 The number of works attributed to the trobairitz is estimated at thirty @-@ two songs , but ranges anywhere from 23 to 46 . There are a number of reasons why an exact number is not known . In the courtly love tradition it was common for poems to be written as an exchange of letters , or a debate , as in a tenso . Some of these may have been originally written by one poet ; however , some were originally an actual exchange of epistles , later gathered together in a manuscript . Some of these were between men , and some were between a man and a woman . Some modern editors attribute these solely to the man who originated the exchange , and some attribute them to both the man and the woman involved . There is a long history of attributing these solely to men , even when all evidence points to the contrary . 
