Nothing is known about Blondel outside of his poetry. He was probably from Nesle, in Picardy, but the name Blondel may be a nickname, and it is uncertain how many of the 25 songs attributed to him are actually his. His poetry is conventional in its complaints to an unknown lady but contains no references to Blondel’s relationship to her or to events of the time. Blondel’s popularity is apparent in the widespread use by contemporaries of his melodies, which are extant in various manuscripts, and in the dubious but widespread legend, first narrated in the 13th century romance Récits d’un ménestrel de Reims (“Narrative of a Minstrel of Reims”), that he played a part in the discovery and release of King Richard I of England from his imprisonment (1192–94) by the Holy Roman emperor Henry VI.
Blondel de Nesle
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