Blondel de Nesle

Blondel de Nesle was a French trouvère and nobleman traditionally associated with the legend of Richard the Lionheart’s captivity. Although the famous rescue story is later legend, Blondel represents the aristocratic song culture of the crusading age.

In Gore Vidal’s A Search for the King, Blondel de Nesle, troubadour and devoted servant of Richard the Lionheart, sets out across Europe after the king disappears on his return from the Third Crusade.