Bellaud de la Bellaudièra and the Jehan de Nostredame's troubadours

Lois Bellaud de la Bellaudiera (1543-1588?) was one of the most outstanding Provencal poets of his time. Many scholars, such as Robert Lafont, claimed to see in him an important representative of language revival in the Provence region. In this context arises the question as to why Bellaud did not reflect neither use a reference to the antiquity of troubadour poetry, their literarily consecrated koiné, nor its traditional orthography, if he wanted to elevate and literarily re-establish his native language. That's despite the fact that the famous troubadour's past was only very recently restored by Jehan de Nostredame (1507-1577?) with his troubadour biographies Vies des célèbres et anciens Poètes provençaux (i.e. troubadours) published in 1575. All the more, Bellaud was probably in personal contact with Jehan's nephew and continuator, César de Nostredame. The article attempts to explain this discrepancy by pointing to the change of literary canon in the 16th century. If Bellaud wanted to succeed as a poet, he had to lean towards the emerging postpetrarkistic poetics of the Pléiade and therefore totally reject any medieval literary connotations.

Keywords: Bellaud de la Bellaudièra; Jehan de Nostredame; troubadours; Pléiade