Guiraut Riquier

Guiraut Riquier (fl. 1254-1292) was known as the last of the troubadours. He began his career in Narbonne before moving to Spain and the court of Alfonso X in 1270. He then moved back to France in 1280.

He has 101 surviving songs, 48 of these with melodies, more than any other troubadour. The majority of his songs were religious, though he does have a series of six pastorelas which relate to repeated failed attempts at wooing a shepherdess over a ten year period. Guiraut was a technically formidable writer, but his critics claim that he was merely repeating what had been done before rather than adding to the genre.