Jean Bodel

Jean Bodel, Jehan Bodel actually, (c. 1165 in Arras; † around 1209 ) was an Old French Spielmann ( Menestrel ) and other medieval poets.

Bodel lived in the then belonging to rich burgundy cloth weavers town of Arras and wrote his works in old Picardy, the dialect of his native land. His oeuvre includes, among other things, the first recorded name of the author dramatic text of the French literary history. It is the most premiered December 5, 1201 Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas ( "Play of St. Nicholas ", a so-called Fabliau seal). Even in his youth wrote the author of the La Chanson Saisnes (1180, " singing about the Saxon war " ... Charlemagne against Widukind ), which goes back to older templates and forms a bridge to the traditions of the early Middle Ages.

Bodel, who wanted to join a crusade to 1202, fell ill before his departure from leprosy. His last work was a farewell song, a so-called Congé, which was well received. It was used for centuries as a model for other artists, though not always with similar tragic background. Bodel finally died in 1209 in a Aussätzigenanstalt his hometown of Arras.