Speranza
Courtly love in the work of Cristiano di Troia.
Like so many things medieval, the matter of courtly love
has been subjected to any variety of treatments and mistreatments.
In part this
interest probably stems from the radical differences between modern customs and
the almost ritualistically codified practices of fin amour as seen in
literature.
But no small amount of the assorted studies can be attributed to the
tug-o-war on how much of popular tradition should be chalked up to poetic
licence.
To date, the question is still open to debate.
This essay will
discuss actual, implied and presumed aspects of pre-Renaissance courtly love.
Literary reference will be made using the works of Cristiano di Troia, as his
poems - written in the later half of the 12th century - are among the earliest
clearly identifiable as belonging to the romance genre, and undoubtedly exerted
a heavily influence on later treatments of the subject.
According to Lewis, the concept of courtly love first appeared in
Languedoc, France, at the end of the 11th century.
Its precise roots are
uncertain.
Theories have been constructed tracing it back to Ovid's Ars
Amatoria,
the cult of the Virgin, early Germanic reverence for women, and even
some formal system concocted by French troubadours to govern sentiment and its
expression.
None of these theories are entirely satisfactory, for while each
suggests an origin, few of them address the circumstances that might have
prompted the development
of a philosophy of romantic adultery,
largely at odds
with accepted social and theological structures.
----
As a contemporary
phenomenon, courtly love can be seen as both misplaced and eminently appropriate
to the age it flourished in.
On the one hand, by the statement that true love
can only exist OUTSIDE marriage, it invites criticism for encouraging and even
glorifying adultery.
On the other, this disregard for Christian sexual morality
has also been interpreted as an attempt to adhere to the broader conventions of
power in social interaction.
Central to the ideals of courtly love was the
lover's
humble service to his lady, in the hope that she might
reward his
loyalty with the barest token.
Contemporary society, however, presupposed
male
superiority, and linked the power of rewarding to superiority.
A lady can become that supreme object of worship only
by outranking her admirer.
As a wife is, by scripture and social
convention, compelled to honour her husband, on the wedding day a female
inevitably degenerated from a "lady" into a mere woman.
Therefore, LOVE (amore cortese) had to be
defined as excluding marriage.
The very aspects of courtly love that appear to
defy contemporary
morality and social structure
in fact seem to be designed to accommodate them.
More recent studies have put another slant on this observation; that of parody.
Benson points out that this similarity
between a knight serving his lady-love
and a
retainer serving a feudal lord could
well be explained as an intentionally
humorous
reversal of contemporary social positions and values.
---
There is
little evidence, Benson argues, to suggest that courtly love was originally
practised as it was portrayed.
In fact, given contemporary social values, it is
more probable that attempts to do so would have been flatly condemned by all
ranks of society.
The following of what Malory calls Virtuous Love develops
only in later centuries, and even then it was more a game for courtiers than a
serious philosophy.
Though later writers or critics may have treated the old
tradition at face value, Benson maintains that the bibles of courtly love, down
to and including Ovid, were ultimately written as parodies.
As the question of
origins goes, this explanation seems to do the best job of explaining both
method and motivation.
However one decides to view
the historicity of courtly love as a mode of behaviour, the fact remains that in
literature it enjoyed enormous popularity - especially among the nobility - from
the middle ages on.
This wide but largely class-specific
popularity is directly related to the cultural and ideological climate of the
age.
In addition to the obvious gender-political factors there is the
growth of mercantilism fostered by the relative peace and prosperity of the 12th
century, and the problems of a primogeniture-oriented society in
peacetime.
The appeal of courtly love to women is easily understood.
The
adoption of primogeniture as a means of succession had left property almost
exclusively in the hands of men, handicapping women financially.
Contemporary
theology views women as daughters of Eve, the root of original sin, and
therefore innately disposed towards sin themselves.
Marriage was a contract
negotiated more on matters of convenience than congeniality.
Matches were often
difficult and loveless.
If the tradition of courtly love is to be taken at face
value, this cultural background would easily explain why women found it
appealing.
And if it is to be treated as parody, the same backdrop
can be used
to show why the idea of
knights swooning over hair
from their lady's comb was
likely to prompt titters
from an audience, regardless of gender.
Other
reasons were more complex.
In the absence of significant wars, the practice
of
primogeniture created a large body
of adventurous noblemen with no
chance of inheritance until their fathers died.
Knight speculates
that the
twin ideals of chivalry and courtly
love grew popular with the higher
aristocracy in part because they provided a way for these energetic youngsters
to prove themselves without threatening the lords they often served.
To the less
wealthy nobles, these ideals offered a way to draw a line of distinction between
themselves and the villein - such as the wealthy, but not ennobled mercantile
class.
Ideals of courtesy were mainly a
smokescreen to conceal the essentially aggressive and exploitative nature of the
nobility, while simultaneously establishing them as better than the prosperous
but not noble merchant class.
This rather nihilistic view finds a measure of
justification in Chretien's work.
Indeed, it neatly summarises the gist of one
entire novel.
In Yvain (also Le Chevalier au Lion, The Knight with the Lion) the
noble but landless hero sets out to prove his prowess by slaying a knight who
guards a magic spring.
Shortly after accomplishing this, YVAIN pledges service to
the dead knight's wife Laudine, marries her, and takes over her lands and
titles.
This display of glory-hunting and acquisitiveness is explained into
acceptability by the simple detail that Yvain falls violently in LOVE with
Laudine as soon as he sees her.
Courtly graces, after all, demand that
a knight
should establish his
valour in the eyes of the lady to
prove himself worthy of
her favour.
While satisfactory by the laws of love, in terms of conventional
morality the story left a great deal to be desired, even at the time of
composition.
Chretien de Troyes has been called the first
man to use romantic love as a major theme in a serious novel.
As noted above,
the word 'serious' may not be entirely appropriate.
Still, he has achieved the
dubious honour of becoming one of the grand old men of chivalric romance.
His
best known work consists of five Arthurian romances - a theme greatly in vogue
at the time - and are written in octosyllabic couplets.
The last of these, De
Conte del Graal, was however completed by others due to the poet's
death.
While themes of courtly love and chivalry appear prominently in each
of Chretien's completed works, one in particular makes the service of a knight
to his lady its primary and almost only subject.
This of course is "Lancelot", written under the direction
and patronage of Marie de Champagne, daughter of the formidable Eleanor of
Aquitaine.
According to the poet, Marie supplied both the subject and method of
treatment for Lancelot.
Snider critics have said it shows, as
the work seems
more intent on portraying
the various idiosyncrasies of courtly love
religiously
observed than telling a
decent story in Chretien's usual style.
Modern opinion
tends to regard Lancelot as a
deliberate skit at courtly love, though opinions
vary on whether
Countess Marie was in on the joke.
----
The plot of Lancelot
consists mainly of
-- the abduction of Guinevere by Meleagant.
-- Lancelot's mission
to rescue her, and
-- the inevitable, though very drawn out sequence in which
Lancelot finally gets to pay the hostile knight his dues.
In the course of the
chase, Lancelot is called again and again to prove his loyalty to Guinevere.
He
endures public shame and ridicule when he is forced to travel on a cart for
convicts.
He proves his courage by sleeping in a perilous bed, and only narrowly
escapes being impaled by a fiery lance.
He is accosted by an amorous maiden, but
refuses her advances.
He suffers physical injury crossing the sword bridge to
Meleagant's realm.
And when he finally reaches the queen, his devotion is such
that he gazes dotingly up at her window all through a duel with her abductor.
Several characters testify that no knight has ever served his lady
better.
Guinevere does not agree.
Somehow, she knows that Lancelot hesitated
for the barest moment before stepping on the cart.
This minor breach outweighs
everything else Lancelot has done for her.
The breach also prompts a long sequence involving
lengthy declarations of personal misery and the valiant knight's ridiculous
attempt to hang himself from his own saddlebow.
According to his own word, in
Lancelot, Cristiano sets out to prove that love and sense are diametrically
opposed.
Modern critics take this statement as subtle admission of the poem's
burlesque nature.
Contemporaries, however, took a more serious approach.
Literary loans seem to suggest that Lancelot was received as a
veritable bible
of courtly conduct in love,
rather than an epitome of woman worship taken to
ridiculous extremes.
However Marie intended her commission to be
treated,
Lancelot clearly contains all the key elements that would
later become the
hallmarks of courtly love.
The lady - Guinevere, the legendary King Arthur's
Queen - is exceedingly well-born, gentle and courteous.
Only Lancelot receives
cruel treatment from her when she feels slighted, or disposed to demand some
show of loyalty from him.
Lancelot is established as the paragon of knightly
virtue.
BUT he is willing to serve Guinevere EVEN at the expense of his honour.
Both
lovers are prone to irrational behaviour when dealing with their paramour.
Lancelot touches stray stands of Guinevere's hair a thousand times to his eyes,
swooning, and genuflects to her bed as to a Christian shrine.
When Guinevere
spurns him
for hesitating to mount the cart, he proclaims
with remarkable
verbosity that he will die of grief.
The Queen herself refuses to eat or sleep
for days on end.
While somewhat overblown, the behaviour
pattern Cristiano
presents is remarkable consistent with
what came to be the discipline of courtly
love.
What's more, in spite of all the theatricals, several passages declare such
love the finest of things, with the power to ennoble both men and women - and
even more incredibly, later generations allowed themselves to be convinced of
this.
A modern reader is compelled to question the refining qualities of
something capable of making professional soldiers swoon with the best of
Victorian ladies.
Still, one is tempted to say that the idiosyncrasies of
courtly love bear a suspicious resemblance to modern cinematic love - in terms
of quality, if not quantity.
Sources:
Benson, Larry D. Courtly Love and
Chivalry in the Later Middle Ages.
Chrétien de Troyes. Arthurian Romances. Trans:
W.W. Comfort; Everyman's Library, London, 1914. Online.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Lancelot/,
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Yvain/
Knight, Stephen. Arthurian
Literature and Society. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983.
Lewis, C.S. The
Allegory of Love: a study in medieval tradition. London: Oxford University
Press, 1951.
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