Originally an Occitan lyric genre in which a knight and a shepherdess converse in rural surroundings. Sometimes he attempts to seduce her; sometimes she attempts seduction; alternatively, she offers him advice on how to treat courtly ladies; occasionally one of the protagonists moralizes about the state of the world. The pastorela may have had its origin in Latin pastoral poetry, but the vernacular tradition is nevertheless distinct. The earliest example, by Marcabru, is arguably also the best: a witty shepherdess counters the advances of an oafish knight with skilful dialectical argument, fusing clerical learning with quaint peasant wisdom. Other well-known troubadours composed pastorelas, including Giraut de Borneil and Guiraut Riquier. A large number of northern French pastourelles survive. They are frequently more burlesque than Occitan pastorelas; some are overtly violent and culminate in the rape of the shepherdess. Both the Occitan and the northern traditions provide an interesting insight into the way clerical and courtly culture represented peasants. Adam de la Halle's Jeu de Robin et de Marion owes a great deal to the pastourelle tradition. For texts, see W. D. Paden, The Medieval Pastourelle, 2 vols. (1989).
[Simon Gaunt]
