Legendary Courts of Love

Were the Legendary Courts of Love real?

This is a topic that has divided historians for centuries and will probably go on to divide them for many more to come.

To begin with I must state that this blog post is just my own ponderings on this fascinating subject, I am definitely not a historian therefore I do not have any real answers, and in this instance I am not even sure the historians have the answers. I just find it a bit of fun sometimes to take a look back and think about a more pleasant topic than that of violence and war, subjects we hear of a lot more often in this particularly brutal era .

As human beings, we have a natural desire to be cherished and loved that goes back long before even the speaking of it. Is it any wonder then, that throughout the Middle Ages when marriage and love rarely existed together, the idea of courtly love grew and flourished? The term “courtly love” is a literary term that emphasizes nobility or chivalry, we all remember the tales of knights setting out on adventures to rescue that damsel in distress, or to perform deeds for the ladies in their lives, the idea that a lover could make himself worthy of his lady by acting bravely and honorably in service to her. There are many stories of love and romance that we are familiar with, the most famous and tragic of these tales is of course the story of Lancelot and Guinevere, where the lowly knight falls for the wife of his lord King Arthur.

For most of us in modern times, love is tied up with romance, sexual attraction and marriage, in the Medieval period however this was simply not the case. Love had nothing at all to do with marriage, in fact, the reality was that marriage for the nobility was a business like affair contracted between families for property gain and political alliance, romance simply did not exist within this institution. While we do hear of great love growing occasionally from these arranged marriages it was not common, and in the majority of cases love between spouses was simply a matter of duty and obligation.

Prior to the 12th century, there were many bards and poets that performed for the nobility throughout the lands, but the topic of their poems and songs was almost always targeted towards men, incorporating stories of heroes, battles won and warrior values, songs like the stories of Beowulf, and the epic poem “The Song of Roland”, in fact there would have rarely been mention of any female characters at all in these tales. In a lot of cases these bards were paid to write particular narratives, which in turn meant the subjects they wrote about were predominantly about men, as it was mostly men that paid them. The idea of courtly love began with the troubadours in the courts of Provence, Champagne, Burgundy, Sicily, and of course our favourite, Aquitaine, in fact, Eleanor of Aquitaine’s grandfather William IX, Duke of Aquitaine was considered to be one of the first of the troubadour poets. Troubadours were travelling minstrels who used their poetic narratives to tell stories of romance where a woman was elevated in status to a point where her knight in shining armour would be made into a better person because of the deeds done on her behalf. It was from this time on that we see a change in the composition of the poetry being written, it is now clearly about romance and in many cases, even verging on erotic, it was no longer about valour and duty, but about love. This concept of love would also be used by major writers of the time including Geoffrey Chaucer in his famous work ‘The Canterbury Tales’, and Dante. The excitement of courtly love really comes down to three things, (1) that it is secretive, we often find that these romantic entanglements are kept hidden, (2) that it is almost always adulterous, the obvious reason why these liaisons were kept secret and (3), it sees traditional gender roles reversed. What that means is that instead of the man calling the shots, which is what most people of that time would consider to be normal, we see the woman put on a pedestal, giving her the power to say yes or no.

Eleanor of Aquitaine would have grown up in an atmosphere where music and these romantic songs of love would be heard ringing throughout the royal halls and chambers, with poets and artists always in attendance, it could even be said that she had courtly love in her blood. This vibrant and multi-cultural portrayal of love and romance in music and poetry would have originated from the close connections that the Southern parts of France had with Spain, and in time would have travelled to Northern France, in reality Eleanor herself would have patronised these types of performers during her first marriage to Louis (future Louis VII). During this marriage and indeed after her annulment from Louis in 1152, and her subsequent marriage to Henry, Duke of Normandy and future King Henry II of England, her enjoyment of this pastime remained. This is interesting when you consider Louis’s piety and obvious distaste for this type of immorality, as well as Henry’s disregard for the frivolities and pomp of such activities. It is no surprise then, after her estrangement from Henry in 1170 that she set up court in Poitiers and continued to appreciate and welcome these types of performers. This beautiful legacy that Eleanor received from her grandfather, she would in turn pass on to at least some of her children, Marie Countess of Champagne (her daughter from her first marriage to Louis VII) would be famous for the music in her court at Champagne, and her favourite son Richard (the Lionheart) would be well known for his poetry. In actual fact part of one of Richard’s poems remains in circulation today and was recorded by Brian Ferry in 2002.

Whether Eleanor’s Court of Love c. 1170-1174 actually existed, continues to be a subject of some controversy among historians and modern scholars alike, there is even talk from some that her daughter Marie may have been present. Did these high-born women really preside over courts in which plaintiffs and defendants would present evidence relating to their romantic relationships and accept the final judgement and ruling on their particular case from a group of women? Did anywhere between ten and sixty noble women(nobody is sure of how many there actually were) sit in Eleanor’s great hall in Poitiers and make the call as to who won or lost the lady?

Andreas Cappellanus, who was a chaplain and author of this time, wrote a 3-part text titled De Amore (About Love) between 1186 and 1190, believed to have been written at the request of Marie, Countess of Champagne. We can see that the basic idea of the text is simply that by respecting certain codes of behaviour both the lover and the beloved are ennobled. In the first part of the text, the origins of love were defined, while the second consisted of actual conversations demonstrating the process of the romance itself, the third however was an account of cases supposedly brought before the ‘Courts of Love’. There are many ideas that Andreas states throughout the text like ‘Moral integrity alone makes one worthy of love’, and ‘The true lover believes only that which he thinks will please his beloved’, which sound very noble and chivalrous, while others like ‘Love can have no place between husband and wife’ certainly lean towards the adulterous side of many romantic pursuits, which was an extremely common occurrence at the time. All of these ideas are so totally foreign to the way we see love in modern times, however the text did exist, and I guess without being able to speak to the writer himself, we will never know whether the stories within were just another form of fiction as in so many of the legends that we continue to read even today.

In my search for information about these courts I have found brief details of two cases that were allegedly brought before the ‘Courts of Love’, as with most stories there are differing opinions on their validity but I will share them nonetheless. The first was a case of a woman who refused to take back a former lover, the man, a knight, had previously asked for and been granted her permission to show his affections to another. He changed his mind however and returned to his original mistress, having sworn that he had not been unfaithful at all. The woman was not inclined to take him back, and the case supposedly went before the ‘Courts of Love’. Now I find this really interesting as the judgement, supposedly decided by Eleanor, favoured the knight, as he had remained faithful, a decision based solely on his sworn word. That is definitely not a concept we would be familiar with in modern times when your word means nothing and everything must be written down and signed to be legal. The second story tells of two knights who requested the courts decision on an important matter, both men were in love with the same woman. One knight was young, but with a dubious character, and the other older but of sound reputation, the younger knight declared that if the court ruled in his favour and he was awarded the lady he would be encouraged to change his ways and become a better person. At this point I am wondering what the young lady has to say about it, but anyway lets move on. Eleanor advised the young woman that it would not be wise to love somebody with such a bad reputation, so her decision was to favour the older knight, in her judgement she stated that the young knight had a bad character and there really was no guarantee that by winning the lady he would indeed change his ways.

So back to the original question, did the Courts of Love really exist?

From a purely personal point of view, I would like to think so. I guess because deep down I am a true romantic and the thought of there being a court whereby the final result of a case is determined solely from the point of view of the heart really appeals to me. I also constantly think about how difficult it must have been for women back then, in a time where being female meant you had no control over your destiny, I like to cling to the idea however small that during such a perilous time, there was maybe one avenue where women’s thoughts and feelings actually mattered.

What are your thoughts, I would love to hear them.

We will visit this magnificent hall within Eleanor’s favourite city of Poitiers, on our Plantagenets in France tour.

Max

Great Hall of Palais de Justice photo © Plantagenet Discoveries