Historically, the Sestina is a French form. It appeared in France in the twelfth century, initially in the work of Arnaut Daniel. He was one of the troubadours or court poets and singers in the service of French nobles.m Troubadours were lyric poets. They began in Provence in the eleventh century. For the next two centuries, they flourished in South France, East Spain, and North Italy, creating many songs of romantic flirtation and desire. Their name is from the French trobar, to invent or make verse. The Sestina was one of several forms in the complex, elaborate, and difficult closed style called trobar clus as opposed to the easier more open trobar leu.

Website: http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/form/sestina.htm