 About Adam de la Halle
Adam de la Halle, one of the French poet/musicians of the thirteenth century was, like most of the trouvères, an aristocratic music-maker and an educated member of the upper classes. He is best known for his secular play, Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion (The Play of Robin and Marion), the earliest penned version of what later developed into the Robin Hood legend. Adam, born in Arras, a city in northern France, spoke the langue d’oil, the same dialect used at the Norman court in England, and his play may have been performed there. Adam’s pastourelle centered on Robin and Marion, and Robin’s cousins play a vital part in the play; it is those cousins who may have eventually become the “merry men” in today’s Robin Hood.
Little is documented about Adam’s life, but from what the extant records reveal, Adam was probably born in Arras sometime in the middle of the thirteenth century, and later became a member of a confraternity called the Puy d’Arras, a literary organization which held poetic competitions. His father was Maistre Henri, a municipal clerk who worked for the local magistrates. Much of Adam’s life is conjectured from his Le Jeu de la Feuillée, considered by some musicologists to be autobiographical, and while certain dates and events are elusive, it is almost certain that he was exiled for a period to Douai, that he went to Paris to study, and that he was patronized by Count Robert d’Arras, King Louis’ nephew, who lived in Arras during his early life.
Adam leaves behind an impressive amount of work. Besides the Play of Robin and Marion, he also wrote 36 chansons, 46 rondets de carole, 18 jeux-partis, 14 polyphonic rondeaux, at least 5 motets, and La Chanson du roi de Sicile (Song of the King of Sicily), of which only fragments remain.
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