Courtly Society
in
Medieval Europe
Fusion of the Early Middle Ages
5th-11th centuries
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Fall of Rome
Celtic Influences
Norse-Germanic Influences
Spread of Christianity
throughout Europe
 Islamic Influences
 Feudalism
 Empires and Kingdoms
Fall of Rome:
Rise of Germanic
Tribes
 330: Constantine moved the capitol of the Roman Empire to
Constantinople
 402: Honorius moved capitol of the Western Empire from
Rome to Ravenna
 410: Visigoths sacked Rome
 455: Vandals sacked Rome and took control of N. Africa and
Spain
 5th c.: Waves of Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded Britain
and Burgundians controlled much of France
 476: Goths seized Rome: Odoacer became Emperor
The Celts
 Called Galatai or Keltoi by Greeks, Galli (Gauls) by
Romans
 “Omnia Galli tres partes divisus est” Julius Caesar
 Migrated throughout Europe from 1st millenium bce-1st c.
bce
 Fierce warriors:
 went naked, painted blue, into battle
 known for wild challenges Furor: battle fury
 used war chariots, javelins and lancia: battle lances
 head-hunters
 believed in re-incarnation
Celtic Influences
 Decorative
 Animal motifs
 Arabesques
 Religious
 Scholarship
 Monasticism
 Literary
 Epics and folklore
 Sovranty: Love-Political Triangle
 King-Queen-Suitor/Challenger
 Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot
Celtic Christianity
 Christianity was introduced into
the British Isles in late 1st century
or early 2nd c. with Roman
soldiers
 Cultic religion existing alongside
other cults; both indigenous and
brought in by the Romans, such as
the cult of Mithras.
 The new faith rapidly gained
adherents
 Apostle of Ireland, Christian
prelate.
 Born in Scotland -- kidnapped
at 16 by Irish pirates and sold
in Ireland as a slave. He passed
his captivity as a herdsman
 Saw visions in which he was
urged to escape, and after six
years of slavery he did so,
 Ordained as a deacon, then
priest and finally as a bishop.
 Pope Celestine then sent him
back to Ireland to preach the
gospel.
St. Patrick
(389?-461?)
Syncretism:
St. Bridgit
 Patrick carried Christianity to
the Irish by transforming their
sacred groves, wells, and
mounds into centers of worship
for the new faith.
 He also adopted the ancient
Celtic deities into the new faith,
demoting them to saints
 Brigit,the goddess of healing and
fertility became St. Bridgit in the
new faith.
The Irish
Church
 Elements of Eastern Christianity:
 emphasis on monasticism
 organizational structure of abbots and monasteries versus
bishops and parish churches
 ascetic holiness and pilgrimage
 The abbeys' and monasteries' success in teaching:
 Generations of scholars who not only copied Christian
material but also transcribed the myths of the Ulster and
Finian cycles, the Brehon laws, and other Celtic documents
 Survival of Christianity in the British Isles despite conquest by
the pagan Angles and Saxons.
 Sent missionaries to England and scholars to courts, such as
Charlemagne’s, throughout Europe
Germanic Comitatus or
Kinship Groups
 König, eorlas und thanes: kings, nobles and warriors
 Mutual loyalty -- warriors fight for king, king is
generous to warriors
 Originally a socially egalitarian setup, during the third
and fourth centuries AD, became socially stratified
 Basis for feudal loyalty
 Ideal and philosophy expressed in oral epics like
Beowulf and The Song of Roland
Charlemagne
768-814
 Otherwise known as
Charles the Great, or
Charles the First
 Eldest son born of Pepin
the Short and his wife
Bertrada
 Possessed many qualities
of greatness: imposing
physical stature, warrior
prowess, piety, generosity,
intelligence, devotion to
family and friends, and
joy for life.
 A hero in his own time
who became a legendary
figure
CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
 Charlemagne was a strong supporter of education
 Assembled scholars and learned men at court in Aachen
 Most noted was Alcuin (c. 735-804) who was Charlemagne's chief
advisor on religious and educational matters; prepared official
documents and exempla
 The scholars copied books and built up libraries; used
"Carolingian minuscule;" saved the thoughts and writings of the
ancients
 Worked on educating priests
 Limited illiteracy
 Preserved Latin culture
in West
Carolingian MS.
Aachen
Cathedral
early
Romanesque
architecture
ca. 792-805
Illuminated
Manuscripts
 . The word `illuminated' comes
from a usage of the Latin word
illuminare -- `adorn'.
 The decorations are of three main
types:
 miniatures or small pictures,
into the text or occupying the
whole page or part of the
border;
 initial letters either containing
scenes (historiated initials) or
with elaborate decoration;
 Books written by hand, decorated
with paintings
 borders, which may consist of
miniatures, occasionally
illustrative, or more often are
composed of decorative motifs.
Sacramentary--Use of Saint-Denis,9thc.
I've been with sword and,spear
slippery with bright blood
where kites wheeled. And how well
we violent Vikings clashed!
Redflames ate up men's roofs,
raging we killed and killed;
and skewered bodies sprawled
sleepy in town gateways.
Viking
Runes
The
Normans
 Vikings, or Norsemen, who settled in
northern France (or the Frankish
kingdom), together with their
descendants
 A Viking named Rollo emerged as
the leader among the new settlers.
 911 the Frankish king Charles III the
Simple ceded Rollo the land around
the mouth of the Seine and what is
now the city of Rouen
 The Normans founded the duchy of
Normandy and sent out expeditions
of conquest and colonization to
southern Italy and Sicily and to
England, Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland.
Feudalism
 Social system of rights and duties based on land tenure and
personal relationships
land is held in fief by vassals who owe military services to
lords to whom they are bound by personal loyalty.
 Feudalism is a form of civilization that flourishes especially
in a closed agricultural economy
 Those who fulfill official duties, whether civil or military, do
so because of personal and freely accepted links with their
overlord – not because of patriotism
 Public authority becomes fragmented and decentralized.
Social Classes
SECULAR
ECCLESIASTICAL
KING
POPE
NOBLES
CARDINALS
KNIGHTS
BISHOPS ABBOTS
MERCHANTS
PROFESSIONALS
CRAFTSMEN
PRIESTS MONKS
SUMMONERS FRIARS
PARDONERS NUNS
PEASANTS
freemen
serfs
PEASANTS
lay brothers and sisters
serfs
Norman Conquest
1066: Contest for the English crown:
Harold, Earl of Wessex: Anglo-Saxon
claimant
Harald Hardrada of Norway
William Duke of Normandy
Battle of Stamford Bridge: Harold defeated
Hardrada's army which invaded using over 300
ships; so many were killed that only 25 ships
were needed to transport the survivors home.
Battle of Hastings: William led Norman forces
against the English. Harold Killed in battle;
William seized the throne
William the Conqueror
Crusades:
1095-15th c.
Holy Wars"-- against various enemies of the Church
Initially non-Christians: Moslems and pagans
At first the object of the Crusades was to recover the Holy
Places (in what are now Israel and Jordan) from the
Moslems, who had seized them in the 7th Century.
Later Crusades were preached against Christian heretics,
and even against orthodox Christians who happened to have
political disputes with the current pope.
Islamic Influence in Europe
Islamic Learning
 The synthesis of Eastern and Western ideas and of
new thought with old, brought about great
advances in medicine, mathematics, physics,
astronomy, geography, architecture, art, literature,
and history.
 Many systems such as algebra, the Arabic
numerals, and also the concept of the zero vital to
the advancement of mathematics, were transmitted
to medieval Europe from Islam.
 Sophisticated instruments which were to make
possible the European voyages of discovery were
developed, including the astrolabe, the quadrant
and good navigational maps.
Islamic Influences
 Astronomy
 discovered stars: Algol Deneb,
Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldebaran
 compiled astronomical tables
and almanacs
 established observatories
 translated Ptolemy’s Almagest
 Mathematics
 Arabic numerals
 Zero
 Algebra, algorithm
 Inventions
 quadrant and astrolabe
 Medicine
 first hospital – Baghdad
706
 A&P: surgery
 emphasized empirical
observation
 hygiene and
pharmacology
 Universities
 Al-Zaytunah, Tunis – 732
 Al-Azhar, Cairo – 988
 Muslim Spain: Granada,
Seville, and Cordoba, – 9th c.
 Literature
 Religious Toleration
By 1100 “There existed in Cordoba alone, 200,000 houses, 600
mosques, 900 public baths, 10,000 lamps, 50 hospitals, lighted and
paved streets. There were bookshops and more than 70 libraries
with over 400,000 books.”
Medieval Islamic
Scientists
Jaber Ibn Haiyan
(Geber)
alchemist/metallurgist
died 803 CE
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
physician/philosopher
981-1037 CE
Ar-Razi (Rhazes)
physician/ philosopher
864-930 CE
Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahravi
(Albucasis)
surgeon/author
936-1013 CE
Ibn Rushd (Averroes)
physician/philosopher
1128-1198 CE
Al-Khawarizmi (Algorizm)
mathematician/
astronomer
770-840 CE
Islamic Literature: Poetry
 Arabic and Persian poetry
 qasidah: formalized ode: visit to abandoned encampment,
journey to find one’s love, eulogy to neighbor or tribe
 masnavi: long historical narratives: Firdawsi’s Shahnamah
 rubai: lyrical quatrains
 ghazal: short Arabic love lyric of 5-15 couplets
 Arabic Andalusian poetry: Islamic Spain – the Moors
 muwashshah: mixes Arabic and Spanish idioms
 lyric simplicity, dense metaphors, love of nature
 courtship poetry: highly influential on development of
Western Courtly Love poetry
 Poemas Arabigoandaluces
Islamic Literature: Prose
A Thousand and One Nights
 Linked stories with frame tale
 Origins in Indian, Persian, and
Arabic tales
 Blending of the marvelous
with common, everyday
experience
 Emphasizes the healing power
of storytelling
 Collections of Eastern stories
influenced the development of
the novella and the short tale in
Western European literature
Scheherezade with the Emperor Shariyar and her sister Dunyasha
European Universities
 Evolved from medieval schools known as studia generalia
Places of study open to students throughout Europe.
Efforts to educate clerks and monks beyond the level of the
cathedral and monastic schools.
 Earliest Western universities:
 Salerno, Italy-- 9th c. -- famous medical school that drew
students from all over Europe
 Bologna, Italy-- 11thc. --a widely respected school of canon
and civil law
 University of Paris --mid 12th c.-- noted for its teaching of
theology and as a model for other universities in N. Europe
 Oxford University in England--end of the 12th century.
Course of Study
 Core curriculum based on
the seven liberal arts:
 Trivium: grammar, logic,
rhetoric,
 Quadrivium: geometry,
arithmetic, astronomy, and
music.
 Students then proceeded to
study under one of the
professional faculties of
medicine, law, and theology.
 Final examinations were
grueling, and many students
failed.
Chivalry
Chivalry was a peculiarity
of the practice of war in
medieval Europe.
The feudal knight was
supposed to be devout,
honest, selfless, just, brave,
honorable, obedient, kind,
charitable, generous, and
kind to women.
complex rituals and rules
Courtly
Love
C.S. Lewis:
“Humility,
Courtesy,
Adultery
and the
Religion of Love”
April
Très Riches Heures
of the Duc de Berry
The "rules" for this game are
roughly:
 Worship of the
chosen lady
 Declaration of
passionate
devotion
 Virtuous rejection
by the lady
 Renewed wooing
with oaths of
eternal fealty
 Moans of
approaching death
from unsatisfied
desire
 Heroic deeds of valor
which win the lady's
heart
 Consummation of the
secret love
 Endless adventures
and subterfuges
 Tragic end
Troubadour Poetry
 Origins in Provençal: Guillaume X considered to be
first troubadour poet
 Troubadours and Trobiaritz flourished between 1100
and 1350 and were attached to various courts in the
south of France.
 Innovations:
vernacular language
passionate love poetry influenced by Islamic
love poetry
voice of amour courtois
love viewed as ennobling -- heightens one’s
sensibility
Minnesänger
 Medieval German poets, who contributed to the
development of the ideas of courtly love in the 13th
and 14th centuries
German minnesänger were willing to incorporate the
ideals of courtly love into a marriage framework -- see
especially Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival
Courtly Love
and the
Roman Courtois
Countered Franco-German
ideal of Holy Roman Empire
with Charlemagne as saint
Nourished by Celtic
inspiration, Provençal
eroticism and Islamic poetry
Theme: initiation, dedication,
metamorphosis and absorption
into a higher and fuller life
“love is a cue for chivalric
adventure, and chivalry is a
means of deserving love”
Arthurian Legend
 Historical: Romano-Celtic dux bellorum who fought the
Anglo-Saxon invasions
 Major texts:
 12th century
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of
Britain
 Chretien de Troyes’ romances
 13th-14th century: French prose romances
 15th century: Malory
Church’s response to
Amour Courtois
Obviously disapproved of the cultic status
of the lady and the tacit approval of adultery
Encouraged infusion of Christian ideals into
literature:
Grail romances
 Sublimated love: Dante’s Divina Commedia
 Used the language of courtly love in the
veneration of the Virgin Mary
Perceval: The Story of the Grail
by
Chretien de Troyes,
12th c.
First Grail Romance
Grail not here associated with the cup of the Last Supper
or the cup used to catch Christ’s blood
A symbol of beauty and mystery, but not of religious
devotion
13th-14th Century:
French Grail Romances
 Robert de Boron, Joseph d’Arimathie and Merlin, c.120212
 Didot Perceval: Perceval le Gallois ou le Conte du Graal,
c.1210-20
 Vulgate prose cycle: French Cistercian retelling of Estoire
del Saint Graal, Estoire de Merlin, Lancelot du Lac,
Queste del Saint Graal, and Mort Artu, c. 1215-30
 Roman Du Graal and Lancelot Cycle: variant versions of
the Vulgate Cycle, c. 1230-1320
Cistercian Spirituality
 Transforms the grail into “the Holy Grail” -- the cup in
which Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood dripping from
Jesus’ wounds
 Claims that Joseph of Arimathea brought the grail to Britain
 Grail quests become the central activity of the Arthurian
knights, especially Gawain, Perceval, and Lancelot: none of
whom can achieve the grail because of their impurities.
Introduction of
Galahad,
son of Sir Lancelot
and the maiden
Elaine, who,
because of his
purity is able to
attain “The Holy
Grail”
Notre Dame du
Chartres
1145-1220
Gothic Cathedral
Guillaume de Machaut
(b. around 1300-d. 1377)
A poet and innovative composer--major figure in
14th c. French literature and music.
Apart from his celebrated Coronation Mass, his art
was essentially of secular inspiration
Found its most finished expression in a series of Dits
(stories in verse, interspersed with lyric and musical
pieces).
The author celebrated the traditional themes of
courtly love.
La Stil Nuova
 Italian courtly poetry
 Love for lady becomes sublimated
 Protagonist of the stilnovist song .is
a young scholar in love with a star
 Calvacanti, Dante, Petrarch
 Development of the sonnet
Boccaccio’s Decameron
Collection of 100 novelle with a frame
tale
Frame tale realistically details the Black
Death in Italy
Novelle: short tales based set in realistic
settings with a variety of characters from
all social classes
Geoffrey Chaucer’s
The Canterbury Tales
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First great English poet
Early works reflect courtly concerns and ideals
Influenced by French and Italian models
Chaucer’s masterpiece: The Canterbury Tales
Frame: Pilgrimage from London to Canterbury
Brilliant portraits of English characters
Tales include many genres: romance, sermon,
fabilaux, lai, etc.
Christine de
Pisan
1364-ca. 1430
 First European professional
female author
 Prominent in the “Debate
about Women”
 Works include courtesy
books, military treatises,
dream visions and The Book
of the City of Women
From Christine de Pisan, 'Works'.
Copyright ©, The British Library
The Middle Ages in Europe
faded as nation states
solidified, the learning and
art of the Renaissance
emerged, and the unity of
the Western Church was
broken with the Protestant
Reformation.