Ensenhamen

An (, or ) was an Old Occitan didactic (often lyric) poem associated with the troubadours. As a genre of Occitan literature, its limits have been open to debate since it was first defined in the 19th century. The word has many variations in old Occitan: , , , and .

The had its own subgenres, such as "conduct literature" that told noblewomen the proper way to comport themselves and " mirror of princes" literature that told the nobleman how to be chivalrous. Besides these were types defining and encouraging courtly love and courtly behaviour, from topics as mundane as table manners to issues of sexual ethics.

The earliest attestable was written around 1155 by Garin lo Brun. It is the . Around 1170 Arnaut Guilhem de Marsan wrote the for a warrior audience. A decade or so later Arnaut de Mareuil wrote a long, classically-informed on . In the 1220s or 1230s the subject of honour was treated by the Italian troubadour Sordel in his and by Uc de Saint Circ in a similarly titled work. Late in the thirteenth century the Catalan Cerverí de Girona wrote an of proverbs in 1,197 quartets for his son. Even later, another Catalan troubadour, Amanieu de Sescars, composed two : the dictating ideal knightly behaviour and the prescribing respectable behaviour for young women. Daude de Pradas wrote an on the four cardinal virtues. Peire Lunel wrote in 1326, the latest example of the genre. At de Mons and Raimon Vidal are other known contributors to the genre.

There were also mock designed to satirise the jongleurs. by Guiraut de Calanso is an example. Bertran de Paris and Guiraut de Cabreira () are also known to have written this way.

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Occitan literary genres
Western medieval lyric forms