what was not called “courtly love” in the middle ages but properly called “fin amor”
TRANSCRIPT
What was NOT called “courtly love” in the Middle Ages
But properly called “fin amor”
The term “courtly love” is a 19th century invention.
• Was possibly coined by Gaston Paris, a translation from Provençal “cortez amors”
• Much of the myth and literary viewpoints of courtly love were developed and elaborated on in the 19th and early 20th centuries
• At this distance, it’s harder to be sure what the Middle Ages thought of the subject
Confluence of Forces
• Introduction of stirrup in 8th/9th centuries led to class of warriors mounted on horseback—chevaliers
• Set of behavioral expectations evolved for this class of warriors--chivalry
Cultural Imperatives• Social class distinctions—emerging concepts of
feudalism• Church’s need to control civilian power
structures• Late 10th c. onwards—affective piety and worship
of Virgin Mary as intercessor• Politics—Crusades and the disruption caused by
travel and family separation• Economics—need for major noble families to
move and divide households and circulate from one residence to another
Fin amor is a code of behavioral expectations that govern a particular class of people in a particular time frame
It is a codified set of historical practices that governed and determined complex social, political, and class interactions.
Continental Influences• 11th century troubadours and trouvéres• Southern and central France—particularly around the
Angevin court—Andreas Capellanus (going back to Ovid)
• Spread across Europe through vehicle of Crusades—at least some Arabic influence—really start to see it after 1st Crusade (1099 C.E.)
Those pesky Angevins…
As codified by G. Paris, “courtly love” in a literary sense is
• An idealizing love based on man’s sexual attraction to woman
• Lover accepts beloved’s independence• Lover attempts to win beloved’s admiration by
accomplishing noble deeds, living virtuously, and thus conveying renown to the lady—calls her midons (term of feudal vassalage)
• Sexual satisfaction not always expected
Quickly popularized• C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of
Love (1936)– Talked about “the religion
of love”– Assumed that actual
adultery was part of the system
– Also assumed that humility and courtesy were parts of the system
• Seen in a lot of later scholarship as a “truth” of the Middle Ages
The actual circumstancesare harder to pin down
• Hard to accept that nobility would patronize a system that encouraged adultery and infidelity (too dangerous to inheritance rights)
• Church seems to have endorsed at least some of it as building moral virtue
• Best to think of it as a highly-codified role-playing game
“The Rules”• Largely those established in The Art of Courtly
Love—complete with RPG scenarios• Govern behavior among people who are NOT
married• Incorporate emerging cultural & religious
expectations for behavior of chivalric class• Probably culminate in establishment of Order of
the Garter (1344…or maybe 1348…) by Edward III• By Malory’s time, an archaic concept but still
valued—practices mostly gone but attitudes remained.
