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Courtly Love
Courtly Love
• known in medieval France as "fine love" or fin amour
• originated with troubadours of late 11th century
• promoted new form of paganism called Gai Saber (literally, "the happy wisdom“)
• challenged and sought to redefine traditional Christian ideals of love, marriage, manhood, virtue, and femininity.
Courtly Love
• sponsored by nobles like Eleanor of Aquitaine• gradually spread throughout France and
eventually into England and Germany• l'amour courtois (courtly love) identified by
extravagantly artificial and stylized relationship--forbidden affair characterized by five main attributes
The Attributes of Courtly Love
Aristocratic: courtly love practiced by noble lords and ladies; properly in royal palace or court
Ritualistic: Couples exchanged
gifts and tokens; lady wooed according
to elaborate conventions of etiquette; songs, poems,
bouquets, sweet favors, and ceremonial gestures; she need only
return a hint of approval; she was the exalted domina--the commanding "mistress" of the affair
The Attributes of Courtly Love
Secret: lovers pledged to strict secrecy; lovers composed a universe unto themselves--a special world with its own places (e.g., the secret rendezvous), rules, codes, and commandments
The Attributes of Courtly Love
Adulterous: “fine love" was extramarital; principle attractions was escape from dull routines and
boring confinements of noble marriage; typically little more than political
or economic alliance to royal offspring; troubadours thought marriage
religious swindle; instead exalted ideal of carnal relationship whose objective was not crude physical satisfaction but sensual intimacy
The Attributes of Courtly Love
The Attributes of Courtly Love
Literary: first gained attention as subject and theme in imaginative literature; Knights and ladies were popular figures in song and fable