Jacques de Cambrai (''

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

c.'' 1260–80), sometimes Jaque or Jaikes, was a

trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French ('' langue d'oïl'') form of the '' langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word '' troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to po ...

from

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

. He composed four '' chansons courtoises'', one ''

pastourelle The pastourelle (; also ''pastorelle'', ''pastorella'', or ''pastorita'' is a typically Old French lyric poetry">lyric form concerning the romance of a shepherdess. In most of the early pastourelles, the poet knight meets a shepherdess who best ...

'', six devotional ''chansons'', and one Marian '' rotrouenge''. The

Berne manuscript Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the '' de facto'' capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has governmental ins ...

preserves all his works, nine of them uniquely. In addition, a chanson and the pastourelle are preserved in the manuscript Oxford Douce 308 and one of the devotional songs is also copied in two other sources.See Rivière, ed. 1978, p13. The Berne manuscript notes that his ''Haute dame, com rose et lis'' was modelled on (i.e. a

contrafactum In vocal music, contrafactum (or contrafact, pl. contrafacta) is "the substitution of one text for another without substantial change to the music". The earliest known examples of this "lyrical adaptation" date back to the 9th century in Gregor ...

of) ''Ausi com l'unicorne sui'' by

Theobald I of Navarre Theobald I (, ; 30 May 1201 – 8 July 1253), also called the Troubadour and the Posthumous, was Count of Champagne (as Theobald IV) from birth and King of Navarre from 1234. He initiated the Barons' Crusade, was famous as a trouvère, and was the ...

and ''Mere, douce creature'' on ''Quant voi la glaie meure'' by

Raoul de Soissons Raoul de Soissons (1210/15 – c. 1270) was a French nobleman, Crusader, and trouvère. He was the second son of Raoul le Bon, Count of Soissons, and became the Sire de Coeuvres in 1232. Raoul participated in three Crusades. Life In 1239 ...

. Otherwise none of his music survives, though staves for its transcription were prepared. Of all Jacques's works, only his ''rotrouenge'', the ''Retrowange novelle'', has no model mentioned in the manuscripts; its

rubric A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the Latin , meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th century or ...

reads only "Jaikes de Cambrai—De Notre Dame" (Jaque of Cambrai—On Our Lady). Jacques's devotional songs emphasise Jesus' humanity and his

Passion Passion, the Passion or the Passions may refer to: Emotion * Passion (emotion), a very strong feeling about a person or thing * Passions (philosophy), emotional states as used in philosophical discussions * Stoic passions, various forms of emotio ...

. These may be directed at the

Cathars Catharism ( ; from the , "the pure ones") was a Christian quasi- dualist and pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France, between the 12th and 14th centuries. Denounced as a he ...

, who denied Christ's humanity. Jacques was one of the last medieval French poets to express his devotion to Mary primarily through ''chansons'', that is, modelled on the ''chansons courtoises'' or love songs. After him the tendency was to use the '' serventois'' and even later the ''

chant royal The Chant Royal is a poetic form that is a variation of the ballad form and consists of five eleven-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme and a five-line envoi rhyming or a seven-line envoi (capital letters indicate lines repeated verbatim). To add ...

''.

Works

;Secular love songs * RS933 ''Amours et jolietés'' (in CH-BEsu 389, f.7v) * RS1031 ''Or m'est bel du tens d'avri'' (in CH-BEsu 389, f.169r) * RS1631 = RS1617 ''Force d'Amour me destraint et justise'' (in CH-BEsu 389, f.77v; also in GB-Ob Douce 308) * RS2044 ''N'est pas courtois, ains est fols et estous'' (in CH-BEsu 389, f.158r) ;Pastourelles * RS1855 ''Ier matinet delés un vert buisson'' (in CH-BEsu 389, f.65r; also in GB-Ob Douce 308) ;Marian poems and their models

Discography

* Graindelavoix, ''Confréries: '', 2013, Glossa Music GCD P32108.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Karp, Theodore
"Jaque de Cambrai."
''Grove Music Online''. ''Oxford Music Online''. Accessed 20 September 2008. *O'Sullivan, Daniel E. (2005). ''Marian devotion in thirteenth-century French lyric''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. . *Rivière, Jean-Claude, ed. (1978). ''Les Poésies du Trouvère Jacques de Cambrai, avec Introduction, Etudes thématiques, Notices et Glossaire''. Geneva: Droz. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cambrai, Jaque de Trouvères Medieval Christian devotional writers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown French classical composers French male classical composers 13th-century French poets 13th-century French musicians