Maroie de Dergnau is one of the few women whose names were recorded in trouvèrechansonniers, as she is credited in several rubrics in the margins of these sources. She is cited as the author of the chanson d’amour Mout m’abelist (RS 1451) in MSS M and T, and she is an interlocutor in the jeu-parti Je vous pri, Dame Maroie (RS 1744), held in MSS A and a. She is connected to Lille by the rubrics and to Arras through the chanson d’amour Bonne, belle, et avenant (RS 262), dedicated to her by Andrieu de Contredit, an Arrageois trouvère.My investigation into a trail of clues left by the sources that contain her name and musicsheds new light on Maroie’s life, each chapter examining a different facet of her experience. Chapter One locates traces of Maroie in several documents, explaining the contents of these sources and their implications for Maroie’s identity, family, experience, possible birth year, and for women musicians’ history more broadly. Chapter Two discusses her chanson d’amour, Mout m’abelist (RS 1451), the twin meanings coded in its text and music, and explores its dialogic relationship with a chanson by Andrieu de Contredit. Chapter Three examines her jeu-parti, and I argue that its conversation centers its two women authors in a broader social dialogue concerning the connections between desire, agency, pain, and mental health. The music of the song is also constructed as an illustration of the process of debate itself. The information we gain by examining Maroie’s music, poetry, and identity has implications for future research and may assist in learning about other trouvères.
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