Excerpt…

Provins, October, 1325

“I’ve been thinking about how we get into L’Arête,” Johanna said. Most of them had made comfortable nests against and among the bales and bundles on deck, but this statement brought everyone into an upright, attentive position. She smiled a little. “It’s not that startling,” she said. “Alaric has told us that troubadours are a tradition in Provins. What could be more natural than for a group of troubadours to be traveling there?”

“The Lark of the South escaped the first time with a band of troubadours, we’ve been told,” Alaric said dryly. “I don’t think the Blade is going to look too kindly on the breed. Besides, I can’t sing.”

“You don’t have to,” Johanna said. “I can, and so can Shasha, Hayat and Firas. Hari can hum. Alma can play a flute.”

“Not very well,” Alma said. “I haven’t practiced since Talikan. I don’t even have a flute with me.”

“We’ll buy you one in Avignon,” Johanna said. “It’ll come back to you.”

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Dana sez–

Troubadours were not only composers and entertainers; they were the equivalent of the speaker on the Rostra in the Roman Forum, only mobile. They traveled from city to castle and between regions and countries, gathering and disseminating the latest news as they went.

Legend has it that the troubadour Blondel found Richard I where he was imprisoned (after which his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, ransomed him with a quarter of England’s annual tax revenue. But I digress.)

Useful people, troubadours, and often suspected, rightly, of being spies.

Chatter Silk and Song Provins Silk and Song silk road troubadours