Rutebeuf facts for kids

Rutebeuf (or Rustebeuf) was a French trouvère. A trouvère was a poet and composer who created songs and poems in the northern dialects of France during the Middle Ages. He lived from about 1245 to 1285.

Early Life

Rutebeuf was born in the first half of the 1200s. He might have been born in a region called Champagne. We know this because he wrote about conflicts in the city of Troyes in 1249. He came from a humble family and lived and studied in Paris.

His Life and Work

Rutebeuf was not mentioned by other writers of his time. He often played with his name in his poems. Rutebeuf was a pen name, which is a fake name a writer uses. He said it came from words meaning "coarse ox" or "rustic piece of work."

Some people think he started as a jongleur. A jongleur was a performer who could juggle, play music, and tell stories. Some of Rutebeuf's poems tell us about his own life. For example, in a poem called Le Mariage de Rutebeuf (The Marriage of Rutebeuf), he wrote that he married an old and not-so-nice woman on January 2, 1261. She did not have much money or a good personality.

In another poem, Complainte de Rutebeuf, he described how he became very poor. He often lost money playing games, especially a dice game called griesche. He asked for help from important people like Alphonse, comte de Poitiers, who was the brother of King Louis IX.

Even though he was poor, Rutebeuf had important people who supported him. These supporters were called patrons. He wrote a long poem about Saint Elizabeth of Hungary for Erard de Valery. He also wrote poems called elegies when important people died. These included Anceau de l'Isle Adam, Eudes, comte de Nevers, Theobald II of Navarre, and Alphonse, comte de Poitiers. Their families probably paid him for these poems. In a poem called Pauvreté de Rutebeuf (The Poverty of Rutebeuf), he even spoke directly to King Louis IX.

One of his poems, Dû de L'Herberie (Debt of the Herb Garden), was like a play. It was a speech given by a fake doctor. Rutebeuf was also good at writing verse contes, which are narrative poems that tell a story. He wrote five fabliaux, which are short, funny fables.

Rutebeuf the Satirist

Rutebeuf's best works were his satires and verse contes. A satirist uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize people or ideas. Rutebeuf started writing satires around 1260.

He often wrote about the problems with friars (religious brothers) and defended the regular priests of the University of Paris. He also wrote many strong poems between 1262 and 1274. In these poems, he urged princes and common people to join the Crusades, which were religious wars.

Rutebeuf supported the University of Paris when it had a disagreement with religious groups. These groups were supported by Pope Alexander IV. He also defended a scholar named Guillaume de Saint-Amour when he was forced to leave the country.

Rutebeuf also wrote a satire called Renart le Bestourné. This poem used characters similar to those in the famous Reynard fox stories. Some believe it was a criticism of Philip the Bold, who later became king. In his later years, Rutebeuf wrote religious poems, including Voie de Paradis (The Way to Heaven), which described a dream.

Le Miracle de Théophile

Rutebeuf wrote a miracle play called Le Miracle de Théophile. This is one of the oldest plays still existing in French. The story of Theophilus of Adana was well-known in the Middle Ages. It was about a monk who made a deal with the devil but was saved by the Virgin Mary. This play is important in the history of theater.

Collections of His Work

Rutebeuf's collected works, called Oeuvres, were first put together by Achille Jubinal in 1839. A more detailed edition was made by Adolf Kressne in 1885.