & Machaut’s Voir Dit: failed medieval gender revolution

The Old French lay Amours and Machaut’s Voir Dit document men exchanging love letters with women who transgress gender to affirm their beloved man’s body. … Read the post Amours & Machaut’s Voir Dit: failed medieval gender revolution

Abishag & David: Guillaume de Machaut’s Voir Dit shows possibilities

Abishag the Shunammite warmed King David in bed, but they didn’t have sex. Guillaume de Machaut’s Voir Dit shows that David wasn’t necessarily impotent. … Read the post Abishag & David: Guillaume de Machaut’s Voir Dit shows possibilities