appears at roughly the same time in Europe as the Cult of the Virgin Mary, and the two have obvious similarities. In the "fin amors" tradition, the poet pledges his service to his lady ("dame", usually a married woman), in much the same way a knight or vassal pledges service to his lord. In the poems of the troubadours, the lady is frequently cold, distant, or upset with the poet and demands that he prove his service to her; the poet, for his part, is generally tormented by his passion, and his poems are often desperate pleas to his lady so that she might grant him some favor. In some troubadour poetry, the "favor" sought for is decidedly sexual, but in others there is a rarefied notion of love as spiritual and moral force. For more information on the troubadour tradition, see Provençal literature. Selected trouvère poets of the 12th and 13th centuries: Conon de Béthune (c.1150-c.1219) Le Châtelain de Couci (d.1203) Blondel de Nesle (second half of the 12th century) Richard the Lionheart (Richard Coeur de Lion) (1157–1199) Gace Brulé (active 1180–1213) Colin Muset (around 1230) Theobald IV of Champagne (1201–1253) Adam de la Halle (c.1240-c.1288) Guiot de Provins (d. after 1208) By the late 13th century, the poetic tradition in France had begun to develop in ways that differed significantly from the troubadour poets, both in content and in the use of certain fixed forms. The new poetic (as well as musical: some of the earliest medieval music has lyrics composed in Old French by the earliest composers known by name) tendencies are apparent in the Roman de Fauvel in 1310 and 1314, a satire on abuses in the medieval church filled with medieval motets, lais, rondeaux and other new secular forms of poetry and music (mostly anonymous, but with several pieces by Philippe de Vitry who would coin the expression Ars nova [new art, or new technique] to distinguish the new musical practice from the music of the immediately preceding age). The best-known poet and composer of ars nova secular music and chansons was Guillaume de Machaut. (For more on music, see medieval music; for more on music in the period after Machaut, see Renaissance music). Selected French poets from the late 13th to the 15th centuries: Rutebeuf (d.1285) Guillaume de Machaut (1300–1377) Eustache Deschamps (1346-c.1406) Alain Chartier (c. 1392 – c. 1430) Christine de Pizan (1364–1430)