The troubadours were court poets of the Middle Ages, usually gentlemanly status, while the minstrels were popular reciters of low extraction. The minstrels toured Europe in the Middle Ages and singing reciting poems in which identified the heroic acts of several characters, narrated recounting adventures and love stories, some anonymous and others known authors. They used to wear brightly colored clothing and dance to the beat of their stringed instruments. His art became known as mester (ex officio) of minstrelsy. In parallel, from the eleventh century, came the minstrels, who sang his verses in aristocratic environments. Initially used the Occitan language, Catalan, Italian, German and Galician-Portuguese. The main theme of his compositions was courtly love.
The first minstrels emerged in the twelfth century and eventually became leading figures in the cultural life of the Middle Ages. Despite that were viciously attacked during the thirteenth century, continued until mid-fifteenth century.
Troubadour poetry reached its peak in the courts of Provence, between 1150 and 1170.