Although love is a difficult concept to discuss in any age, it is clear that the concept has changed over the ages. A very romantic period in history is the Medieval Age. This frame in history revolves around thoughts on "courtly love". Diving through history to see how thoughts on love have changed may better help define various views on love over time.
The complexity of love surely went beyond this courtly, or romantic type of love, in the Middle Ages as there was certainly brotherly, carnal, filia and homosexual love as well. Yet the elegance and popularity of courtly love was forefront during this time. Courtly seems to have a refined resonating to it...an act of being courteous. In fact, findings show that courtly love has showed many contradictions. According to one examination by Piper L. Bringhurst, the two major elements defining love in the Middle Ages were those of suffering, and pleasure, two entirely different elements in contradiction with eachother.
Quotes taken from various books on love during the Medieval time such as'The Art of Courtly Love', and shown in "The Readings in World Civilations Vol. 1" in Piper Bringhurst's depiction of Medival Love, show the ageless endeavor to define love. A quote by Andreas Capellanus sometime between 1174 and 1186, shows this description of suffering. According to him, "love is a certain inborn suffering derived from the sight of and excessive mediation upon the beauty of the opposite sex"...,and " the easy attainment of love makes it of little value, difficulty of attainment makes it prized".( Bringshurst, pg.2) The famous love affair of Abelard and Heloise shows another depiction of this suffering inclusive in this 'courtly love'.Peter Abelard suffered greatly for his love when he was castrated by Heloise's Uncle Canon Fulbert. In literature of the day, the suffering of two lovers was a common theme.
Other literature of the day points out four mini elements that act as a sub-themes under the greater title of this suffering as suggested by Bringhurst. Jealousy, obsession , secrecy,and danger are all common reoccurring themes in the writings and works of love during the day of the Middle Ages. As Capellanus writes, "he who is not jealous, cannot love", and "real jealousy always increases the feeling of love". Other quotes such as, " a true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved," show the obsession involved in the perception of true love of the day. Capellanus also suggests that lover's should remain secret and not sign names on letters for then their love will always be "retained unimpaired". He also predicts, " when made public, love rarely endures". Secrecy in many ways implies danger or is the prelude to it. As stated in Life in the Medieval Castle, "an erring wife was disgraced and repudiated, her lover mutilated or killed". Affairs remained dangerous and therefore posed a risk of being harmed.
Pleasure remains the other half of the Medieval definiton of love. To love something was to desire something, to be the object of that desire, and to have it fulfilled, became a source of pleasure. The three sub elements of this as suggested once again by Bringhurst, are Sexual Pleasure, Fantasy, and the Heigtening of Honor and Worth. . Capellanus defends the importance of sexual pleasure in the Middle Ages when he quotes the Queen as saying that "women prefer young men for lovers because of physiological reasons". The 13th century scholar, Albertus Magnus, believed that "greater sexual pleasure and appetite belonged to the woman" suggesting that women of the age enjoyed sex unlike the women of the Victorian days.( Bringhurst, pg 5). Another mini element of love brought forth in the writings of Medieval times was fantasy. The songs and poems of the day centered on this courtly love whether it existed in daily life or not. The imagining of what may happen in love in these poems suggest the act of fantasizing and the pleasure it brought to the idea of love. The heightening of power is the final mini element thought to be involved with the theme of love and pleasue in the Middle Ages. Once again as Capellanus concludes, "Love causes a rough and uncouth man to be distinguished for his handsomeness, it can endow a man even of the humblest birth with the nobility of character".( RWC, pg 264/Bringhurst, pg.6.)
Medieval love shares some similarites with the ageless human emotions of today, yet have some other exaggerated themes that exemplify its unique quality and standards that show how the conceptions of love have changed.
Therefore my friends....There is an evolution to love....to some extent.
By Jennifer H. McGee
Notes:
"The Medieval Conception of Love", Piper Bringhurst
http:// people.westminstercollege.edu/facuty/mmarkowski/212/Class-Site/piper
Capellanus, Andreas. "The Art of Courtly Love". Readings In World Civilations, vol. 1. Kevin Reilly. Ny, 1995.
Gies, Joseph and Frances. Life in the Medieval Castle, NY, 1974.
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