This Page is devoted to the Web Project for HIST 212!
Once again, I don't have an e-mail link up just yet, but my address is:
plb9125@westminstercollege.edu
--Piper
 
The Medieval Conception of Love
 
     Love in the medieval period is often only spoken of in terms of "courtly love."  I believe, however, that love in the Middle Ages was much more complex than what is implied by "courtly love."  To be sure, there were such things as brotherly love, carnal love, filial love, and even homosexual love in the medieval period.  This paper, however, will concentrate primarily on the characteristics of romantic love, therefore eliminating some of the above mentioned forms. 
         Each book I have read on the subject of courtly love in the Middle Ages has had something different to say about it.  Some scholars believe that courtly love greatly influenced and even improved social relations.  Other scholars say that courtly love existed only in literature.  Clearly, however, love did exist in at least some form in the medieval period.
        The word "courtly" implies an elegance and often refers to that which is refined, stately, and courteous.  However, the love which has been labeled as "courtly" frequently does not coincide with the implications of the term.  In fact, "because its varied and contradictory themes, courtly love has been one of the most hotly debated topics in all medieval studies" (HWS, p. 360).  Hence, I propose to refrain from calling this paper merely an examination of courtly love.  Rather, we shall examine the complexities of romantic love in the Middle Ages.  Though love is certainly complex in any age, I believe that romantic love during the medieval period consists of two major elements that are entirely at odds with one  another:  suffering and pleasure.
 
 
Suffering
 
        The Art of Courtly Love, written by Andreas Capellanus "sometime between 1174 and 1186," is a description of courtly love (RWC, p. 263).  In this description, Capellanus endeavors to define love.  According to him, "love is a certain inborn suffering derived from the sight of and excessive meditation upon the beauty of the opposite sex" (RWC, p. 263).  This suffering is often due to fear of such things as one's love being unrequited, or being scorned by or offending one's lover.  Capellanus also shows the necessity of suffering as a component of love when he writes, "the easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized" (RWC, p. 267).  Further, he observes that one taken with love "eats and sleeps very little" (RWC, p. 267).
        The fact that medieval love included suffering is evidenced in many ways besides Capellanus' description.  For example, one of the most famous love affairs of the period involves Abelard and Heloise.  Peter Abelard suffered greatly for his love when he was castrated by Heloise's uncle, canon Fulbert (CLR).
  Suffering was also evident in the literature of the period.  In The Romance of Tristan, by Beroul, there is an extensive description of the suffering of the two lovers, Tristan and Yseult.  After a long period of hiding in the forest with Yseult, Tristan laments that "for fully three years today there has not been a moment when I was not suffering" (RT, p. 96).  Then speaking to Yseult, Tristan says, "because of me you have suffered and are still suffering in this wilderness" (RT, p. 98).  It is clear that love, in this instance, involves an element of suffering. 
        There is, however, a provision to this characteristic of suffering as seen in The Romance of Tristan.  Though the lovers do acknowledge the suffering they endured in the forest, the author tells us that while they were enduring the hardships, they felt no pain.  Tristan and Yseult "were leading a rough and hard life, but they loved each other with such true love that neither felt any hardship because of the other" (RT, p. 78).  This seems to point to the idea that those who are truly in love can endure the suffering that it brings.
        Beyond the examples of suffering given above, there are four "mini-elements" of love in the Middle Ages.  These "mini-elements" all support the conclusion that suffering was a part of the medieval conception of love.

Jealousy

        The first of these so-called "mini-elements" is jealousy.  It appears that in the medieval period, love requires some element of jealousy.  Capellanus writes, "he who is not jealous cannot love"
(RWC, p.267).  Further, he says, "real jealousy always increases the feeling of love," and "jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when one suspects his beloved" (RWC, p.267).  The Countess Marie agrees with Capellanus when she writes (in a letter to him), "without it [true jealousy] true love may not exist" (LMC, p. 88).  It is clear from these quotes that jealousy was regarded as an important component of love.  This element seems to only further the idea that love involves suffering.  It is hard to imagine that the constant suspicion of ones lover does not involve suffering at least in the form of anxiety.

Obsession
 
 Another "mini-element" of medieval love is obsession.  This component is clearly shown when we again consider the writings of Capellanus.  He believes that "every act of a lover ends in the thought of his beloved," and "a true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his 
beloved" (RWC, p. 268).  Capellanus also writes, "a lover can never have enough solaces of his beloved" 
(RWC, p. 268).  Perhaps the most convincing evidence that obsession is a component of love is Capellanus' statement that "a true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved" (RWC, p. 268).  The idea that a lover must think of nothing but his beloved shows an element of obsession. 
        The characteristic further supports the idea that love involves suffering.  A preoccupation and fixation with ones beloved cannot be an easy thing to live with.  Being obsessed with ones lover must certainly cause hardship and agitation in ones daily life. 		  

Secrecy

        Secrecy is the third "mini-element" of love in the Middle Ages.  Capellanus believes that secrecy is necessary because "when made public love rarely endures" (RWC, p. 267).  He also writes:

...all lovers are bound to keep their lover secret.  Likewise, if they correspond with each other by letter they should refrain from signing their own names.  Furthermore, if the lovers should for any reason come before a court of ladies, the identity of the lovers should never be revealed to the judges, but the case should be presented anonymously.  And they ought not to seal their letters to each other with their own seals unless they happen to have secret seals known only to themselves and their confidants.  In this way their love will always be retained unimpaired.
-- (LMC, p. 89-90)
        This element of secrecy can also be seen in the love affair of Abelard and Heloise.  Though Abelard and Heloise marry, Heloise prefers the idea of being lovers.  In accordance with her wishes, Abelard tried to keep the affair secret by sending Heloise to a covenant.  There is, then, an element of secrecy involved in their love (CLR).
        Further, secrecy can be found in The Romance of Tristan.  The secrecy found in this love affair is primarily due to the certain deaths of Tristan and Yseult were they to reveal their love.  It can, however, be argued that the secrecy keeps their love alive and adds an element of mystery and intrigue to their romance.
        It is clear that the element of secrecy adds to the suffering involved in love.  The constant hiding involved in secrecy and the perpetual fear of being found out are nothing short of hardship.  However, as was shown in the example of Tristan and Yseult, secrecy could also be involved in the pleasurable aspect of love by heightening excitement and mystery.  The characteristic of pleasure that is found in medieval love will be discussed in greater length below.

Danger and Risk
 
      The final "mini-element" of love in the Middle Ages is the element of danger or risk.  First of all, the previously discussed element of secrecy implies danger.  For example, many times these love affairs were keep secret because they were adulterous.  A woman who was caught misbehaving "became subject to the cruelest of punishments" (HW, p. 251-252).  In fact, "an erring wife was often disgraced and repudiated, her lover mutilated or killed" (LMC, p. 90).  The love affairs, then, were frequently engaged in because of the excitement afforded by "the danger to which the partners exposed themselves" (HW, p. 252).  Each time a pair of secret lovers met, they ran the risk of being caught.  Therefore, whether the affair was adulterous or not, the secrecy of the love resulted in an element of risk.
        The element of danger can also be seen in The Romance of Tristan.  For example, after believing he hand discovered Tristan and Yseult together, King Mark decides he is "going to burn his wife [Yseult] and his nephew [Tristan] on a pyre" (RT, p. 67).  The lovers narrowly escape, only to be faced with this same type of danger throughout their affair.
        Though this element of danger surely proved exciting, it had obvious drawbacks.  Suffering would be inevitable for lovers who were caught, especially if their affair was adulterous.  Also, exciting or not, the constant fear that one is in danger must certainly entail some trepidation which, doubtless, was unpleasant.
 
 
Pleasure
  
          It would be false to conclude that love involved nothing but suffering.  Medieval love involved two main components:  suffering and pleasure.  I would first argue that love was pleasurable because it involved the sating of ones desires.  When one loves something, one desires it.  Therefore, when one is with the object of one's love, then the desire is being sated.  The sating of one's desires is clearly a source of pleasure.  Hence, when one sates the desire that is involved in one's love, one is pleasured.
          In addition to the larger characteristic of pleasure, there are three "mini-elements" of love in the Middle Ages.  These three "mini-elements" support the fact that pleasure is a characteristic of love in the medieval period.
 
Sexual Pleasure
 
  The most obvious "mini-element" of love is sexual pleasure.  This element clearly supports the idea that love involved pleasure.  Andreas Capellanus touches on this element of love when he quotes the Queen (of the so called "court of love") as saying that women prefer young men for lovers because of "physiological reasons" (RWC, p. 266).  The "physiological reasons" that she is referring to are clearly sexual.  Apparently, "medieval ideas were far from the Victorian notion that women did not enjoy sex" (LMC, p. 91).  In fact, "thirteenth-century German scholar, Albertus Magnus" believed that "greater [sexual] pleasure and appetite belonged to the woman" (LMC, p.92).  Whether or not this was the case, it seems that sexual pleasure was enjoyed by both partners involved in the love affair. 
          In A History of Women:  Silences of the Middle Ages, Georges Duby offers a description of how these sexual encounters might take place.  The woman "first allowed herself to be kissed, then offered her lips, then submitted to more ardent caresses" (HW, p. 252).  This type of encounter is also described by Peter Abelard when he writes (about himself and his lover, Heloise), "we exchanged more kisses than learned propositions; my hands returned more often to her bosom than to our books" (CLR).
          Sexual pleasure is also evident in The Romance of Tristan.  An example of this is when Tristan went to Yseult's bed one night.  He has a wound in his leg and though it was bleeding, "he did not feel it, for he was too intent on his pleasure" (RT, p. 63).  The pleasure that Tristan is feeling in this instance is clearly sexual.  Therefore, this supports the idea that sex was a pleasurable element of love.
 
Fantasy
 
      The second "mini-element" of love in the Middle Ages will be termed fantasy.  Though it is not certain exactly what role courtly love played in medieval life, it is certain that it existed in the fantasies of the medieval people.  The songs and poetry of the time period often centered on themes of love:  "courtly love, the pure love a knight felt for his lady whom he sought to win by military prowess and patience; or the love he felt for the wife of his feudal lord; or carnal desires seeking satisfaction" (HWS, p. 359).  Whatever the exact theme, love was often the topic of these works.  Also, these works often involved fantasy.  In fact, fantasy was especially involved for those who read or sang the songs or poems.  This is because the enjoyment of these things is predicated upon imagining that what they describe is actually taking place.  This imagining, I think, can be called fantasizing.  Clearly, then, love was often the topic of these fantasies.  In this aspect, love is again found to be pleasurable.  For what are our fantasies if not creative imaginings for the purpose of pleasure. 

Heightening of Honor and Worth

           The fact that love involved the heightening of honor and worth conveys the final "mini-element" of love.  Andreas Capellanus wrote about the effects of love which, according to him, included this characteristic:

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!
-- (RWC, p. 264)
            The Countess Marie seems to agree with Capellanus.  In a letter to him, she writes about the necessity of love to increase a man's honor and worth of character (LMC, p. 87).
            Certainly, pleasure is involved in the increasing of a man's honor and goodness of character.  But is this pleasure only afforded to men?  Georges Duby suggests that the answer is no.  He believes that courtly love "gave a woman a definite [though confined] power" (HW, p. 252).  Duby also writes that women engaged in love affairs "were entitled to certain marks of respect" (HW, p. 256).  Additionally, this characteristic of love is applicable to women in that love "compensated the medieval lady for the brutalities of marriage and recognized her existence as an individual" (MA, p. 120).  The respect and compensation that love offered to women of the Middle Ages prove that love was pleasurable to women as well as men in that it involved the heightening of honor or worth of character.
 

Love and Marriage 
 
        In the last section, a quote was cited that may have raised some questions.  The quote said that love "compensated the medieval lady for the brutalities of marriage" (MA, p. 120).  This assertion brings us to the final area of our examination concerning medieval love, i.e. the relationship between love and marriage.  This relationship was quite peculiar to say the least, and certainly very different from the understanding of the relationship between love and marriage that exists today.  I believe, however, that the strange bond between love and marriage in the Middle Ages will provide additional support our understanding of love as a complex concept  It will also offer further confirmation of medieval love's two central characteristics: suffering and pleasure. 
        First of all, love had no place in medieval marriages.  The Lady Ermengarde of Narbonne is quoted as saying that "marital affection and the true love of lovers are wholly different and arise from wholly different sources" (RWC, p. 266).  Also, the Countess Marie wrote (in a letter to Andreas Capellanus) that, "we declare and hold firmly established that love cannot exert its powers between two people who are married to each other" (LMC, p. 87).  Perhaps this view toward marriage is due to the fact that many marriages entailed a great deal of brutality.  If a wife disobeyed her husband, "she was well beaten"
(MA, p. 203).  Another example of this brutality is found in a fourteenth-century writer's warning to his daughters.  This warning instructs the maidens on the fate of a particular disobedient wife:
Her husband consulted a surgeon and made a deal for the mending of two broken legs.  He then went home and broke both his wife's legs with a pestle, remarking that in the future she wouldn't go far to break his commandment.
-- (MA, p. 203)
        This is clearly an image of the terrible suffering that went on in marriages of the medieval period.  It is one of many examples of this kind.  This example not only demonstrates the terrible suffering inherent in an enterprise that is usually understood to involve love, but it also points to the need for some type of real love to escape this suffering.  Medieval people often found love outside their marriages, and in this way love then became a source of pleasure.  This is a strange ad complex dichotomy, but it bolsters our claim that medieval love involved the two central elements of suffering and pleasure.

Conclusion

        There is certainly much more that could be said about love in the Middle Ages.  I believe, however, that it has clearly been shown that the medieval conception of love is much more complex than what is simply implied by the term "courtly love."  It is also apparent that the idea of medieval love consisted of two central and opposed elements:  suffering and pleasure.  With regards to suffering, there are four "mini-elements" of love that demonstrate ways in which suffering was connected with the romantic love of the Middle Ages:  jealousy, obsession, secrecy, and danger or risk.  As far as pleasure is concerned, there are three "mini-elements" that illustrate the ways in which love was pleasurable:  sexual pleasure, fantasy, and the heightening of honor or worth of character.  Beyond these elements, the medieval relationship between love and marriage also shows how both suffering and pleasure are involved in romantic love.

The Author's Final Observations
 

  The importance of love cannot be ignored.  Often love is one of the things that makes us feel most alive, regardless of whether it causes joy or sorrow.  Because love is so central to human existence, its history ought not to be dismissed.  It is my feeling that we can better understand love in our own lives by examining how it has been understood by others.  Therefore, this inquiry into love in the Middle Ages has been an attempt to better understand how I perceive and interpret love in my own life.  I hope that those who read this paper can find some significance in the history of this idea that applies to them as well. 
Finally, I pose this question:  Though medieval love is certainly not identical with the modern conception of love, is it not quite possible that the characteristic elements of suffering and pleasure  are alive and well in our own idea of love, regardless of the reasons for their presence?
 
-- Piper L. Bringhurst
  Works Cited

     Beroul.  The Romance of Tristan (RT).  Trans. Alan S. Fedrick.  New York:  Penguin Books, 1970.

     Bishop, Morris.  The Middle Ages (MA).  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.

     Buckler, John, Bennett D. Hill, and John P. McKay.  A History of Western Society, vol. I (HWS).
5th ed.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.

     Capellanus, Andreas.  "The Art of Courtly Love."  Readings In World Civilizations, vol. I:  The Great Traditions (RWC).  3rd ed.  Kevin Reilly.  New York:  St. Martin's Press, 1995.  262 - 268.

     Gans, Eric.  Chronicles of Love and Resentment:  Abelard and Heloise (CLR).  [http://gopher.humnet.ucla.edu:80/humnet/anthropoetics/VIEWS/view13.htm].  October 1995.

     Gies, Joseph and Frances.  Life in a Medieval Castle (LMC).  New York:  Harper & Row Publishers, 1974.

     Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane, ed.  A History of Women II:  Silences of the Middle Ages (HW).  Cambridge:  The Belknap Press, 1992.
 

Picture Credits

The picture used in the introduction of this paper is called La Belle Dame Sans Merci, by Sir Frank Dicksee. It can be found at the following address:  http://www.jwpitt.com/arthuria.htm

The "Rose Ruler" used in the suffering and pleasure headings can be found at: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~eshaw/medieval.html

The picture that appears in the suffering section is located at:  http://rodent.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/images/rheadg.htm

The image used in the segment on obsession was obtained from:  http://rodent.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/images/rhdride.htm

The picture of the knight used in the danger section was borrowed from: http://www.nd.edu/~mgaston/chivalry/romances.html

The image used in the sexual pleasure section can also be seen at:  http://ted.mncs.k12.mn.us/~jhigh/arthur.html

The picture employed in the segment on fantasy is Merlin and Vivien by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.  It was acquired from:  http://calvin.stemnet.nf.ca/~djohnsto/arthur/merlin01.jpg

The image found in the section on love and marriage was borrowed from:
http://rodent.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/images/speedwed.htm

The picture that was used in the final section of this paper was chosen primarily because it is aesthetically pleasing.  It is titled The Lady of Shalott, by J.W. Waterhouse and can be found at:  http://calvin.stemnet.nf.ca/~djohnsto/arthur/shalott.jpg
 
 
 
Suffering Jealousy Obsession Secrecy Danger/Risk
Pleasure Sexual Pleasure Fantasy Honor/Worth Marriage