courtly love

                                        T H E  A RT OF COURTLY  LOVE   1185
Andreas Capellanus
Courtly love refers to a code of behavior followed by aristocratic lovers in Europe in the Middle Ages. Courtly love required that lovers show their devotion by writing romantic poetry, performing heroic deeds, and remaining utterly faithful to one other. Writers composed rules for courtly love. In the following selection, Andreas Capellanus, a chaplain at a French court, describes love, its effects, and how it is acquired.

THINK THROUGH HISTORY: Summarizing According to Capellanus, what are some of the main effects of love?
What Love Is ...
Love is a certain inborn suffering derived from the sight of and excessive meditation upon the beauty of the opposite sex, which causes each one to wish above all things the embraces of the other and by common desire to carry out all of love’s precepts in the other’s embrace. That love is suffering is easy to see, for before the love becomes equally balanced on both sides there is no torment greater, since the lover is always in fear that his love may not gain its desire and that he is wasting his efforts. He fears, too, that rumors of it may get abroad, and he fears everything that might harm it in any way, for before things are perfected a slight disturbance often spoils them. If he is a poor man, he also fears that the woman may scorn his poverty; if he is ugly, he fears that she may despise his lack of beauty or may give her love to a more handsome man; if he is rich, he fears that his parsimony in the past may stand in his way. To tell the truth, no one can number the fears of one single lover. This kind of love, then, is a suffering which is felt by only one of the persons and may be called “single love.” But even after both are in love the fears that arise are just as great, for each of the lovers fears that what he has acquired with so much effort may be lost through the effort of someone else, which is certainly much worse for a man than if, having no hope, he sees that his efforts are accomplishing nothing, for it is worse to lose the things you are seeking than to be deprived of a gain you merely hope for. The lover fears, too, that he may offend his loved one in some way; indeed he fears so many things that it would be difficult to tell them. . . .

World History: Patterns of Interaction © McDougal Littell Inc.

1 What The Effect of Love Is Now it is the effect of love that a true lover cannot be degraded with any avarice. Love causes a rough and uncouth man to be distinguished for his handsomeness; it can endow a man even of the humblest birth with nobility of character; it blesses the proud with humility; and the man in love becomes accustomed to performing many services gracefully for everyone. O what a wonderful thing is love, which makes a man shine with so many virtues and teaches everyone, no matter who he is, so many good traits of character! There is another thing about love that we should not praise in few words: it adorns a man, so to speak, with the virtue of chastity, because he who shines with the light of one love can hardly think of embracing another woman, even a beautiful one. For when he thinks deeply of his beloved the sight of any other woman seems to his mind rough and rude. . . .

In What Manner Love May Be Acquired, and in How Many Ways It remains next to be seen in what ways love may be acquired.

The teaching of some people is said to be that there are five means by which it may be acquired: a beautiful figure, excellence of character, extreme readiness of speech, great wealth, and the readiness with which one grants that which is sought. But we hold that love may be acquired only by the first three, and we think that the last two ought to be banished completely from Love’s court, as I shall show you when I come to the proper place in my system. A beautiful figure wins love with very little effort, especially when the lover who is sought is simple, for a simple lover thinks that there is nothing to look for in one’s beloved besides a beautiful figure and face and a body well cared for. I do not particularly blame the love of such people, but neither do I have much approval for it, because love between uncautious and unskilled lovers cannot long be concealed, and so from the first it fails to increase. . . . A wise woman will therefore seek as a lover a man of praiseworthy character— not one who anoints himself all over like a woman or makes a rite of the care of the body, for it does not go with a masculine figure to adorn oneself in womanly fashion or to be devoted to the care of the body. It was people like this the admirable Ovid meant when he said, Let young men who are decked out like women stay far away from me, A manly form wants to be cared for within moderate limits. Likewise, if you see a woman too heavily rouged you will not be taken in by her beauty unless you have already discovered that she is good company besides, since a woman who puts all her reliance on her rouge usually doesn’t have any particular gifts of character. As I said about men, so with women—I believe you should not seek for beauty so much as for excellence of character. . . .

Source: Excerpt from The Art of Courtly Love by Andreas Capellanus, translated by John Jay Parry (New York: Columbia University Press, 1941). Copyright © 1990 by Columbia University Press. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. from The Art of Courtly Love World History: Patterns of Interaction © McDougal Littell Inc. 2 THINK THROUGH HISTOR Y : ANSWER According to Capellanus, love causes people to improve their character. He claims that it can cause men to become handsome, noble, faithful, and generous.