Guillaume de Ferrières (c.1150 – ?April 1204) was a French nobleman

French nobility

The French nobility was the privileged order of France in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern periods.In the political system of the Estates General, the nobility made up the Second Estate...

, probably the same person as the trouvère

Trouvère

Trouvère , sometimes spelled trouveur , is the Northern French form of the word trobador . It refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France...

 known only as the Vidame de Chartres. Eight songs in total have been attributed to the Vidame, though all but one with conflicting attributions to others.

Guillaume took part in the Third (1188–92)

Third Crusade

The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...

 and Fourth Crusades (1201–4)

Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...

, and died in Romania

Latin Empire

The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...

 as part of the latter. A reference in the Vidame's song Combien que j'aie demouré to a forced sojourn in a "hated land" probably refers to Guillaume's stay in southwestern France in 1188, before the departure of the Crusade, while the leaders (Richard the Lionheart and Philip Augustus) were squabbling. Further evidence linking the trouvère with Guillaume includes a quotation of two stanzas of the Vidame's most popular song, Quant la saison du dous tens s'asseure, in the chivalric romance Guillaume de Dole

Guillaume de Dole

Guillaume de Dole is an Old French narrative romance by Jean Renart. Composed in the early thirteenth century, the poem is 5656 lines long and is especially notable for the large number of chansons it contains, and for its active female protagonist...

, which was written probably in the 1220s. Quant la saison was, by implication, written some years prior. The rather garbled and uncertain melodies which accompany the Vidame's poems further support an early (pre-1200) date for the trouvère. One piece of evidence relating to the identity of the Vidame has not yet been adequately explained. The coat of arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 with which the trouvère is depicted in his miniature portrait in the Chansonnier du Roi belonged mid-century to the Meslay

Meslay

There are communes that have the name Meslay in France:*Meslay, in the Calvados département*Meslay, in the Loir-et-Cher département-Related:*Meslay-du-Maine, in the Mayenne département*Meslay-le-Grenet, in the Eure-et-Loir département...

 family, who became vidame

Vidame

Vidame, a French corruption of the official Latin term vicedominus , was a feudal title in France...

s of Chartres

Chartres

Chartres is a commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is located southwest of Paris.-Geography:Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country...

 only in 1224.

Only one of the eight songs variously attributed to the Vidame is not also ascribed to another. Only three, however, are regularly doubted to be his, and only one of these—Quant foillissent li boscage—is almost certainly not his. One of the remaining two, Desconsilliez plus que nus hom qui soit, which survives without music, is attributed in one manuscript to Li viscuens de Chartres (the viscount

Viscount

A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...

 of Chartres), probably an error for vidame.

Five of the Vidame's songs are basically isometric

Isometre

Isometre is a music theory term describing the use of pulse without regular meter. See also: homorhythm. The music is currently used in the psalmsongs of the Orthodox Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, based on the rhythm made by Petrus Datheen , as well as some other churches....

 and decasyllabic. The remaining three are heterometric but mainly octosyllabic. With the sole exception of Li plus desconfortés du mont, all his melodies are preserved in bar form

Bar form

Bar form is a musical form of the pattern AAB.-Original Use:The term comes from the rigorous terminology of the Meistersinger guilds of the 15th to 18th century who used it to describe their songs and the songs of the predecessors, the minnesingers of the 12th to 14th century...

 and cover more than an octave

Octave

In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...

in range each. Though most survive with modal structures, these vary from manuscript to manuscript and are unreliable.

List of songs

• Chascuns me semont de chanter
• Combien que j'aie demouré
• D'amours vient joie et honours ensement
• Quant la saison du dous tens s'asseure
• Tant ai d'amours qu'en chantant m'estuet plaindre
• Tant con je fusse fors de ma contree

Doubtful works

• Desconsilliez plus que nus hom qui soit (no music)
• Li plus desconfortés du mont
• Quant foillissent li boscage