Ambitions Realized and Thwarted (1150-1250) - Culture and Institutions in Town and Countryside - The Culture of the Courts

6 important questions on Ambitions Realized and Thwarted (1150-1250) - Culture and Institutions in Town and Countryside - The Culture of the Courts

Who claimed the high virtue of "chivalry"? What does that word mean?

  • Knights and nobles claimed for themselves the high virtue of "chivalry."
  • The word, deriving from the French cheval ("horse"), emphasized the knight's high perch atop a steed.
  • With his sharp sword and heavy shield, he cut an imposing and menacing figure.
  • Chivalry made him gentle, gave his battles a higher meaning, whether for love of a lady or of God. The chivalric hero was constrained by courtesy, fair play, piety, and devotion to an ideal. He deserved to be praised and celebrated.

What did troubadours sing about?

  • Mainly they sang of love - its joys, sorrows, desires, sighs of hope, and tears of despair.
  • This was the tender part of chivalry: the ideal knight was not only a marvel on the battlefield but a true, patient, and courteous lover.

How do historians and literary scholars refer to the sort of love sung about?

  • Historians and literary scholars used to refer to the sort of love sung about by medieval poets as "courtly."
  • They assumed that such a love was never consummated in sexual relations or marriage because the poet was always of lower rank than his lady.
  • Today scholars know that some of the poetry in fact expressed the feelings of spouses. 
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What does the phrase "courtly love" mean?

  • The phrase "courtly love" is giving way to fin'amor (refined or true love), a term found in some medieval literature to itself.
  • However, the meaning of it varied from poet to poet.

What sorts of love did the troubadours sing about?

The troubadours sang about many sorts of love: some boasted of sexual conquests; others played with the notion of equality between lovers; still others sang of love and desire as the source of virtue.

What is the chanson de geste?

  • Originally recited orally, these vernacular poems appeared in written form at about the same time as troubadour poetry and, like them, played with aristocratic codes of behavior.
  • The chansons de geste celebrated cavalry accompanied by "trumpets, drums, standards and pennons." 
  • But they also examined the moral issues that confronted knights, taking up the often-contradictory values of their society: love of family with fealty to a lord; desire for victory clashed with pressures to compromise.

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