Medieval Era 1066 1485

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Medieval Era1066 - 1485

• Courtly Love

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One of the greats changes in the middle ages is a
shift from unilateral love to mutual love.
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What is Courtly Love?

• A philosophy of love and a code of lovemaking
  that flourished in chivalric times, beginning in
  France with the Provencal Troubadour poets
• The Courtly Lover existed to serve his lady
• In the ritual of courtly love, a Knight would
  choose a beautiful and married lady that he
  idealized. He would begin to woo her.
• The Knight would
• Worship the lady from afar essentially a
  peeping Tom or voyeur. He could remain
  invisible yet intimate

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Courtly Love

• Present himself as a humble servant pledging
  his heart. The introduction of the pillow into
  the western world resulted from this. A knight
  would always have a pillow handy in order to
  kneel down and swear his love.
• Lady would set a series of test the knight would
  have to meet.. She would be the master of his
  desire.
• With every test won, she would grant him access
  to herself. First, she may speak his name then
  allow him to sit by her for a while.
• Ultimately, she would grant him a kiss and then
  allow him to see (never touch) her naked. If he
  was lucky, she would let him make love to her

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Courtly Love

• Sex was generally not part of the ritual of
  courtly love because then the romance would end
  and so, too, would the quest.
• The point of courtly love was to perfect the
  lover. Courtly love was all about longing. It
  was, essentially, eternal foreplay without the
  se. This was designed to make the knights strive
  to better himself through challenge. The
  knights love for a lady inspires him to do great
  deeds. Thus, courtly love was originally thought
  of as an ennobling force whether or not it was
  consummated, and even whether or not the lady
  knew about the knights love or love him in
  return.

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Courtly Love Vs Marriage

• The Courtly Love relationship typically was not
  between husband and wife, not because the people
  were inherently immoral, but because it was an
  idealized sort of relationship that could not
  exist within the context of real life medieval
  marriage. In the middle ages, Marriages amongst
  the nobility were typically based on practical or
  political concerns rather than love. The idea
  that marriage could be based on love was a
  radical notion!

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The Art of Courtly Love

• Andreas Capellanus wrote a treatise (The Art of
  Courtly Love) in the late 12 Century that sums up
  the rules.
• Courtly love could not exist between people who
  were married a stylized form of adultery
• Cupid shoots the lover in the eye, and the arrow
  goes to the heart.
• Lover is then obsessed with his object, and
  sickens, cant sleep, sighs, weeps, suffers
  intensely
• The Lover beg the object of desire for her favor.
  She usually makes him suffer for a long time
• In best of conditions, she responds and they
  pledge in secrecy.

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Courts of Love

• A love affair developed a court, but it was also
  very much a game played on a court. Courtly love
  was played inside the small world of a castle.
  Everyone new the strict rules and they were
  rehearsed in public
• Game that became popular was the Court of Love
  everyone would gather in a central hall and a
  love problem would be offered for debate
• Each player chose a position and defended it.
  Can a lover love two ladies at once?
• No right answers but it allowed people to talk
  about love in public medieval versions of The
  Dating Game or The Bachelor

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The Troubadours and Love

• Diane Ackerman explains what the Troubadours were
  interested in when the wrote songs of love
• What fascinated the troubadours were the first
  stages of love, whose flickering emotions they
  chronicled, the trembling moments at the
  beginning of an affair when two lovers were
  transfixed by one another, absorbed into each
  others version of reality, but quivering with
  uncertaintysex didnt interest them. They
  preferred the lying awake at night, the devoured
  glances, the secret codes, the fetishes and
  tokens, the steamy fantasying, the moaning to
  ones pillow and the agony of separation

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Images of Courtly Love
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Images of Courtly Love