Somewhat ambivalent term of medieval scholarship adapted from the rubric grant chant in a trouvère songbook (Oxford, Bodleian, Douce 308), which classifies lyrics by genre. The rubric heads 91 lyrics, all chansons courtoises (cansos) apart from seven chansons pieuses and a serventois, a chanson satirique, and a tenson fictive. Some scholars, therefore, equate grands chants courtois with chansons courtoises. Others extend the sense to cover serventois (sirventes) pronouncing on topical social or political issues, troubadour planhs mourning dead persons, tensons and jeux partis (envisaged as two interlocking sirventes), and those chansons courtoises and serventois which introduce a crusading theme.
[Peter Davies]
