Feudal Formulas In Love Lyrics Of William Ix Of Aquitaine

William, Ninth Duke of Aquitaine (1071-1127) was one of the most powerful feudal lords of his day. Probably inspired by the intricate verse forms he discovered in Arabic Spain and Syria, he seems to have created the first troubadour lyrics (in his own words, “a chansoneta nueva” (new song), “un vers ... totz mesclatz d'amor e de joy e de joven” (a verse ... all mixed with love and joy and youth)). The fact that he shared courtly values and behaved himself has never been called in question in historiography. The cornerstone problem of this research is as follows: how and for what reason did William apply the specific feudal formulas in his poetry. In his canzones one can face a number of turns which were then recorded by later troubadours and became a kind of cliches displaying the ceremonies practiced in the South French society and connected to the formation of feudal system, especially to relations between vassal and his lord.