Courtly Love

Courtly love as a literary phenomenon reflects one of the most far-reaching revolutions in social
sensibility in Western culture--the dramatic change in attitude towards women that began in the late
eleventh century, spread throughout western and northern Europe during the twelfth century, and
lingered through the Renaissance and on into the modern world where traces can still be found. In its
essential nature, courtly love, or fin' amors, as the Provencal poets called it, was the expression of the
knightly worship of a refining ideal embodied in the person of the beloved. Only a truly noble nature
could generate and nurture such a love; only a woman of magnanimity of spirit was a worthy object.
The act of loving was in itself ennobling and refining, the means to the fullest expression of what was
potentially fine and elevated in human nature.

More often than not, such a love expressed itself in terms that were feudal and religious. Thus, just
as a vassal was expected to honor and serve his lord, so a lover was expected to serve his lady, to obey
her commands, and to gratify her merest whims. Absolute obedience and unswerving loyalty were
critical. To incur the displeasure of one's lady was to be cast into the void, beyond all light, warmth, and
possibility of life. And just as the feudal lord stood above and beyond his vassal, so the lady occupied a
more celestial sphere than that of her lover. Customarily she seemed remote and haughty, imperious and
difficult to please. She expected to be served and wooed, minutely and at great length. If gratified by the
ardors of her lover-servant, she might at length grant him her special notice; in exceptional
circumstances, she might even grant him that last, longed-for favor. Physical consummation of love,
however, was not obligatory. What was important was the prolonged and exalting experience of being in
love.

It was usually one of the assumptions of courtly love that the lady in question was married, thus
establishing the triangular pattern of lover-lady-jealous husband. This meant that the affair was at least
potentially adulterous, and had to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy and danger. The absolute
discretion of the lover was therefore indispensable if the honor of the lady were to be preserved. Though
the convention did not stipulate adultery as a sine qua non, it is nevertheless true that the two great
patterns of courtly love in the Middle Ages--Tristan and Isolt and Lancelot and Guinevere--both
involved women who deceived their husbands.

Implications of Courtly Love

What practical effect did the convention of courtly love have on the situation of women in the
Middle Ages? Very little, if we are to believe social historians, who point out that there is no evidence to
show that the legal and economic position of women was materially enhanced in any way that can be
attributed to the influence of fin' amors. In a broader cultural context, however, it is possible to discern
two long range effects of courtly love on western civilization. For one thing, it provided Europe with a
refined and elevated language with which to describe the phenomenology of love. For another, it was a
significant factor in the augmented social role of women. Life sometimes has a way of imitating art, and
there is little doubt that the aristocratic men and women of the Middle Ages began to act out in their
own loves the pattern of courtly behavior they read about in the fictional romances and love lyrics of the
period. The social effect was to accord women preeminence in the great, central, human activity of
courtship and marriage. Thus women became more than just beloved objects--haughty, demanding,
mysterious; they became, in a very real sense, what they have remained ever since, the chief arbiters of
the game of love and the impresarios of refined passion.

Adapted from A Guide to the Study of Literature: A Companion Text for Core Studies 6, Landmarks of Literature, ©English
Department, Brooklyn College. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/love.html