Raimbaut de Vaqueiras

As his name suggest, the troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (fl.1180-1205) came from Vaqueirad near Orange. He was a petty noble who visited the court of Boniface of Montferrat. Raimbaut was also a soldier, though he claimed hehad a knighthood through song.

Depending on who is counting Raimabaut had between 26 and 30 songs, 8 with melodies. He used a wide range of styles, including a descort in five languages, cansos, tensos and albas. One of his songs, Kalenda Maia, is referred to as an estampida and is considered one of the best troubadour melodies. However according to the razo he borrowed the tune from two musicians. This would explain why there is a song called and estampida when it is theorically a purely instrumental piece.