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Courtly love was a medieval European conception of love which found its genesis in the courts of southern France at the end of the eleventh century. In essence, courtly love was a contradictory experience between erotic desire and spiritual attainment, "a love at once illicit and morally elevating, passionate and self-disciplined, humiliating and exalting, human and transcendent."[1]
The term courtly love was first popularized by Gaston Paris in 1883, and has since come under a wide variety of definitions and uses, even being dismissed as nineteenth-century romantic fiction. Its interpretation, origins and influences continue to be a matter of discourse.
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[edit] Origin of term
The term "Courtly Love" was first popularized by Gaston Paris in his 1883 article "Études sur les romans de la Table Ronde: Lancelot du Lac, II: Le conte de la charrette, a treaties about Chretien de Troyes's Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (1177). Paris said amour courtois was an idolization and ennobling discipline. The lover (idolizer) accepts the independence of his mistress and tries to make himself worthy of her by acting bravely and honorably (nobly) by doing whatever deeds she might desire. Sexual satisfaction, Paris said, may not have been a goal or even end result, but nor was the love entirely Platonic as it was based on sexual attraction (see section on sexuality below for further views).
The term and its definition as described by Paris was soon widely accepted and adopted. C.S. Lewis wrote an influential piece in 1936 further solidifying courtly love as "love of a highly specialized sort, whose characteristics may be enumerated as Humility, Courtesy, Adultery, and the Religion of Love"[2]
Later historians including D.W. Robertson[3] in the 1960s and E. Talbot Donaldson[4] in the 1970s, were critical of the term as bing a modern invention, the later calling it "The Myth of Courtly Love", because it is not supported in medieval texts. However, even though the term "courtly love" does only appear in just one extant Provençal poetry (as cortez amors in a late 12th century lyric by Piere d'Alvernhe), it is closely related to the term fin'amor (fine love) which does appear frequently in Provençal and French, as well as German translated as hohe Minne. In addition other terms and phrases associated with "courtliness" and "love" are common throughout the Middle Ages. Even though Paris used a term with little extant support in the literature, it was not a neologism and does usefully describe a particular conception of love and focuses on the courtliness that was at its essence.[5]
[edit] History
Courtly love had its origins in the castle life of four regions in southern France: Aquitaine, Provence, Champagne and ducal Burgundy beginning about the time of the First Crusade (1099). Courtly love found its expression in the lyric poems written by troubadours, such as William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (1071-1126), one of the first troubadour poets.
Eleanor of Aquitaine brought ideals of courtly love from Aquitaine first to the court of France, then to England, where she was queen to two kings. Her daughter Marie, Countess of Champagne brought courtly behavior to the Count of Champagne's court. There the late 12th century Andreas Capellanus wrote the tongue-in-cheek but highly influential Art of Courtly Love.
[edit] Analysis
Courtly love saw a woman as an ennobling spiritual and morale force, a view that was in opposition to ecclesiastical sexual attitudes. Rather that being critical of romantic and sexual love as sinful, the poets praised it as the highest good. Marriage had been declared a sacrament of the Church, at the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215, and within Christian marriage, the only purpose was procreation with any sex beyond that purpose seen as non-pious. The ideal state of a Christian was celibacy, even in marriage. By the beginning of the 13th century the ideas of courtly tradition were condemned by the church as being heretical. The church channeled many of these energies into the cult of the virgin; it is not a coincidence that the cult of the Virgin Mary began in the 12th century as a counter to the secular, courtly and lustful views of women. Francis of Assisi called poverty "his Lady".
The troubadour's model of the ideal lady was the wife of his employer or lord, a lady of higher status, usually the rich and powerful female head of the castle. When her husband was away on Crusade or other business she dominated the household and cultural affairs, sometimes this was the case even when the husband was at home. Poets adopted the terminology of feudalism, declaring themselves the vassal of the lady and addressing her as midons (my lord), a sort of code name so that the poet did not have to reveal the ladies name, but which was flattering by addressing her as his lord. The lady was rich and powerful and the poet gave voice to the aspirations of the courtly class, for only those who were noble could engage in courtly love. This new kind of love saw nobility not based on wealth and family history, but on character and actions; thus appealing to poorer knights who saw an avenue for advancement.
Courtly love had a civilizing effect on knightly behavior, beginning in the late 11th century; it has been suggested that the prevalence of arranged marriages required other outlets for the expression of more personal occurrences of romantic love. New expressions of highly personal private piety in the 11th century were at the origins of what a modern observer would recognize as a personality, and the vocabulary of piety was also transferred to the conventions of courtly love.
At times, the lady could be a princesse lointaine, a far-away princess, and some tales told of men who had fallen in love with women whom they had never seen, merely on hearing their perfection described, but normally she was not so distant. As the etiquette of courtly love became more complicated, the knight might wear the colors of his lady: blue or black were the colors of faithfulness; green was a sign of unfaithfulness. Salvation, previously found in the hands of the priesthood, now came from the hands of one's lady. In some cases, there were also women troubadours who expressed the same sentiment for men.
[edit] Literary convention
The literary convention of courtly love can be found in most of the major authors of the Middle Ages such as Geoffery Chaucer, John Gower, Dante, Marie de France, Chretien de Troyes, Gottfried von Strassburg and Malory.
The medieval genres in which courtly love conventions can be found include the lyric, the Romance and the allegory.
[edit] Lyric
Courtly love was born in the lyric, first appearing with Provençal poets in the 11th century.
[edit] Romance
The vernacular court poetry of the romans courtois, or Romance, saw many examples of courtly love. Some of them are set within the cycle of poems celebrating King Arthur's court. This was a literature of leisure, directed to a largely female audience for the first time in European history.
[edit] Allegory
Medieval allegory has courtly love elements, for example the first part of The Romance of the Rose.
[edit] Others
Perhaps the most important and popular work was that of Andreas Capellanus's ars amandi ("art of love"), based on Ovid's Ars amatoria ("Art of Love"). Andreas codified courtly love.
[edit] Points of controversy
[edit] Sexuality
A point of ongoing controversy about courtly love is to what extent it was sexual. All courtly love was sexual to some degree, the troubadours speak of the physical beauty of their lady and the feelings and desires she arises in them, which are not purely Platonic emotions. However it is unclear what the poet should do, live a life of perpetual desire channeling his energies to higher ends, or physically consummate. Scholars have seen it both ways.
Denis de Rougement said the troubadours were influenced by Cathar doctrines which rejected the pleasures of the flesh and that they were metaphorically addressing the spirit and soul of the lady.[6] Edmund Reiss claimed it was also a spiritual love, but a love that had more in common with Christian love caritas.[7] On the other hand scholars such as Mosché Lazar claim it was adulterous sexual love with physical possession of the lady the desired end.[8]
Many scholars identify courtly love as the "pure love" as described in 1184 by Andreas Capellanus in De amore libri tres:[9]
“"it is the pure love which binds together the hearts of two lovers with every feeling of delight. This kind consists in the contemplation of the mind and the affection of the heart; it goes as far as the kiss and the embrace and the modest contact with the nude lover, omitting the final solace, for that is not permitted for those who wish to love purely.. That is called mixed love which gets its effect from every delight of the flesh and culminates in the final act of Venus."”
Within the corpus of troubadour poems there is a wide range attitudes, even across the works of a single poet. Some are physically sensual, even bawdily imagining nude embraces, while others are highly spiritual and border on the Platonic.[10]
[edit] Moorish influence
Many of the conventions of courtly love can be traced to Ovid, through Andreas Capellanus, but not everything. A proposed source for the differences is the Arabic poets and poetry of Muslim Spain. In the 11th century Spain, a group of wandering poets appeared going from court to court, sometimes traveling to Christian courts in southern France, a situation closely mirroring what would happen in southern France about a century later. Contacts between these Spanish poets and the French troubadours were frequent. The metrical forms used by the Spanish poets were similar to those later used by the troubadours. See Maria Rosa Menocal in The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History.
[edit] Real world practice
A continued point of controversy is if courtly love was purely literary, or was it practiced in real life. There are no historical records that offer evidence of it happening in reality. Historian John Benton found no documentary evidence in law codes, court cases, chronicles or other historical documents. [11] However, the existence of the non-fiction genre of courtesy books probably suggests it occured. For example the courtesy book by Christine de Pizan called Book of the Three Virtues (ca. 1405), which disapproves of courtly love, says the convention is being used by practitioners to justify and cover-up illicit love affairs.
Another point of controversy is the existence of "courts of love", first mentioned by Andreas Capellanus. These were supposed courts made up of tribunals staffed by 10 to 70 women who would hear a case of love and rule on it based on the rules of love. 19th century historians took the existence of the courts as being a fact, however later historians such as John F. Benton noted "none of the abundant letters, chronicles, songs and pious dedications" suggest they ever existed outside of the poetic literature.[11] According to Diane Bornstein, one way to reconcile the differences between the references to courts of love in the literature and the lack of documentary evidence in real life is to suggest that they were like literary salons or social gatherings, where people read poems debated questions of love and played word games of flirtation.[10]
Courtly love probably found expression in the real world in customs such as the crowning of a "Queen of Love and Beauty" at a tournament. Occasions such as Philip le Bon's Feast of the Pheasant in 1454 relied on parables drawn from courtly love to incite his nobles to swear to participate in an anticipated crusade and numerous actual political and social conventions were largely based on the formulas dictated by the "rules" of courtly love well into the 15th century.
[edit] Stages of Courtly Love
(Adapted from Barbara Tuchman[12])
- Attraction to the lady, usually via eyes/glance
- Worship of the lady from afar
- Declaration of passionate devotion
- Virtuous rejection by the lady
- Renewed wooing with oaths of virtue and eternal fealty
- Moans of approaching death from unsatisfied desire (and other physical manifestations of lovesickness)
- Heroic deeds of valor which win the lady's heart
- Consummation of the secret love
- Endless adventures and subterfuges avoiding detection
[edit] Further reading
- Duby, Georges. The Knight, the Lady, and the Priest: the Making of Modern Marriage in Medieval France. Translated by Barbara Bray. New York: Pantheon Books, 1983. (ISBN 0-226-16768-2)
- Gaunt, Simon. “Marginal Men, Marcabru, and Orthodoxy: The Early Troubadours and Adultery.” Medium Aevum 59 (1990): 55-71.
- Lewis, C. S. The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1936. (ISBN 0-19-281220-3)
- Menocal, Maria Rosa. The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvana Press, 2003. (ISBN 0-8122-1324-6)
- Newman, Francis X. The Meaning of Courtly Love. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1968. (ISBN 0-87395-038-0)
- Capellanus, Andreas. The Art of Courtly Love. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964.
- Schultz, James A. Courtly Love, the Love of Courtliness, and the History of Sexuality'. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006. (ISBN 0-226-74089-7)
[edit] See also
| Part of a series on Love |
 |
| Historically |
|---|
| Courtly love |
| Religious love |
| Grades of Emotion |
| Erotic love |
| Platonic love |
| Familial love |
| Puppy love |
| Romantic love |
| See Also |
| Unrequited love |
| The problem of love |
| Celibacy |
| Sexuality |
| Sex |
| Valentine's Day |
[edit] References
- ^ Francis X. Newman, ed. (1968). The Meaning of Courtly Love, vii.
- ^ C.S. Lewis (1936). The Allegory of Love.
- ^ D.W. Robertson (1962). "Some Medieval Doctrines of Love", in A Preface to Chaucer
- ^ E. Talbot Donaldson (1970). "The Myth of Courtly Love", in Speaking of Chaucer.
- ^ Roger Boase (1986). "Courtly Love," in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Volume 3, pp. 667-668
- ^ Denis de Rougement (1956), Love in the Western World.
- ^ Edmund Reiss (1979). "Fin'amors: Its History and Meaning in Medieval Literature", in Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 8.
- ^ Mosché Lazar (1964). Amour courtois et "fin'amors" dans le littérature du XII siècle.
- ^ Andreas Capellanus. The Art of Courtly Love. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964
- ^ a b Dian Bornstein (1986). "Courtly Love," in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, volume 3, pp.668-674
- ^ a b John F. Benton, "The Evidence for Andreas Capellanus Re-examined Again", in Studies ih Philology, 59 (1962); and "The Court of Champagne as a Literary Center", in Speculum, 36(1961)
- ^ Tuchman, Barbara Wertheim. A Distant Mirror: the Calamitous 14th Century. New York: Knopf, 1978. ISBN 0-394-40026-7.
