Andreas Capellanus and The Art
of Courtly Love
Andrea Capellano wrote for the court of Marie de Champagne.
He served as chaplain of the royal court.
His work The Art of Courtly Love (as we translate the title; courtly love is actually a modern term invented in the 19th century) describes one aspect of behavior at court.
Secifically, behavior between men and women.
Courtly love is the invention of Marie,
influenced by her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine,
who was, in turn influenced by the tradition of Troubadour poetry.
Capellanus' work is a translation of Ovid's Art of Love.
However, Ovid's work was not intendend to be taken seriously.
Capellanus' translation, however, was viewed by some medieval readers as giving approval for adulterous relationships.
Recall that the upper nobility, women such as Marie de Champagne, typically married to form political alliances rather than for love.
Thus, they might seek romantic love outside of matrimony.
Capellanus book pretends to be written at the request of someone named Gualteri, who is new to love and wants advice.
Capellanus proceeds to define love, explaining who is fit for love (women over fifty and men over sixty are too old) and listing other requirements (beauty and good speech).
He then presents scenarios in which men and women of various social positions engage in "love talk."
He advices that, for example, a man of the higher nobility addressing a woman of the lower nobility should not boast of his higher birth.
Then there's a dialogue between a man of the higher nobility and a woman of the lower nobility.
-------
The woman argues:
WOMAN: I cannot accept your advances. I am married.
MAN: But love is not possible between man and wife. I can cites lack of jealousy as a primary reason. Plus, marriage is a holy sacrament. Therefore, if a husband and a wife have relations for pleasure rather than as payment of the marriage debt, the outcome is a greater sin than adultery.
-----
At a stand-off, the lovers write to Maria de Champagne for a final determination.
Capellanus even includes love of nuns (to be avoided) and love of peasants , strictly forbidden, but, he advises.
If by some chance you should fall in love with a peasant woman, puff them up with lots of praise and then, when you find a convenient place, do not hesitate to take them by force.
Sometimes infuriating to modern sensibilities, Capellano
at times has a double standard, advising
women that their unfaithful men should
be forgiven for "a romp in the grass" with a
"strumpet," but that women who are
unfaithful should "get the scolding they deserve."
-----
He concludes with a parable about love, a checklist of rules of love, and then, oddly, a retraction in which he urges Walter to stay away from women if possible.
After all, Capellanus concludes, every woman is greedy, a slave to her belly, inconstant, fickle in her speech, disobedient, a liar, a drunkard, a babbler, no keeper of secrets.
The fact that this text exists in a number of fragments attests that it was very popular in the Middle Ages.
But scholars remain puzzled about its reception.
Is it serious or mocking?
Is it didactic or parodic?
To what extent does it reflect medieval society?
Or is it merely a literary creation?
Some evidence exists that mock courtly love trials were mimicked in the courts of Marie and her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Primarily for us, though, courtly love is of interest because it plays a part in medieval romance.
As we read Chretien's "Lancelot," pay attention to the rules of love listed below and how Lancelot attempts to obey them
CAPELLANUS' RULES OF LOVE
RULE I.
Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.
RULE XI.
It is not proper to love any
woman whom one would be ashamed to marry.
RULE XII.
A true lover does not desire
to embrace in love anyone except his beloved.
XIII. When made public, love rarely
endures.
XIV. The easy attainment of love
makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it
prized.
XV. Every lover regularly turns
pale in the presence of his beloved.
XXI. Real jealousy always increases
the feeling of love.
XXIII. He whom the thought of love
vexes eats and sleeps very little.
XXIV. Every act of a lover ends in
the thought of his beloved.
Courtly love is the invention of
Marie, probably influenced by her mother Eleanor who was, in turn, influenced by
the tradition of Troubador poetry, an invention that becomes an integral
literary device in the romance.
Capellanus on married love:
For whatever solaces married people extend to each other, beyond what are inspired by the desire for offspring or the payment of the marriage debt, cannot be free from sin, and the punishment is always greater when the use of a holy thing is perverted by misuse than if we practice ordinary abuses.
It is a more serious offense in a wife than with another woman, for the too ardent lover, as we are taught by apostolic law, is considered an adulterer with his own wife.
*All references are to John Jay Parry's The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960).
No comments:
Post a Comment