Beyond the Mirror: Joufroi de Poitiers and the Poetical Background of its Author

Abstract

As has been repeatedly noted, Joufroi de Poitiers, a novel written by a Burgundian author and composed around the middle of the thirteenth century, is based very closely on the figure of William IX of Aquitaine, great lord and first troubadour whose poems have been compiled. But what materials did truly inspire the author of Joufroi? The extant Provencal vida, or rather a lost broader Latin biography, or still other texts? This research will try to shed light on what were the actual sources of the novel and to outline a hypothesis that explains the motivations of these works.