A comprehensive examination of the rituals and philosophies that created and sustained medieval troubadour culture • Debunks the myth of the platonic nature of courtly love, showing the many sexual similarities to the Tantric practices of India • Reveals how the roots of courtly love go back to the matriarchal cultures of neolithic times The widespread turmoil that shook Western Europe as it entered the new millennium with the year 1000 prompted a vast reevaluation of the chief tenets of society. Foremost among these was a new way of looking at love and the place held by women in society. The Christian-inspired tradition that at best viewed women with contempt--and often with outright fear and loathing--was replaced by a new perspective, one in which women enjoyed a central role as the inspiration for all male action. For several hundred years courtly love, with its emphasis on adultery, carnal pleasures, and the power of the feminine, dominated European culture despite its flouting of conventional Christian morality. Medieval historians by and large have tended to regard courtly love as a sterile parlor game for the upper classes. To the contrary, Jean Markale shows that the stakes were much higher: the roots of the ritual re-created here go all the way back to the great mother goddess. In addition, the platonic nature attributed to these relationships is based on a misunderstanding of courtly love; underneath the refined poetry of the troubadours' verses flourished a system of sexual initiation that rivaled Indian Tantra.

The social system of 'courtly love' soon spread after becoming popularized by the troubadours of southern France in the twelfth century. This book codifies life at Queen Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1170 and 1174 into "one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explain the secret of a civilization."

One of the great achievements of the Middle Ages, Europe’s courtly culture gave the world the tournament, the festival, the knighting ceremony, and also courtly love. But courtly love has strangely been ignored by historians of sexuality. With Courtly Love, the Love of Courtliness, and the History of Sexuality, James Schultz corrects this oversight with careful analysis of key courtly texts of the medieval German literary tradition. Courtly love, Schultz finds, was provoked not by the biological and intrinsic factors that play such a large role in our contemporary thinking about sexuality—sex difference or desire—but by extrinsic signs of class: bodies that were visibly noble and behaviors that represented exemplary courtliness. Individuals became “subjects” of courtly love only to the extent that their love took the shape of certain courtly roles such as singer, lady, or knight. They hoped not only for physical union but also for the social distinction that comes from realizing these roles to perfection. To an extraordinary extent, courtly love represented the love of courtliness—the eroticization of noble status and the courtly culture that celebrated noble power and refinement

This Companion presents fifteen original and engaging essays by leading scholars on one of the most influential genres of Western literature. Chapters describe the origins of early verse romance in twelfth-century French and Anglo-Norman courts and analyze the evolution of verse and prose romance in France, Germany, England, Italy, and Spain throughout the Middle Ages. The volume introduces a rich array of traditions and texts and offers fresh perspectives on the manuscript context of romance, the relationship of romance to other genres, popular romance in urban contexts, romance as mirror of familiar and social tensions, and the representation of courtly love, chivalry, 'other' worlds and gender roles. Together the essays demonstrate that European romances not only helped to promulgate the ideals of elite societies in formation, but also held those values up for questioning. An introduction, a chronology and a bibliography of texts and translations complete this lively, useful overview.

Considers non-Christian and non-European roots and descendants of these two ideas.

Reading through clothes reveals that the expression of female desire, so often effaced in courtly lyric and romance, can be registered in the poetic deployment of fabric and adornment, and that gender is often configured along a sartorial continuum, rather than in terms of naturally derived categories of woman and man.

The De Amore of Andreas Capellanus (André the Chaplain), composed in France in the 1180s, is celebrated as the first comprehensive discussion of theory of courtly love. The book is believed to have been intended to portray conditions at Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's court at Poitiers between 1170 and 1174, and written the request of her daughter, Countess Marie of Troyes. As such, it is important for its connections to themes of contemporary Latin lyric, in troubadour poetry and in the French romances of Chrétien de Troyes. Thereafter its influence spread throughout Western Europe, so that the treatise is of fundamental importance for students of medieval and renaissance English, French, Italian and Spanish. In this comprehensive edition, P.G. Walsh includes Trojel's Latin text with his own facing English translation with explanatory notes, commentary and indexes, along with introduction which sets the treatise in its contemporary context and assesses its purpose and importance.

Examines the legacy of the medieval poet composers of Northern France, the trouveres. For many years problems and difficulties concerning the surviving melodies, have prevented us from accessing these songs. This book addresses many of these problems, helping us develop an understanding of the repertoire.

Illustrations drawn from medieval manuscripts provide insight into courtly love, the stylised and idealistic relationship between a chivalrous knight and his lady.

What’s a neglected wife to do when her husband doesn’t know she exists? Create a scandal, of course, in this delightful Elizabethan romp. After ten years of marriage, Frances LeSieur has faded into her role as a lady wife and mother. She has no idea who she is as a woman. So Frances joins Queen Elizabeth’s glittering court and discovers a part of herself she never knew existed—and one she’s sure her neglectful husband would never notice. Henry has always done his duty to family and crown despite his own desires. When Frances asks for a separation then transforms into a confident and vibrant courtier, he’s floored—and finds himself desperate to learn what makes her tick, both in and out of the bedroom. After years of silent alienation, can he woo her back, or will he lose this intoxicating woman to one of the rakes hell-bent on having her? As Frances and Henry come to realize that living is not merely surviving, can they create a second chance at love before it’s too late? Sensuality Level: Sensual