Medieval Literature
Dr. Debora B. Schwartz
English Department,
California
Polytechnic State University
Backgrounds to Romance: "Courtly
Love"
"Romance"
originally referred not to a specific literary genre but to the vernacular
French
language which was called romanz (meaning that it was derived from
the language spoken by the Romans, i.e. Latin).
French
and other languages derived from Latin, such as Spanish, Italian and Portuguese,
are still referred to as "Romance
Languages" today. In the 12th century, literature which was written
down in the French vernacular was referred to as "romance" to distinguish
it from "real" literature, which was invariably written in Latin. Gradually,
the term "romance" began to refer not to any narrative written in
the French vernacular, but to the specific sort of narrative literature
that was most popular among the French-speaking court audiences of France
and
Anglo-Norman
England: stories of the chivalric adventures of knights and their ladies,
often set at the court of King Arthur (see Translatio
handout for early development of Arthurian literature and of the genre
known as "romance";
see also Anglo-Norman
Literature and French
Literature: Anglo-Norman).
The audience for these
early vernacular narratives was largely made up of women--the queen, duchess
or countess and the other ladies of her court. These women naturally tended
to be interested in stories in which women played more central roles than
was true in Germanic epics such as Beowulf (which
centered almost exclusively on the exploits of male warriors). Because
the vernacular language poet's livelihood depended upon pleasing his/her
audience, the vernacular narratives written for these courts ("romances")
tended to focus on other plot developments than the fighting and male-bonding
emphasized in epic poetry. The narratives still concern the deeds of brave
warriors, but the Middle English knight (unlike the Old English thane)
is motivated by love for his lady. Accordingly, women play an increasingly
important and active role.
Two
women who had a particular influence on the development of romance were
Eleanor
of Aquitaine, queen first of France and then of England, and her daughter
Marie,
Countess of Champagne (in Eastern France). Eleanor brought to the English
court her interest in poetry, music and the arts, all of which were cultivated
at the court of Aquitaine where she grew up (her grandfather William was
the first known troubadour poet). In the vernacular narratives that were
written for and/or dedicated to Eleanor--early "romances"--we find an emphasis
on the sort of love relationship that is depicted in troubadour poetry,
commonly known as "courtly love" (fin'amors in Provençal,
the language of troubadour poetry).
The "courtly
love" relationship is modelled on the feudal relationship between a
knight and his liege lord. The knight serves his courtly lady (love
service) with the same obedience and loyalty which he owes to his liege
lord. She is in complete control of the love relationship, while he owes
her obedience and submission (a literary convention that did not correspond
to actual practice!) The knight's love for the lady inspires him to
do great deeds, in order to be worthy of her love or to win her favor.
Thus "courtly love" was originally construed as an ennobling force
whether or not it was consummated, and even whether or not the lady knew
about the knight's love or loved him in return.
The
"courtly love" relationship typically was not between husband and wife,
not because the poets and the audience were inherently immoral, but because
it was an idealized sort of relationship that could not exist within the
context of "real life" medieval marriages. In the middle ages, marriages
amongst the nobility were typically based on practical and dynastic concerns
rather than on love. The idea that a marriage could be based on love (as
in the "Franklin's Tale") was a radical
notion. But the audience for romance was perfectly aware that these romances
were fictions, not models for actual behavior. The adulterous aspect
that bothers many 20th-century readers was somewhat beside the point, which
was to explore the potential influence of love on human behavior.
Social historians such
as Eric Köhler and Georges Duby have hypothesized that "courtly love"
may have served a useful social purpose: providing a model of behavior
for a class of unmarried young men that might otherwise have threatened
social stability. Knights were typically younger brothers without land
of their own (hence unable to support a wife) who became members of the
household of the feudal lords whom they served. One reason why the lady
in the courtly love relationship is typically older, married and of higher
social status than the knight may be because she was modelled on the wife
of the feudal lord, who might naturally become the focus of the young,
unmarried knights' desire. Köhler and Duby posit that the literary
model of the courtly love relationship may have been invented in part to
provide these young men with a model for appropriate behavior, teaching
them to sublimate their desires and to channel their energy into socially
useful behavior (love service rather than wandering around the countryside,
stealing or raping women like the knight in the "Wife
of Bath's" tale).
The
behavior of the knight and lady in love was drawn partly from troubadour
poetry and partly from a set of literary conventions derived from the Latin
poet Ovid, who described the "symptoms" of love
as if it were a sickness. The "lovesick" knight became a conventional figure
in medieval romance. Typical symptoms: sighing, turning pale, turning red,
fever, inability to sleep, eat or drink. Romances often contained long
interior monologues in which the lovers describe their feelings.
A Latin-language work
from the late 12th-century, Andreas Capellanus's
"Art of Courtly Love", has sometimes been taken as a serious
treatise describing the "rules" of courtly love, supposedly written for
Countess Marie of Champagne (daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the
person to whom Chrétien de Troyes dedicates
The
Knight of the Cart, the romance in which the love of Lancelot for Guenevere
is first introduced). It is now clear that the work is not a serious
treatise but a satire mocking the conventions of courtly love, written
within a university milieu hostile to the conventions of courtly literature.
Nonetheless, the treatise attests to the popularity of the literary conventions
of "fin'amors" within courtly society--for you can't satirize something
that does not exist!
Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz,
1998-2002
Click here for Dr . Schwartz's
Translatio
handout
Click here for Images of "Courtly
Love"
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