Courtly Society
in
Medieval Europe
Fusion of the Early Middle Ages
5th-11th centuries
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
Celtic
Migrations
Hallstatt
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
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
The Book of Kells
Völkerwanderrung
Germanic
Migrations
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
Charlemagne’s Empire
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.
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
Sacramentary--Use of Saint-Denis,9thc.
 borders, which may consist
of miniatures, occasionally
illustrative, or more often
are composed of decorative
motifs.
Viking Conquests
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.
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.
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
January
Limbourg Bros.
Très Riches Heures
of the Duc de Berry
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
BAYEUX TAPESTRY
English axman in combat with Norman cavalry during the Battle of Hastings
Norman
Castles
Motte and Bailey
Castle
Tower of London
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.
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: Moans of
Worship of the
chosen lady
Declaration of
passionate
devotion
Virtuous
rejection by
the lady
Renewed
wooing with
oaths of
eternal fealty
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 IX
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
August
Très Riches Heures
of the Duc de Berry
Minnesänger
 Medieval German
poets, who contributed
to the development of
the ideas of courtly
love in the 13th and
14th centuries
Detail from the Minnesanger Manuscript
German minnesänger
were willing to
incorporate the ideals
of courtly love into a
marriage framework -see especially Wolfram
von Eschenbach’s
Parzival
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
Courtly Love Countered Franco-German
ideal of Holy Roman
and the
Empire with Charlemagne
Roman Courtois 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”
MAY
Très Riches Heures
of the Duc de Berry
Arthurian Legend
 Historical: Romano-Celtic dux
bellorum who fought the AngloSaxon 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
The Lais of
Marie de France
 Lanval set at Arthurian
court
Breton troubadour
influence
 Courtliness and magic
 Investigations into the
intricacies of love and
honor
 Explore questions of
sovereignty in
relationships
Lancelot by Chretien de Troyes
c. 1170
Commissioned
by Marie de
Champagne
Introduction of
Lancelot
 Ideal courtly
romance
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
Notre Dame du
Chartres
1145-1220
Gothic Cathedral
Illuminated Manuscripts
Adoration of
the Magi
Virgin and
Child in
Orchard
Book of Hours
N. France
Mid 15th C.
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.1202-12
 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”
Dante’s Divina Commedia
Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
Dante‘s Dream At The Time Of The Death Of Beatrice 1871
Paolo and
Francesca
Realism and the International Style
Limbourg Brothers, Tres Riches Heures, 15th c.
FEBRUARY
JULY
JUNE
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
 First great English
poet
 Early works
reflect courtly
concerns and
ideals
 Influenced by
French and Italian
models
The Canterbury
Tales
 Chaucer’s masterpiece
 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.
Courtly Society
in
Medieval Europe