Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously

expressing love and admiration.[1] Generally, courtly love was secret and
between members of the nobility.[2] It was also generally not practiced between
husband and wife.[2][3]

Courtly love began in the ducal and princely courts of Aquitaine, Provence,
Champagne and ducal Burgundy, at the end of the eleventh century. In essence,
courtly love was an experience between erotic desire and spiritual attainment
that now seems contradictory,[citation needed] "a love at once illicit and morally
elevating, passionate and disciplined, humiliating and exalting, human and
transcendent".[4]

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 critical debate.

Origin of term

Courtly vignettes on an ivory mirror-case, first third of the 14th century (Muse
du Louvre)

The term amour courtois ("courtly love") was given its original definition by
Gaston Paris[5] in his 1883 article "tudes sur les romans de la Table Ronde:
Lancelot du Lac, II: Le conte de la charrette", a treatise inspecting 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) and by doing whatever deeds she might desire,
subjecting himself to a series of tests (ordeals) to prove to her his ardor and
commitment. Sexual satisfaction, Paris said, may not have been a goal or even
end result, but the love was not entirely Platonic either, as it was based on sexual
attraction (see section on sexuality below for further views).

The term and Paris's definition were soon widely accepted and adopted. In 1936
C. S. Lewis wrote The Allegory of Love further solidifying courtly love as a "love of
a highly specialized sort, whose characteristics may be enumerated as Humility,
Courtesy, Adultery, and the Religion of Love".[6]
Later, historians such as D. W. Robertson[7] in the 1960s and John C. Moore[8]
and E. Talbot Donaldson[9] in the 1970s, were critical of the term as being a
modern invention, Donaldson calling it "The Myth of Courtly Love", because it is
not supported in medieval texts. Even though the term "courtly love" does
appear only in just one extant Provenal poem (as cortez amors in a late 12th
century lyric by Peire d'Alvernhe), it is closely related to the term fin'amor ("fine
love") which does appear frequently in Provenal 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 support in the contemporaneous 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]

Richard Trachsler says that the concept of courtly literature is linked to the idea
of the existence of courtly texts, texts produced and read by men and women
sharing some kind of elaborate culture they all have in common.[10] He argues
that many of the texts that scholars claim to be courtly also include uncourtly
texts, and argues that there is no clear way to determine where courtliness ends
and uncourtliness starts[10] since readers would enjoy texts which were
supposed to be entirely courtly without realizing they were also enjoying texts
which were uncourtly. This presents a clear problem in the understanding of
courtliness.[10]

Courtly Love comes in the basket

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History

The practice of courtly love was developed in the castle life of four regions:
Aquitaine, Provence, Champagne and ducal Burgundy, from around the time of
the First Crusade (1099). 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. 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.

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 lady's name, but which was flattering by
addressing her as his lord. 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. The lady was rich and powerful
and the poet gave voice to the aspirations of the courtier 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.

Warfare imagery: the Siege of the Castle of Love on an ivory mirror-back,

possibly Paris, ca. 13501370 (Muse du Louvre)

Since at the time marriage had little to do with love,[11] courtly love was also a
way for nobles to express the love not found in their marriage.[12] "Lovers" in the
context of courtly love did not refer to sex, but rather the act of emotional loving.
These "lovers" had short trysts in secret, which escalated mentally, but never
physically.[13] The rules of courtly love were codified by the late 12th century in
Andreas Capellanus' highly influential work De Amore ("Concerning Love"). De
amore lists such rules as "Marriage is no real excuse for not loving", "He who is
not jealous cannot love", "No one can be bound by a double love", and "When
made public love rarely endures".[14]

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Andalusian and Islamic influence

Many of the conventions of courtly love can be traced to Ovid, through Andreas
Capellanus, but it is doubtful that they are all traceable to this origin. Accounts of
courtly love often overlook the Arabist hypothesis, which has been posed in some
form almost from the beginnings of the term "courtly love" in the modern period.
A proposed source for the differences is the Arabic poets and poetry of Muslim
Spain and the broader European contact with the Islamic world.[citation needed]

Given that practices similar to courtly love were already prevalent in Al-Andalus
and elsewhere in the Islamic world, it is very likely that Islamic practices
influenced the Christian Europeans. William of Aquitane, for example, was
involved in the First Crusade, and in the ongoing Reconquista in Spain, so that he
would have come into contact with Muslim culture a great deal.[citation needed]

According to G. E. von Grunebaum, there were several elements which developed

in Arabic literature.[citation needed] The notions of "love for love's sake" and
"exaltation of the beloved lady" have been traced back to Arabic literature of the
9th and 10th centuries. The notion of the "ennobling power" of love was
developed in the early 11th century by the Persian psychologist and philosopher,
Ibn Sina (known as "Avicenna" in Europe), in his treatise Risala fi'l-Ishq (Treatise
on Love). The final element of courtly love, the concept of "love as desire never
to be fulfilled", was at times implicit in Arabic poetry, but was first developed into
a doctrine in European literature, in which all four elements of courtly love were
present.[15]

According to an argument outlined by Maria Rosa Menocal in The Arabic Role in

Medieval Literary History, in 11th-century Spain, a group of wandering poets
appeared who would go from court to court, and sometimes travel 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.[citation
needed]

Court of Love in Provence in the 14th Century (after a manuscript in the

Bibliothque Nationale, Paris).

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Analysis

The historic analysis of courtly love varies between various schools of historians.
That sort of history which views the early Middle Ages dominated by a prudish
and patriarcal theocracy, views courtly love as a "humanist" reaction to the
puritanical views of the Catholic Church.[16][17] In the language of the scholars
who endorse this view, courtly love is cherished for its exaltation of femininity as
an ennobling, spiritual, and moral force, in contrast to the ironclad chauvinism of
the first and second estates.[5] The condemnation of courtly love in the
beginning of the 13th century by the church as heretical, is seen by these
scholars as the Church's attempt to put down this "sexual rebellion." [5][18]

However, other scholars note that courtly love was certainly tied to the Church's
effort to civilize the crude Germanic feudal codes in the late 11th century. It has
also been suggested that the prevalence of arranged marriages required other
outlets for the expression of more personal occurrences of romantic love, and
thus it was not in reaction to the prudery or patriarchy of the Church but to the
nuptial customs of the era that courtly love arose.[19]
In the Germanic cultural world a special form of courtly love can be found,
namely minne.

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: where blue or black were sometimes the colors
of faithfulness, green could be 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.

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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 Sir Thomas Malory.

The medieval genres in which courtly love conventions can be found include the
lyric, the Romance and the allegory.

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Lyric

Courtly love was born in the lyric, first appearing with Provenal poets in the 11th
century, including itinerant and courtly minstrels such as the French troubadours
and trouvres. This French tradition spread later to the German Minnesnger,
such as Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach.[5]

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Romance

The vernacular poetry of the romans courtois, or courtly romances, included

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.[5]

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Allegory

Medieval allegory has courtly love elements, for example the first part of The
Romance of the Rose.[5]

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Others

Perhaps the most important and popular work was that of Andreas Capellanus's
De Amore which described the ars amandi ("the art of loving") in twelfth century
Provence. His work followed in the tradition of the Roman work Ars amatoria ("Art
of Love") by Ovid.[5]

The themes of courtly love were not confined to the medieval, but seen both in
serious and comic forms in Elizabethan times. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet,
for example, shows Romeo attempting to love Rosaline in an almost contrived
courtly fashion while Mercutio mocks him for it.

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Points of controversy

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SexualityPart of a series on

Love

Basic aspects[show]

Historically[show]

Types of emotion[show]

See also[show]

vde

A point of ongoing controversy about courtly love is to what extent it was sexual.
All courtly love was erotic to some degree, and not purely platonicthe
troubadours speak of the physical beauty of their ladies and the feelings and
desires the ladies arouse in them. However, it is unclear what a 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 Rougemont said that 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 their ladies. Rougemont also said
that courtly love subscribed to the code of chivalry, and therefore a knight's
loyalty was always to his King before his mistress.[19] Edmund Reiss claimed it
was also a spiritual love, but a love that had more in common with Christian love,
or caritas.[20] On the other hand, scholars such as Mosch Lazar claim it was
adulterous sexual love with physical possession of the lady the desired end.[21]

Many scholars identify courtly love as the "pure love" described in 1184 by
Andreas Capellanus in De amore libri tres:

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.[22]

Within the corpus of troubadour poems there is a wide range of attitudes, even
across the works of individual poets. Some poems are physically sensual, even
bawdily imagining nude embraces, while others are highly spiritual and border on
the platonic.[23]

The medieval phenomenon of courtly love in all of its slavish devotion and
ambivalence has been suggested by some writers to be a precursor of BDSM.[24]
[25]

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Real-world practice

A continued point of controversy is whether courtly love was purely literary or

was actually practiced in real life. There are no historical records that offer
evidence of its presence in reality. Historian John Benton found no documentary
evidence in law codes, court cases, chronicles or other historical documents.[26]
However, the existence of the non-fiction genre of courtesy books is perhaps
evidence for its practice. For example, according to the courtesy book by
Christine de Pizan called Book of the Three Virtues (ca. 1405), which expresses
disapproval of courtly love, the convention was being used to justify and cover up
illicit love affairs. Courtly love probably found expression in the real world in
customs such as the crowning of Queens of Love and Beauty at tournaments.
Philip le Bon, in his 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,
while well into the 15th century numerous actual political and social conventions
were largely based on the formulas dictated by the "rules" of courtly love.
[citation needed]

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Courts of love

A point of controversy was 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 these courts as fact,
however later historians such as Benton noted "none of the abundant letters,
chronicles, songs and pious dedications" suggest they ever existed outside of the
poetic literature.[26] 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 that they were like literary salons or social
gatherings, where people read poems, debated questions of love, and played
word games of flirtation.[23]

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Stages of courtly love

(Adapted from Barbara Tuchman[27])

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