Rethinking Chivalry and Courtly Love

360 Pages·2011·14.13 MB·English

by  Jennifer G. Wollock

RpTHiNKiNG
Chivalry
AND
Courtly Love
Rethinking
Chivalry
AND
Courtly Love
Jennifer^^^J)/i/oUock
The age of chivalry is not dead. Nor is the power¬
ful allure of the rites of courtly romance. Tales of
knights and ladies, honor, valor, and love continue
to inspire books, films, and festivals, with the
values they express shaping societies across the
globe in profound ways. But where did those
iconic figures and themes come from and how
did they become so ingrained in world cultures?
Rethinking Chivalry and Courtly Love shows that
these two interlinked medieval-era concepts
are best understood in light of each other. It
is the first book to explore the multicultural ori¬
gins of chivalry and courtly love in tandem,
tracing their sources back to the ancient world,
then follow their development—separately and
together—through medieval life and literature.
In addition to examining the history of chivalry
and courtly love, this remarkable volume looks
at their enduring legacy—not just in popular
media but in molding our present-day concepts
of human rights, professional ethics, military
conduct, and gender relations. Readers will see
how understanding the tenets of the chivalrous
life helps us understand our own world today.

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Rethinking Chivalry
and Courtly Love
Advisory Board
Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski,
Professor of Romance Languages and Literature, University of Pittsburgh
Barbara Hanawalt
King George LIL Professor of British History, Ohio State University
E. Ann Matter
William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Religious Studies and Associate Dean of
Arts and Letters, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania
Marilyn J. Stokstad
Judith Harris Murphy Distinguished Professor of Art History Emerita,
University of Kansas
Rethinking Chivalry
and Courtly Love
Jennifer G. Wollock
Praeger Series on the Middle Ages
Jane Chance, Series Editor
Q PRAEGER
AN IMPRINT OF ABC-CLIO, LLC
Santa Barbara, California • Denver, Colorado • Oxford, England
Copyright 2011 by Jennifer G. Wollock
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a
review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wollock, Jennifer G.
Rethinking chivalry and courtly love / Jennifer G. Wollock.
p. cm. — (Praeger series on the Middle Ages)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-275-98488-5 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-03850-1 (ebook)
1. Courtly love—History. 2. Chivalry—Europe—History. I. Title.
GT2620.W65 2011
394'.7—dc22 2010050282
ISBN: 978-0-275-98488-5
EISBN: 978-0-313-03850-1
15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.
Praeger
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, EEC
ABC-CEIO, EEC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1. Introduction 1
2. Precursors of Chivalry 15
3. The Rise of Courtly Love 31
4. Courtly Lives 47
5. Chivalric Institutions 65
6. Chivalric Moralities and the Impact of Courtly Love 93
7. The Literature of Chivalry 119
8. The Flowering of Courtly Love 151
9. The Fortune of Chivalry 183
10. The Persistence of Courtly Love 213
11. Chivalry and Courtly Love on a Global Scale 241
12. Conclusions 265
Notes 273
Select Bibliography 307
Index 313
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