De amore (Andreas Capellanus)
Encyclopedia
Andreas Capellanus
was the twelfth century author of a treatise commonly titled De amore ("About Love"), also known as De arte honeste amandi, for which a possible English translation is The Art of Courtly Love (though the book's realistic, somewhat cynical tone suggests that it is in some measure an antidote to courtly love
). His real identity has never been determined, but has been a matter of extended academic debate. Andreas Capellanus is sometimes known by a French translation of his name, André le Chapelain.
, daughter of King Louis VII of France
and of Eleanor of Aquitaine
. A dismissive allusion in the text to the "wealth of Hungary" has suggested the hypothesis that it was written after 1184, at the time when Bela III of Hungary
had sent to the French court a statement of his income and had proposed marriage to Marie's sister Marguerite of France, but before 1186, when his proposal was accepted.
John Jay Parry, the editor of De Amore, has described it as "one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explains the secret of a civilization". It may be viewed as didactic, mocking, or merely descriptive; in any event it preserves the attitudes and practices that were the foundation of a long and significant tradition in Western literature. An earlier translation by E. Trojel is a much more accurate rendering of the medieval Latin, but is not readily accessible.
The social system of "courtly love", as gradually elaborated by the Provençal
troubadour
s from the mid twelfth-century, soon spread. It is often associated with Eleanor of Aquitaine (herself the granddaughter of an early troubadour poet, William IX of Aquitaine
), but this is pure conjecture. It has been claimed that De Amore codifies the social and sexual life of Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1169 and 1174 because the author mentions both Eleanor and her daughter Marie by name; but there is no evidence that Marie ever saw her mother again after Eleanor's divorce from Louis VII in 1152.
.
The basic conception of Capellanus
is that courtly love
ennobles both the lover and the beloved, provided that certain codes of behaviour are respected. Interestingly, De amore describes the affection between spouses
as an unrelated emotion, stating that "true love can have no place between husband and wife", although they may feel even "immoderate affection" for one another. Rather, the most ennoblinng love is generally secret (i.e., not public), extremely difficult to obtain and unconsummated, serving as a means for inspiring men to great deeds.
Preface: Andreas Capellanus' “De Amore” begins with a preface (Praefatio), in which he addresses an unidentified young man named Walter. Though Capellanus' relationship with the young man is unclear, he describes Walter as “a new soldier of love, wounded with a new arrow,” not knowing “how to aptly govern the reigns of the horse that soldier himself rides nor to be able to find any remedy [him]self.” Capellanus promises to teach Walter, with this book, “the way in which a state of love between two lovers may be kept unharmed, and likewise how those who do not love may get rid of the darts of Venus that are in their hearts.” Whether literal or ironic, Capellanus implies here that he intends to teach the ways of love to his eager disciple.
Book I: After an introductory analysis of "What love is" (Parry, pp. 28–36), Book One of De Amore sets out a series of nine imaginary dialogues (pp. 36–141) between men and women of different social classes, from bourgeoisie to royalty. In each dialogue the man is pleading inconclusively to be accepted as the woman's lover, and in each he finds some small reason for optimism. The dialogs are delightful compositions, with many well-crafted, albeit medieval
, arguments by both the ardent suitor and the skeptical lady; typically, the older man asks to be rewarded for his accomplishments whereas the young men or men of lower birth ask to be given inspiration so that they might accomplish something. These dialogues are followed by short discussions of love with priests, with nuns, for money, with peasant women, and with prostitutes (pp. 141–150).
Book II: This book takes love as established, and begins with a discussion of how love is maintained and how and why it comes to an end (pp. 151–167). Following this comes a series of thirty-one "judgements of love" (pp. 167–177), said to have been pronounced in contentious cases by great ladies. Among these, three judgements are attributed to "Queen Eleanor" and another four simply to "the Queen", seven to Eleanor's daughter Marie of Troyes ("the Countess of Champagne"), two to Eleanor's niece Isabelle of Vermandois ("the Countess of Flanders", daughter of Petronilla), one to "a court of ladies in Gascony", and five to Viscountess Ermengarde of Narbonne
, who is thus singled out as the only patron of a "Court of Love" not belonging to the immediate family of Eleanor of Aquitaine. However, it has been suggested that "the Queen" is not Eleanor but Adèle of Champagne
, Eleanor's successor as wife of Louis VII
and Queen of France. Book Two concludes (pp. 177–186) by setting out "The Rules of Love". A few examples of these guidelines are listed below (numbered according to the order found in the original work, which contains thirty-one total):
Book III: This book is the briefest (pp. 187–212), and is titled "The Rejection of Love". This book seeks to remedy the natural affection of men for women, by painting all women as disgusting as possible in so few words. For example, women are described as being completely untrustworthy ("everything a woman says is said with the intention of deceiving"), insanely greedly and willing to do anything for food, weak-minded and easily swayed by false reasoning, "slanderers filled with envy and hate", drunkards, loud-mouthed and gossipy, unfaithful in love, disobedient, vain and tortured by envy of all other women's beauty, "even her daughter's". The historical example of Eve
is cited at several points as evidence. This book is a disclaimer for the rest of the work—as is evidenced by its heading. It includes reasons why love affairs of the sort found in this book should not be conducted, and that personal abstinence from love was the preferred route. Capellanus states that this abstinence would allow one to “win an eternal recompense and thereby deserve a greater reward from God.” According to some historians, this last book is the reason it may be ignorant to take Capellanus' writings at face value. Though some social practices acceptable during the Middle Ages may be reflected in Capellanus' work, he is not intending to be a reliable source on the matter.
Courtly love is reserved for the middle and upper classes in De Amore. Attractive farm-girls (i.e., peasant girls) are to be shunned or failing this, 'embraced by force':
In a similar vein, Andreas Capellanus
describes nuns as easy to seduce, although he condemns anyone who does so as a "disgusting animal".
Andreas Capellanus
Andreas Capellanus was the 12th-century author of a treatise commonly known as De amore , and often known in English, somewhat misleadingly, as The Art of Courtly Love, though its realistic, somewhat cynical tone suggests that it is in some measure an antidote to courtly love...
was the twelfth century author of a treatise commonly titled De amore ("About Love"), also known as De arte honeste amandi, for which a possible English translation is The Art of Courtly Love (though the book's realistic, somewhat cynical tone suggests that it is in some measure an antidote to courtly love
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
). His real identity has never been determined, but has been a matter of extended academic debate. Andreas Capellanus is sometimes known by a French translation of his name, André le Chapelain.
His work
De Amore was written some time between 1186 and 1190. It was most likely written for the French court of Philip Augustus. It is believed to have been written in 1185 at the request of Marie de ChampagneMarie de Champagne
Marie of France , Countess of Champagne was the elder daughter of Louis VII of France and his first wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.- Family :Marie's younger sister was Alix of France....
, daughter of King Louis VII of France
Louis VII of France
Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
and of Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...
. A dismissive allusion in the text to the "wealth of Hungary" has suggested the hypothesis that it was written after 1184, at the time when Bela III of Hungary
Béla III of Hungary
Béla III was King of Hungary and Croatia . He was educated in the court of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I who was planning to ensure his succession in the Byzantine Empire till the birth of his own son...
had sent to the French court a statement of his income and had proposed marriage to Marie's sister Marguerite of France, but before 1186, when his proposal was accepted.
John Jay Parry, the editor of De Amore, has described it as "one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explains the secret of a civilization". It may be viewed as didactic, mocking, or merely descriptive; in any event it preserves the attitudes and practices that were the foundation of a long and significant tradition in Western literature. An earlier translation by E. Trojel is a much more accurate rendering of the medieval Latin, but is not readily accessible.
The social system of "courtly love", as gradually elaborated by the Provençal
Provençal literature
Occitan literature — still sometimes called Provençal literature — is a body of texts written in Occitan in what is nowadays the South of France. It originated in the poetry of the 11th- and 12th-century troubadours, and inspired the rise of vernacular literature throughout medieval...
troubadour
Troubadour
A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....
s from the mid twelfth-century, soon spread. It is often associated with Eleanor of Aquitaine (herself the granddaughter of an early troubadour poet, William IX of Aquitaine
William IX of Aquitaine
William IX , called the Troubador, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou between 1086 and his death. He was also one of the leaders of the Crusade of 1101...
), but this is pure conjecture. It has been claimed that De Amore codifies the social and sexual life of Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1169 and 1174 because the author mentions both Eleanor and her daughter Marie by name; but there is no evidence that Marie ever saw her mother again after Eleanor's divorce from Louis VII in 1152.
Outline of De Amore
It deals with several specific themes that were the subject of poetical debate among late twelfth century troubadours and trobairitzTrobairitz
The trobairitz were Occitan female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries, active from around 1170 to approximately 1260. The word trobairitz was first used in the 13th-century romance Flamenca. It comes from the Provençal word trobar, the literal meaning of which is "to find", and the...
.
The basic conception of Capellanus
Andreas Capellanus
Andreas Capellanus was the 12th-century author of a treatise commonly known as De amore , and often known in English, somewhat misleadingly, as The Art of Courtly Love, though its realistic, somewhat cynical tone suggests that it is in some measure an antidote to courtly love...
is that courtly love
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....
ennobles both the lover and the beloved, provided that certain codes of behaviour are respected. Interestingly, De amore describes the affection between spouses
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
as an unrelated emotion, stating that "true love can have no place between husband and wife", although they may feel even "immoderate affection" for one another. Rather, the most ennoblinng love is generally secret (i.e., not public), extremely difficult to obtain and unconsummated, serving as a means for inspiring men to great deeds.
Preface: Andreas Capellanus' “De Amore” begins with a preface (Praefatio), in which he addresses an unidentified young man named Walter. Though Capellanus' relationship with the young man is unclear, he describes Walter as “a new soldier of love, wounded with a new arrow,” not knowing “how to aptly govern the reigns of the horse that soldier himself rides nor to be able to find any remedy [him]self.” Capellanus promises to teach Walter, with this book, “the way in which a state of love between two lovers may be kept unharmed, and likewise how those who do not love may get rid of the darts of Venus that are in their hearts.” Whether literal or ironic, Capellanus implies here that he intends to teach the ways of love to his eager disciple.
Book I: After an introductory analysis of "What love is" (Parry, pp. 28–36), Book One of De Amore sets out a series of nine imaginary dialogues (pp. 36–141) between men and women of different social classes, from bourgeoisie to royalty. In each dialogue the man is pleading inconclusively to be accepted as the woman's lover, and in each he finds some small reason for optimism. The dialogs are delightful compositions, with many well-crafted, albeit medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, arguments by both the ardent suitor and the skeptical lady; typically, the older man asks to be rewarded for his accomplishments whereas the young men or men of lower birth ask to be given inspiration so that they might accomplish something. These dialogues are followed by short discussions of love with priests, with nuns, for money, with peasant women, and with prostitutes (pp. 141–150).
Book II: This book takes love as established, and begins with a discussion of how love is maintained and how and why it comes to an end (pp. 151–167). Following this comes a series of thirty-one "judgements of love" (pp. 167–177), said to have been pronounced in contentious cases by great ladies. Among these, three judgements are attributed to "Queen Eleanor" and another four simply to "the Queen", seven to Eleanor's daughter Marie of Troyes ("the Countess of Champagne"), two to Eleanor's niece Isabelle of Vermandois ("the Countess of Flanders", daughter of Petronilla), one to "a court of ladies in Gascony", and five to Viscountess Ermengarde of Narbonne
Ermengarde of Narbonne
Ermengarde , was a viscountess of Narbonne from 1134 to 1192...
, who is thus singled out as the only patron of a "Court of Love" not belonging to the immediate family of Eleanor of Aquitaine. However, it has been suggested that "the Queen" is not Eleanor but Adèle of Champagne
Adèle of Champagne
Adèle of Champagne , also known as Adelaide and Alix, was the third wife of Louis VII of France and the mother of his only male heir, the future Philip II...
, Eleanor's successor as wife of Louis VII
Louis VII of France
Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...
and Queen of France. Book Two concludes (pp. 177–186) by setting out "The Rules of Love". A few examples of these guidelines are listed below (numbered according to the order found in the original work, which contains thirty-one total):
- 1. Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.
- 6. Boys do not love until they arrive at the age of maturity.
- 8. No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons.
- 13. When made public love rarely endures.
- 14. The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.
- 20. A man in love is always apprehensive.
- 30. A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved.
Book III: This book is the briefest (pp. 187–212), and is titled "The Rejection of Love". This book seeks to remedy the natural affection of men for women, by painting all women as disgusting as possible in so few words. For example, women are described as being completely untrustworthy ("everything a woman says is said with the intention of deceiving"), insanely greedly and willing to do anything for food, weak-minded and easily swayed by false reasoning, "slanderers filled with envy and hate", drunkards, loud-mouthed and gossipy, unfaithful in love, disobedient, vain and tortured by envy of all other women's beauty, "even her daughter's". The historical example of Eve
Eve (Bible)
Eve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...
is cited at several points as evidence. This book is a disclaimer for the rest of the work—as is evidenced by its heading. It includes reasons why love affairs of the sort found in this book should not be conducted, and that personal abstinence from love was the preferred route. Capellanus states that this abstinence would allow one to “win an eternal recompense and thereby deserve a greater reward from God.” According to some historians, this last book is the reason it may be ignorant to take Capellanus' writings at face value. Though some social practices acceptable during the Middle Ages may be reflected in Capellanus' work, he is not intending to be a reliable source on the matter.
Sidelights
De Amore gives a listing of the stages of love, which resembles in some ways the modern baseball euphemism:- "Throughout all the ages, there have been only four degrees
[ gradus] in love: - "The first consists in arousing hope;
- "The second in offering kisses;
- "The third in the enjoyment of intimate embraces;
- "The fourth in the abandonment of the entire person."
Courtly love is reserved for the middle and upper classes in De Amore. Attractive farm-girls (i.e., peasant girls) are to be shunned or failing this, 'embraced by force':
-
- If you should, by some chance, fall in love with a peasant woman, be careful to puff her up with lots of praise and then, when you find a convenient opportunity, do not hold back but take your pleasure and embrace her by force. For you can hardly soften their outward inflexibility so far that they will grant you their embraces quietly or permit you to have the solaces you desire unless you first use a little compulsion as a convenient cure for their shyness. We do not say these things, however, because we want to persuade you to love such women, but only so that, if through lack of caution you should be driven to love them, you may know, in brief compass, what to do. (Parry, p. 150, adapted).
In a similar vein, Andreas Capellanus
Andreas Capellanus
Andreas Capellanus was the 12th-century author of a treatise commonly known as De amore , and often known in English, somewhat misleadingly, as The Art of Courtly Love, though its realistic, somewhat cynical tone suggests that it is in some measure an antidote to courtly love...
describes nuns as easy to seduce, although he condemns anyone who does so as a "disgusting animal".
External links
- Extracts from Capellanus' De amore
- Full text of De Amore, in Latin at The Latin LibraryThe Latin LibraryThe Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. The texts have been drawn from different sources. Many were originally scanned and formatted from texts in the Public Domain. Others have been downloaded from various sites on the Internet . Most of the recent texts have been...