Part II. The Hansa Lands and France Chapter 28. Aache [November 4, 1347] Cultural Explanations

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	In this chapter Bávlos meets the minstrel Jacques le Piquant.
Nieiddash, Bávlos, Jacques, catedral

In this chapter, Bávlos has reached Aachen, the great ancient capital of Charlemagne's empire and the home of Burtscheid Abbey , the grand monastery founded by Gregor of Calabria, whose feast was celebrated locally on November 4.

Between Aachen and France lay a daunting array of small kingdoms with ragged, disconnected borders that look like the early stages of a game of RISK. In the map below you can see Aachen in the northeast, just above Limburg, and Namur farther west. South of Limberg lies the Duchy of Luxembourg and south of that the Duchy of Bar and France. All of these places play a role in coming chapters.

Bávlos's new traveling companion, Jacques le Piquant, speaks French as it was spoken in the early 1300s. He also has given himself a stage name such as minstrels of the time tended to do. His title means "James the Spicy" and was fairly typical of minstrel names during this period.

Although French-speaking, Jacques sings for the crowd in Middle High German. The song presented here is drawn from the great medieval collection of songs Carmina Burana, dated to the thirteenth century. Communication across language boundaries was part of daily life in this region of Europe during this period (as today ), and it is not inaccurate to depict a young and talented minstrel like Jacques singing in German while speaking in French.