Medieval Academy of America

Courtly Love and Courtliness Author(s): Alexander J. Denomy Reviewed work(s): Source: Speculum, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Jan., 1953), pp. 44-63 Published by: Medieval Academy of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2847180 . Accessed: 19/06/2012 08:58
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COURTLY LOVE AND COURTLINESS*

BY ALEXANDER J. DENOMY LOVE is a species of that movement inherent in the soul of man towards COURTLY a desired object. It is this object, the final object, which specifies love and differentiates its manifestations one from the other. When the object of love is the pleasure of sense, then love is sensual and carnal; directed towards the spiritual, it is mystic, towards a person of the opposite sex, sexual, towards God, divine. Courtly Love is a type of sensual love and what distinguishes it from other forms of sexual love, from mere passion, from so-called platonic love, from married love is its purpose or motive, its formal object, namely, the lover's progress and growth in natural goodness, merit, and worth. That is the very essence of the love of the troubadours and from it are derived those characteristics that are integral to Courtly Love and are no less important or irrevelant to it than are corollaries to a geometrical proposition. Since sexual love is represented as the sole source of man's ennoblement on earth, then its practice is incumbent on every one. Since man is worthless unless he acts under the compulsion of love, then no one can be excused from taking an active part in it: marriage, vows, orders, virginity are no bar to it. What is done, moreover, under Love's compulsion cannot be sinful or immoral; rather it is virtuous and righteous as a necessary source of natural goodness and worth. For that very reason the love of the troubadours must be directed towards a beloved who is superior, usually in rank but always in worth, so that love of so exalted an object may lift the beloved up, as it were, in the scale of goodness and virtue to her exalted position. Since complacency in the attainment of the beloved may lead to quiescence in the beloved object and so to satiety, troubadour love must remain desire, a yearning that is unappeased. In its purest form, it eschews physical possession because, once consummated, desire decreases and tends to vanish. On the contrary, desire for union is to be intensified, fanned, and inflamed by every physical delight short of carnal possession, because it is desire which is the means to the end and purpose of Courtly Love: the ennobling of the lover. Despite the sensuality that such love implies in Christian eyes, for the troubadours such love was spiritual in that it sought a union of hearts and minds rather than of bodies; it was a virtuous love in so far as it was the source of all natural virtue and worth. Such a conception of love differs radically from every other type of sexual love known, celebrated, or taught in the literature of Western Europe before its appearance in the lyrics of the Provencal troubadours. In skeleton form, it is the surge of the lover to rise in worth and virtue towards the beloved through the force and energy of desire. Search for its origins began practically in the days of the troubadours and has gone on until ours. Scholars have found models and sources for the metrical form and the genres of poetry of the troubadours in
* The text of this paper was read at a session of the Mediaeval Academy of America in Boston on 25 April 1952,

44

Courtly Love and Courtliness

45

Arabic verse, in Mediaeval Latin poetry, in the liturgical texts of the Church. Their work has been important in locating the models of the vehicles through which the troubadours expressed their novel ideas; it has left unsolved the origins of the very kernel of Courtly Love. Other scholars have unearthed stylistic and textual similarities between the lyrics of the troubadours and those of classical authors, Mediaeval Latin lyrics, spiritual treatises and compositions, even with the Scriptures. These critics and historians of literature have made a notable contribution in showing the literary heritage of the troubadours and have emphasized the catholicity of the language of love whether it be applied to the eroticism of Ovid, the spirituality of the School of Angers, the scurrility of the clerici vagantes, or the mysticism of the Song of Songs. Analogues to the general body of conceits, formulae and affectations that embellish the lyrics of the troubadours and their ideas have been recorded in Arabic, Mediaeval and Classical Latin literature, even in Irish. The personification of love as a god with absolute power over his army of lovers, the feudalistic relationship between the beloved and the lover, love as a sickness with all its exterior manifestations, the excessive fear of the lover, his humility and timidity, the haughtiness of the beloved, her disdain and caprice, the secrecy and furtiveness of the intrigue are not peculiar to Courtly Love but are universally human and belong to the general fund of love literature. That a number of motifs - the use of a senhal to cloak the identity of the beloved, the threat of gossip, slanderers and spies, the danger of guards and guardians - are common to the love literature of many lands argues simply the similarity of subject matter. These are the trappings of Courtly Love, if you will, assimilated to it as they might be to any other conception of sexual love. They are not peculiar nor essential to the fabric but are, as it were the incidental embroidery of Courtly Love. Speculation, research, controversy will continue until the sources of the essentials of Courtly Love are uncovered. The fruits of generations and centuries of scholarly studies have produced theories that have been conveniently grouped under five main headings: ballad, liturgical, Classical Latin, Mediaeval Latin, and Arabic. As far as I know, no one representative or supporter of any single group is willing to accept the theory of the other in whole, and very few in part When and if the solution comes, I am coming more and more to believe that i. will not emerge from any single one of these theories but that it will be found that Courtly Love is a synthesis of borrowings and adaptations made from several sources, that the troubadours expressed in their lyrics a concept of love that is a union of diverse elements of varied origins. I am sure, for instance, that the troubadours derived their teaching of fin' amors from Arabian mysticism and specifically from some such tract as the Treatise on Love by Avicenna; that their idea of Jovens as a virtue and habit arising from love has its source in the Arabic futuwwa; that the troubadours took their morality of love from the Arabs and were able to maintain it alongside the norms of Christian morality on the foundation of the so-called 'double-truth,' itself, in final analysis, a product of the opposition of Muslim theology and philosophy. I am fairly sure that the troubadours built their idea of Jois as a habit and virtue resultant upon love

46

Courtly Love and Courtliness

upon the Christian teaching of grace and that their preoccupation with death as a result of lack of love harks back to the same teaching. I am not as sure, on the other hand, as I once was, that the framework or thought-pattern of Courtly Love is modelled on that which pervaded the philosophical and heterodox religious thought of the age of the troubadours, namely that the soul of man is divine and the chain of ideas that such a teaching implied. It may well be that their conception of sexual love is a transposition on the natural, rational order of the supernatural love of man with all that that train of thought implies, that their idea that sexual love is the font and origin of all good in this world is modelled on the teaching of the Church that divine love or grace is the source of all supernatural good, merit, and worth. The expression amour courtoisand its English counterpart 'Courtly Love' must be of comparatively recent origin. You will look for them in vain in French and English dictionaries. As far as I know, the expression amour courtoiswas used for the first time by Gaston Paris in 1883.1 The recent introduction of these terms into literary history and criticism apparently corresponded to the need felt by historians and critics of qualifying the type of love introduced into literature by the Provengal troubadours. The troubadours themselves felt no such need. They speak indeed of courtly deeds and speech, of courtly persons, of courtly rime and counsel, of courtly lands and the courtly seasons of the year, but only once have I encountered the expression amors cortezain their lyrics.2 For the troubadours, the love they enjoined and professed needed no such qualification; it was simply love in its purest form. If, at times, they characterized it as true, pure, and good (veraia,fina, bona), it was only to point up its opposition to and distinction from perfidious lust and from ephemeral and insincere love (falsa). When, then, Gaston Paris qualified their conception of love as courtois, he did something that would have seemed superfluous to the troubadours, something that likely never occurred to them. Given the terms, however, poesie courtoise, roman courtois, litterature courtoise, amour courtois seemed a natural enough qualification. The trouble is that courtois or 'courtly' as applied to literature, to poetry, to the romance, has not the same connotation or, at least, should not have as applied to love. Applied to the former, courtly has the essential meaning of belonging to, emanating from, for and in a court. It is a literature of courts, a court literature dealing with courtliness and embodying its ethical and social ideals. In the sense that the troubadour lyrics center about these same courts and incorporate many such ideals, in just that measure do they belong to courtly literature, and are therefore, labeled courtly lyrics. But applied to love, courtly
1 'Etudes sur les romans de la Table Ronde. Lancelot du Lac, II: La conte de la Charette,' Romania, xII (1883), 519. 2 Mas so non pot remaner cortez' amors de bon aire don mi lais esser amaire. Die Lieder Peires von Auvergne, xv, 57-59, ed. Rudolf Zenker (Erlangen, 1900), p. 124. Cf. also amistat corteza,Guilhem Ademar, xIII, 20, ed. Kurt Almqvist, Po&ies du troubadourGuilhem AdEmar (Uppsala, 1951), p. 160.

Courtly Love and Courtliness

47

has quite another meaning. It is the term that designates the species of the love of the troubadours. It denotes and particularizes that sort of love that is accounted the origin and font of man's natural excellence, the novel conception that sexual love is the ennobling force in man. Therefore, that literature that turns about that type of love is something more than courtly literature; it is courtly love literature. In qualifying the love of the troubadours as courtly, the net result was to draw it into the orbit of courtliness, the ideal of the social and moral decorum of the courts and of the nobility. Courtly Love then becomes just one more quality or element of courtliness, or as Henri Dupin has put it: l'amour The consequence has ajoute aux autres vertus courtoisesle comblede la perfection.3 been to confound and to confuse Courtly Love and courtliness, to fuse the courtly poetry embodying courtliness and its attendant virtues with the courtly love poetry embodying Courtly Love.4 The practical application of that confusion has been to obscure the study and question of origins. All too often, in seeking the origins of Courtly Love, the literary historian finds himself immersed in a study of the origins of courtoisie or even of litteraturecourtoise, and at odds with the historian who recognizes the vital distinction between courtliness and Courtly Love and who seeks their respective origins separately. It might be that it is but a matter of terminology to speak of a courtly romance and of courtly love lyrics, but it is just that distinction that has all too often been at the root of a great many differences and controversies on the subject of origins. Unlike the expression amour courtois, the word courtoisie is recorded quite early: during the third quarter of twelfth century in Northern France, some twenty or twenty-five years earlier in Provencal.5 A scholar has analyzed twelfthand thirteenth-century texts in Old French and Provencal, a veritable grab-bag
3 Henri Dupin, La Courtoisie au moyen dge d'apres les textes du XIPI et du XIIIO siecle (Paris, 1931), p. 128. 4 Cf., for example, such statements as these: 'Ce qui est plus interessant, c'est de decouvrir, "en germe," comme Diez l'a fort bien dit, les principaux traits ou lieux communs qui caracteriseront bient6t la poesie de cour et m8me certains expressions dont elle usera jusqu'a son extreme declin' (Alfred Jeanroy, Les Chansons de Guillaume IX, due d'Aquitaine [Paris, 1913], p. xvi); 'Je me bornerai a remarquer, au sujet des pieces amoureuses, que plusieurs des lieux communs de la chanson courtoise existait deja' (Alfred Jeanroy, Les Poesies de Cercamon [Paris, 1922], p. vii); 'Parmi les chansons d'amour, seules les chansons VIII et IX representent le type normal de la canzo classique, la chanson oil l'auteur s'en tient uniquement aux lieus communs de la poesie courtoise' (Ernest Hoepffner, Les Po&sies de Bernard Marti [Paris, 1929], p. viii). Such statements tend to confuse courtly poetry with courtly love poetry. 5 Cf. Roman de Troie, 1. 5546. Troilus is described by Benoit de Sainte-More as follows: 'Bien fu sis frere de proece, / De courtoisie et de largesse' (ed. L. Constans, I [Paris, 1904]). Cf. also 11.3180, 5353. The patron of Marie de France is characterized as 'Ki flurs est de chevalerie, / D'enseignement, de curteisie' (Prol. 32, ed. A. Ewert and R. C. Johnston, The Fables of Marie de France [Oxford, 1942]). In Provencal, cortezia appears in Marcabur, infra, n. 11, and in Bernard Marti, infra, n. 60. The adjective appears approximately at the same time in both the North and South of France. In the Chanson de Roland, Oliviers is characterized as corteis, 11.576, 3755, by implication, moderate as contrasted with the impetuous Roland. In Provencal, Guillaume IX, the first known troubadour, contrasts corteswith vilas, infra, n. 10.

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CourtlyLove and Courtliness

of excerpts from lyrics, romances, tales, moral and didactic poems of that period. From these he has concluded that the following are the characteristic and permanent traits of courtoisie: 'observation du salut, du baiser et du conge, pratique de l'accueil et de l'hospitalite, loyaute et fidelite, bonte et pitie, douceur, liberalit6 et largesse, joie, souci de la renommee, mesure, amour et, dans cet amour meme, application des vertues courtoises, tels sont, croyons-nous, les elements, tous les 6elments de la courtoisie, s'ils n'en sont pas l'achevement.'6 By the fourteenth century, there is clear evidence that courtoisie is synonymous with curialitas, the nobilitas morum, the cardinal worldly virtue, so to speak, of the chevalier, the embodyment of the social and ethical ideal of chivalry.7 I am not concerned for the present with the historical origins or genesis of such an ideal; just now I am concerned with the relationship of courtliness to Courtly Love, with the meaning that the troubadours attached to cortezia and with the place it held in the life of courtly lovers. I have not read and studied all the troubadours by any means; I have read and studied the early troubadours and sufficient of those of the Golden Age to warrant a fairly accurate presentation of their notion of cortezia and cortes, of their concept of courtliness and of the courtly person. For the troubadours, corteziais a quality that has its origin in love. Cercamon had said: Greu er cortesqui d'amor se desesper8and Piere d' Auvergne but reiterates that truth to Bernard de Ventadour: Bernartz,greu er pros ni cortes qui ab amorno's sap tener.9
The relative infrequency of cortezia, especially in the earlier troubadours, is rather striking. For instance, the word does not occur in the extant poems of Guillaume IX, Cercamon, Jaufre Rudel, Peire Rogier, Perdignon, and Guilhem Ademar, and occurs but once in those of Folquet de Marseille and Arnaut Daniel. 6 Op. cit., p. 128. Compare the conclusions reached by S. M. Galpin resulting from a similar analysis: 'The cortois is pictured as being of polished manners, gentle and courteous in speech, always taking the middle course, humble, considerate in his relations with his fellows and helpful to others, upright in character, loyal, generous, wearing fine garments, courageous, a perfect lover, of a merry disposition, of fine personal appearance, possessing a high order of intelligence, and of a religious turn of mind; wherefore he is an object of admiration to the opposite sex and was held in high esteem by his friends. His morals might be either loose or strict.' Cortois and Vilain: a Study of the Distinctions Made Between Them by the French and ProvengalPoets of the 12th, 13th and 14th Centuries (New Haven, 1905), pp. 95-96. 7 'Cortoisie n'est fors une noblesce de bones mours .... Et tout aussi comme droiture de loy a en soi totes vertuz, tout aussi cortoisie a en soy toutes vertuz.' Henri de Gauchy, Li livres du gouvernementdes rois, ed. S. P. Molenses (New York, 1899), p. 262. This is a translation of a passage from Gilles de Rome's (Egidius Colonna) De regimine principum, written at the behest of Philip the Bold for his son Philip the Fair. The Latin reads: 'Videtur autem curialitas se habere ad nobilitatem morum sicut iusticia se habet ad impletionem legis nam ut in prosequendo patebit sicut legalis iusticia est quodammodo omnis virtus quia omnem virtutem lex implere iubet, sic curialitas est quodmammodo omnis virtus quia nobilitatem morum quasi omnis virtus concomitari debet.' Ed. Rome, 1482, p. 169. 8 I, 58: 'Hardly will that man be courtly who gives up all hope of love.' Ed. Alfred Jeanroy, Les Poesies de Cercamon(Paris, 1922), p. 4. 9 2, 15-16: 'Bernart, hardly will that man be of worth or courtly who cannot abide in love.' Ed. Carl Appel, Bernart von Ventadorn; seine Lieder (Halle a. S, 1915), p. 11.

CourtlyLove and Courtliness

49

No matter how churlish or boorish a man may be, Peire Rogier says that if he will but speak to his beloved a word or two, that man will become courtly: qu'omnon es tan mal essenhatz, si parl' ab lieys un mot o dos, que totz uilas non torn cortes.10 Like every other virtue, corteziaarises from love, the font and source of all goodness and worth: Aicel cui fin' amorscausitz Viu letz, cortese sapiens." All courtly deeds have their source in love: Tota cortezafazenda: solatz, chanz e jocs e ris,

mou ben d'amor, so m'es vis.2

Aimeric de Peguilhan states the case very definitely: when love takes possession of lovers and loved, then courtliness and worth and everything that pertains to true worth are born and issue forth: fai Qu'Amors ben tot aisso que deu far, Qu'enamairitzintr' ez en amadors Don nays ez ieys cortezi'e valors
E tot aisso qu'en verai pretz perte.13

In fact, the lover cannot protect himself against baseness unless love guard him:
S'ieu l'ai servit, pro n'ai canje d'Amor, Ab que je puois non agues mas aitan; Q'en mains luocs m'a faich tant aut e tant gran Don ja ses lieis non pogra aver honor, E maintas vetz m'engart de vilania Que ses Amor gardar no m'en sabria.14
10 6, 4-6: 'For no man is so badly instructed that, if he speak a word or two with her, the completely base man will not turn courtly.' Ed. Carl Appel, Das Leben und die Lieder des TrobadorsPeire Rogier (Berlin, 1882), p. 55. Guillaume IX expresses the same thought when he says that through the joy that his beloved inspires, the most churlish is transformed into a courtly person. Cf. infra, n. 25. Cf. Cercamon: 'Per lieys serai o fals o fils, / ... / O totz vilas o totz cortes' ('Through her shall I be either false or faithful ... wholly base or wholly courtly'). I, 51-53, ed. cit., p. 4. 1 XL, 8-9: 'That man whom pure love singles out lives happy, courtly and wise.' Ed. J. M. L. Dejeanne, Poesies completesdu troubadourMarcabru (Toulouse, 1909), p. 196. 12Pons de la Gardia, 8-9: 'Every courtly deed: bliss, song and diversion and laughter indeed arise from love, so it seems to me.' Ed. Carl Appel, Bernart von Ventadorn; seine Lieder, p. 345. 13 52, 26-29: 'For love does well whatever he should do, since he enters into ladies loved and into their lovers, from which act courtesy and valor and everything that pertains to true worth are born and come forth.' Ed. William P. Shepherd and Frank M. Chambers, The Poems of Aimeric de Peguilhan (Evanston, Illinois, 1950), p. 240; trans., ibid., p. 242. 14 15, 25-30: 'If I have served him, I have an ample reward from Love, though he do me no more than this. For he has made me so high and so great in many places from which without him I could never have had honor. And many times I keep myself from vileness against which, without Love, I could not guard myself.' Aimeric de Peguilhan, ed. cit., p. 101; trans. ibid., p. 104.

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CourtlyLove and Courtliness

Peire Vidal claims that he cherishes cortezia and jovens through love and that love dictates his actions and his conduct: Per amor sui tan fort enamoratz, Que d'amor son totas mas voluntatz, Per amor am cortezi' e joven, Quar d'amor son mei fag e mei parven.15

Corteziais listed among the attributes that have their origin in love:
Tug cilh que amon valor Devon saber que d'amor Mou larguez' e guais solatz, Franchez' et humilitatz, Pretz d'amor, servirs d'onor, Gen teners, joi, cortezia.l6 Indeed, he who wishes to sojourn in love must be permeated through and through with courtliness, free of the vices of baseness and immoderation in speech, endowed with the virtues of largesse and goodness: Qui ses bauzia Vol Amor albergar, De Cortesia Deu sa maion jonchar; Get fors feunia E fol sobreparlar; Pretz e donar Deu aver en bailia, Ses ochaio.17 Love abides with the courtly: Et amors ten se ab los cortes, e d'aqui son drut cuend' e guay.'8 The poet accuses cortezia of wrong doing when she informs the ill-bred, such as the envious and the jealous, of love and fair seeming, because then witless and crass people take on the appearance of courtliness through the assimilation of the true love of true lovers: Ai Deus, can bona for' amors de dos amics, s'esser pogues que ja us d'aquestz enveyos lor amistat no conogues!
15xxvii, 13-16: love I am so enamored that all my resolvesoriginatefromlove; through 'Through Ed. love, I cherishcourtlinessand youth becausefrom love arise my actions and my demeanor.'

Joseph Anglade, Les Po6sies de Peire Vidal (Paris, 1913), p. 86.

16 GaucelmFaidit: 'All who cherishworth ought to know that from love originatelargesseand joyous bliss, sincerity and humility, the prestigeof love, submissionin love, tenderaffection,joy,

17Marcabru, xxxII, 55-63: 'He whowishes,withoutdeceit,to harborlove must bestrewhis abode with courtliness;let him cast forth basenessand insensateimmoderate he speech;unquestionably of must be possessed worthand generosity.' cit., p. 155. Cf. infra,nn. 51 and 54. Ed. 18Peire Rogier, 5, 11-12: 'And love clings to the courtly and thereby are lovers discreet and
joyous.' Ed. cit., p. 51.

courtliness.' Quoted from Alfred Jeanroy, La Po6sie lyrique des troubadours,II (Paris, 1934), p. 99.

CourtlyLove and Courtliness

Cortezia, mout etz vilana c'az aquesta fausa gen vana fatz conoisser semblans ni amistatz, c'ar' es cortes lo plus mal ensenhatz.'1

51

Because of lack of love, good qualities disappear or are turned into vices. Bernard de Ventadour complains of his inability to compose verse because he sees no one is concerned with love. Therefore pretz, cortezia, solatz are matters of indifference: Ges de chantar no'm pren talans, tan me peza de so que vei, que metre's soli' om en grans com agues pretz, onor e lau, mas era no vei ni non au c'om parle de drudaria, per que pretz e cortezia e solatz torn' en no-chaler.20 Aimeric de Belenoi would forbid the troubadour Albert from singing of his beloved because he has been recreant towards cortezia and has accused ladies of falsity: Ja mais n'Albertz non deu chantar d'amia, que renegat a tota cortesia; e car dompnas apella de bauzia, be'l deuri' hom pendre cum traidor.21 In the hands of lovers who are false cortezia, once received with joy but now little prized and meanly held, turns into meanness: C'ab entendedors bauzas Torn' en recrezensa Cortezi' ab gauch venguda Pauc prezad' e viltenguda.22
19Bernard de Ventadour, 22, 9-16: 'Heavens, how pure would be the love of two pure lovers, if only it could be that not one of these spiteful people did know their love! Courtliness, you are indeed vile since you have caused this false worthless people to discern demeanor of love and love itself; now the most vilely taught is courtly.' Ed. cit., p. 127. The editor, ibid., p. 130, is inclined to understand these lines to mean that love gives so much of herself to these base people in informing them of the love of pure lovers that they adapt for themselves the forms of love and love behavior and that thus the difference between vilas and cortes disappears. It seems, rather, that the poet means that such people come to know merely the external manifestations or signs of love and thus become courtly only exteriorly. As Bernard indicates in the next stanza, the result is not love but only the appearance of it. 20 21, 1-8: 'I have no taste for composing song, so much am I grieved by what I see. It used to be that one exerted himself in the acquisition of renown, honor and fame, but now I neither perceive nor hear the courting of women spoken of. Therefore renown and courtliness and bliss are matters of unconcern.' Ed. cit., p. 118. 21 9-12: 'Sir Albert should never sing of his beloved, because he has disavowed courtliness; and because he accuses ladies of falsity, he ought indeed to be hung as a traitor.' Ed. Carl Appel, Bernart von Ventadorn, seine Lieder, p. 295. 22Giraut de Bornelh, 28, 71-74: 'Courtliness, once joyfully received and now meanly prized and basely esteemed, turns into vileness in the hands of those who falsely uphold it.' Ed. Adolf Kolsen, SdmtlicheLieder des TrobadorsGiraut de Bornelh, I (Halle a. S, 1910), p. 160.

CourtlyLove and Courtliness

After complaining bitterly of the avarice or stinginess of the nobles, Severi de Girona asks how he can compose when cortezia is made a matter of barter and when, through the deceit of lovers, love is turned into treachery and falsity:
Tot aygo'm deu enujar E - mays s'i dezia? Can vey donas galiar E c'om las galia. E can vey tornar Amor enjan e falsia, Com vey posc trobar Pus se vendet cortesia.23 Arnaut de Mareuil derives cortezia ultimately from jois, the habit or state resultant upon love. The bliss of joy brings cortezia in its train: Ses joi non es valors Ni ses valor honors, que Jois adutz Amors E Amors dompna gaia E gaiesa solatz E solatz cortesia.24

The joy that the beloved inspires in the lover can bring about the courtliness of the base and the sorrow that unrequited love causes can effect the debasing of the most courtly:
Per son joy pot malautz sanar, E per sa ira sas morir E savis hor enfolezir E belhs hor sa beutat mudar E'l plus cortes vilanejar E totz vilas encortezir.25 Joy inspires every good quality in the lover. Among these is cortezia: A gran honor viu cui jois es cobitz, que d'aqui mou cortesi' e solatz, enseignamenz e franques' e mesura, e cors d'amar et esfortz de servir, e chausimenz, saber e conoisensa, e gens parlars et avinens respos, e tuich bon aips, per qu'om es gais et pros.26
17, 25-32: 'All this ought to torment me and - were more to be said? - when I see ladies practice deception and how they themselves are deceived. And when I see how trickery and deception transform love, how can I compose nowadays when courtliness is made a matter of barter'? Ed. Adolf Kolsen, Beitrage zur altprovenzalischen Lyrik (Florence, 1939), p. 106. 24 xi, 1-6: 'There is no worth without joy nor honor without worth, for joy occasions love and love a joyous lady, and joyousness bliss, and bliss courtliness.' Ed. R. C. Johnston, Les Poesies lyriques du troubadourArnaut de Mareuil (Paris, 1935), p. 65. 26Guillaume ix, ix, 25-30: 'Through joy (originating from her) the sick man can grow well, and through sadness (originating from her) the healthy man can die, and the wise man become a fool, and the handsome man alter his good looks, and the most courtly become vile and the completely base become courtly.' Ed. Alfred Jeanroy, Les Chansons de Guillaume IX, duc d'Aquitaine, p. 23. 26 Arnaut de Mareuil, xxI, 1-7: 'That man to whom joy is accorded lives in great honor, for
23

CourtlyLove and Courtliness

Cortezia is closely linked to jovens, a spiritual quality that constituted tion in the eyes of the troubadours :27 Dompna, c'aves la segnoria De joven e de cortesia E de totas finas valors.28

53
perfec-

In a play on words, Bertran de Born asserts that Young Henry, had he lived, would have been the king of courtly men since he had attained the title of King of Youth and was the director and father of Youth:
Reis de'ls cortes e de'ls pros emperaire Foratz, senher, si acsetz mais viscut, Quar reis joves aviatz nom agut E de joven eratz vos guitz e paire.29

Disdain of youth is the result of the failure to put corteziainto practice:

Li plus d'aquest segle carnau Ant tornat joven a nuill. Qu'ieu non trob, de que molt m'es mau, Qui maestrill Cortesia ab cor leiau.30 Since jovens is a moral principle comprising liberality and largesse, fidelity and purity in love,31 the troubadours connect cortezia just as closely with these virtues. Marcabru laments the stinginess and avarice, the trickery and treachery that flourish about him. The result is that cortezia, bel estar, pretz and valor no longer hold sway: D'una ren suy meravelhans Qu'ades vey granar e florir Escassetatz, oc! et Enjans: Vas qualque part me torn ni'm vir Cortezia ni Bel Estar Ni Pretz ni Valor ni Deport Vas nulha part no vey renhar.32
thences arise courtliness and bliss, learning and candor and moderation, yearning for love and zeal to serve, and discretion, wisdom and knowledge, gracious converse and pleasant repartee and all good qualities whereby a man is joyous and of worth.' Ed. cit., p. 121. 27 Cf. A. J. Denomy, 'Jovens: The Notion of Youth among the Troubadours, its Meaning and Source,' Mediaeval Studies, xi (1949), 9. 28 Alegret, 1-3: 'My lady, you have dominion over youth and courtliness and over every true worth.' Ed. J. M. L. Dejeanne, Annales du Midi, xIx (1907), 231. 29 8, 15-18: 'You would have been king of the courtly and emperor of the valiant, my lord, had you lived longer, for you had acquired the title of the youthful king (King of Youth) and you were the teacher and father of youth.' Ed. Albert Stimming, Bertran von Born (Halle a. S, 1913), p. 75. 30 Marcabru, xxxIIn, 25-30: 'The majority of this carnal world have converted youth into nothingness, for I do not find- whence woe is me - one who masters courtliness with a loyal heart. Ed. cit., pp. 160-161. 31Cf. A. J. Denomy, art. cit., p. 9. 8-14: 'I stand aghast at one thing, namely I see nowadays meanness ger32 Marcabru, xxxv, minate and flower, Yes! and deceit. In whatever direction I turn or twist, I do not see courtliness nor good behavior nor fame nor worth nor merriment prevail in any direction.' Ed. cit., p. 165.

CourtlyLove and Courtliness

Elias Cairel sees worth debased by princes and barons because they are misers and have overwhelmed those who were generous and courtly: Desonors e dans creis de malvaza razo, qe'il prince e'il baro ant baissat pretz e bobans, don valors dechai, e negun non sai per cui puosca redreissar, qe'il avar ant tant sobrepres totz eels qu'eron larc e cortes que ses colps los ant enchaussatz, don chascus deu esser blasmatz.33 Cortes is synonymous with generosity and munificence. In a poem of praise of Frederick II, son of Emperor Henry VI, Aimeric de Peguilhan lauds his largesse and courtliness as if these were one and the same: Pretz es estortz, qu'era guastz e malmes, E Dons gueritz de mal qu'avia pres, Qu'un bos metge nos a Dieus sai trames Deves Salern, savi e ben apres, Que conoys totz los mals e totz los bes E mezina quascun segon que s'es; E anc loguier no'n demandet ne ques, Anz los logua, tant es francs e cortes.34 Giraut de Bornelh sees the world descend from cortesia to vilanatge - a world in which that man who steals at will is more praised than he who gives generously of his bounty: Lo segles s'es chamjatz de cortezia En vilanatges et en perdizo; Plus es lauzatz qui tot tol a bando Que eel que dona per sa manentia.35 He who plays at courtliness at the expense of another and is miserly with his own goods, in the same poet's considered opinion, has no claim to be regarded as courtly:
33 25-36:

'Dishonor and detriment are on the increase through an evil cause because the princes

and the baronshave debasedrenownand magnificence; thereforeworth crumblesaway and I do

not know a one by whom it can revive, because the misers have so overwhelmed those who were open-handed and courtly that their buffets have driven them off. Therefore everyone ought to be reproached.' Ed. Carl Appel, Bernart von Ventadorn, seine Lieder, pp. 323-324. 34 26, 9-16: 'Worth, which was wasted and spoiled, is saved, and largesse is cured of the illness which had seized it, for God has sent to us here, from Salerno, a good physician, wise and well taught, who knows all the ills and all the good things, and doctors every one as suits him best, He has never asked nor sought a fee, but he fees others, so liberal and courteous is he.' Ed. cit., p. 146; trans. ibid., p. 148. 3569, 9-12: 'The world has changed from courtliness into baseness and corruption; the man who steals everything without restriction is more praised than he who gives according to his abundance.' Ed. cit., p. 436.

Courtly Love and Courtliness

E qui's fai de l'altrui cortes, Pos del seu sera sobravers, Ges no m'es vis aport razos C'a lui repaire'l gazardos.36

55

Raimon de Miraval remarks that avarice has so taken hold of every one that honor, pretz, largessa and cortezia are destroyed and that bad faith has arisen: Venguz es tems c'om lausa la folia E qi fai mal e pieg dis, es lauzatz E'l sens autius naturals es blasmatz De tota gent qe no sap qe sens sia, Per cobitat q'a tot lo mon sorpres; Q'estreng tot hom si fort en sa bailia C'onors, e prez, largess' e cortesia Son tot perdut e sors la mala fes.37 Aimeric de Peguilhan had deserted a first love, who treated him badly, for a second, who treated him worse. He recognizes his folly and his dishonor. His infidelity is a sin against God, a reproach to his good name and a crime against cortezia: Quar s'ieu falhi al major, Pus ai falhit al menor; Per que'l falhirs es doblatz, O c'es endreg Dieu peccatz, E blasmes endreg lauzor, E crims endreg cortezia, E vergonha endreg d'amia E dans endreg recebr' autruy aver; Doncs si deu selh guardar que deu valer.38 On the other hand, the lover who is faithful and true is courtly and without fault: E car es tant de bon aire, Franc' et humils et honesta, L'am cum los huoills de ma testa, E car non a talan vaire; Tant es corteza senes ais C'anc ren non galiet ni trais
36 with the goodsof anotherand afterwards 66, 29-32: 'Andhe who makespretenceof courtliness shall be overly miserlywith his own goods, I cannot see at all that common-sense arguesthat the shouldrepairto him.'Ed. cit., pp. 422-424. reward 37 42, 1-8: 'The time has come whenwant of is intelligence praisedand he who does evil and says worseis lauded;andnaturallofty goodsenseis reproved everyonewhodoesnot knowwhatwisdom by is becauseof avaricewhichhas overwhelmed wholeworld;for it binds everyoneso closelyin its the powerthat renown,largesseand courtlinessare wholly lost and bad faith issues forth.' Ed. Adolf zur Kolsen,Beitrdge altprovenzalischen p. 229. Lyrik, 38 4, 10-18: 'For if I was [faithless] in the greatermatter, I have been [faithless]in the lesser; in wherefore [infidelity] doubled,so that it is a sin in respectto God, a reproach respectto the is fame,a shamein respectto one'slove, a crimein respectto courtesy,and a loss in respectto receiving a another'sproperty.Therefore, man who is strivingto be worthyshouldguardagainstit.' Ed cit., I p. 57; trans.ibid.,p. 59. In the translation, have substitutedthe wordsin bracketsfor the editors' erredand erroras more consonantwith the poet'sfalhi, falhit, and falhirs. The poem does centre aboutAimeric's avowalof infidelityin love.

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Courtly Love and Courtliness

Ni fetz enoi ni mespreiso Don ja savis hom l'ochaiso.89

But the lady who deserts her beloved and takes another is not acting according to courtliness: Ges no pretz un botocays una don, qu'aitals sia, qu'un prenda et autr'en lays, no fai ges cortezia.40 Arnaut de Marueil admits his madness in refusing the promises of his lady whom he has served so long and to no avail. He excuses himself on the grounds that there is no man so courtly who has not, at some time or other, acted unwisely in his infidelity: Greu er nulhs hom que non folley; doncx s'ieu ai falhit, morrai? Per merce li prec, qu'esper ai qu'a penas es hor tan cortes que non falhisca manhtas ves.41 Unloved by his lady to whom he has devoted himself, Giraut de Bornelh admits that the judgment of people would pursue him should he desert her: E si m'en vauc lonhan, Pot esser que diran 'Tan No sai' Cilh que s'estan de lai E non s'en dolon ges: 'Non i fais que cortes, S'era s'en vol partir, Can s'en degra jauzir, Ni laissa per gandir Leugeramen Tan bel eschazemen?42 Finding himself in a like predicament, as he departs from his beloved, Peire Vidal refrains from speaking ill of her in vengeance of her coldness. He knows that such
89Guilhem Ademar, v, 33-40: 'Because she is of so noble a nature, sincere and humble and upright, and because she is not fickle, I love her as I do the eyes in my head. She is so courtly without blemish that she has never practiced deceit nor deception in any way, nor has she been a cause of harm and evil to anyone of which the wise man might accuse her.' Ed. Kurt Almqvist, Poesies du troubadourGuilhem Ademar, p. 126. 40 Raimbaut de Vaquieras, 12, 11-14: 'I do not esteem a lady a straw, whoever she may be, if she accepts a lover and deserts another for him; she certainly does not act courteously.' Ed. Klara M. Fassbinder, 'Der Trobador Raimbaut de Vaquieras,' Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie, XLIX (1929), 465. 41 xxIV, 25-29: 'Hardly shall there exist a man who has not acted unwisely; therefore, if I have blundered, then shall I die? I plead for her pity because I am hopeful that there is scarcely a man so courtly who has not offended many times. Ed. cit., p. 142. 42 36, 58-68: 'And if I go thence, it may be that I don't know how many will say, those who are from over yonder and who are not all grieved: "he does not act like a courtly man if now he wants to depart when she should have joy of her. Does he abandon in flight and so lightly so fair an opportunity."' Ed. cit., p. 206.

Courtly Love and Courtliness

conduct on his part would be baseness: Quar plus qu'obra d'aranha Non pot aver durada Amors, pos es proada, Qu'ab ditz duar' et aplanha Tal qu'a'l cor de vilain escolh: Per qu'eu fatz d'Aurenja Nantolh, Que'ls plus cortes vei neis pejors Ves domnas e ves amadors. Per que val mais bos absteners Que fols parlars.43

57

On the other hand, to praise one's beloved, even though love be not returned, is a mark of courtliness: Es tan pros com lo'm laucaz? La melher q'anc dieus feges. Doncs fas tu ben qe cortes.44 Like Cercamon,45 Daude de Pradas complains that deceivers, tricksters, those who feign courtliness, receive as much and more from love as do sincere and true lovers: Amors, de vos ai tant apres: qe'il fals truan e'il trichador, que non temon Dieu ni honor, e'is feignon de non ren cortes, ant de vos lo baisar e'l bratz, e, per malaventura, jatz, e vers amics de bona fe non aura ja ni so ni que.46 Cortezia, moreover, consists in the observance of mesura, the golden means of virtue between the two extremes of vice. Moderation and courtliness should be the two attributes of a lover: A drut de bona domna tanh Que sia savis e membratz E cortes et amesuratz E que non si trabalh ni's lanh.47
43 viii, 49-60: 'Because love, even after it be well established, cannot last longer than a spider's web when it adorns and gilds with speech a man who is vilanous in conduct. Therefore, I imitate Nanteuil d'Orange when I see even the most courtly worse towards ladies and towards love. Hence prudent abstention is worth more than fatuous talk.' Ed. Joseph Anglade, Les Posies de Peire Vidal, p. 22. 44 Aimeric de Peguilhan, 16, 10-12: 'Is she as worthy as you praise her to me? The best that God ever made. In that case, you act like a courteous gentleman.' Ed. cit., p. 106; trans. ibid., pp. 107-108. 46 Iv, 8-14; ed. cit., pp. 11-12. 46 ix, 17-24: 'Love, I have learned this much about you: that lying rogues and tricksters who fear neither God nor honor and who pretend to be courtly without any foundation obtain from you kiss and embrace and, unfortunately, intimacy; and the true and faithful lover obtains neither this nor that.' Ed. A. H. Schutz, Poesies de Daude de Pradas (Toulouse, 1933), p. 41. 47Peire Vidal, xuII, 25-28: 'It behooves the lover of a good lady to be wise and prudent, courtly and moderate and that he should not fret nor lament? Ed. cit., p. 138.

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Courtly Love and Courtliness

Citing an ancient adage, Marcabru had defined the absence of moderation as a lack of wisdom:
En tal loc fai sens fraitura On hor non garda mezura, So ditz la gens anciana.48 The same Marcabru enunciates the principle that he who oversteps the bounds of moderation is not courtly. That is the theme of his Cortesamen vuoill comenssar, a sirventes devoted to his reflections on mezura and its relationship to cortezia, and which he dedicated to Jaufre Rudel. The man who finds fault with cortezia very easily slips into uncouthness and grossness. However wise and learned a man may be, there always remains more than he can learn: Assatz pot horn villanejar Qui Cortezia vol blasmar, Que'l plus savis e'l mieills apres Non sap tantas dire ni far, C'om no li posca enseignar Petit o pro, tals hora es.49 If one observes moderation, then he may glory in his courtliness. That man who wants to hear everything that is said, who wants to amass all that he sees, has need of moderation, else he will not be courtly: De Cortesia'is pot vanar Qui ben sap Mesur' esgardar; E qui tot vol auzir quant es, Ni tot cant ve cuid' amassar, Del tot l'es ops a mesurar, 0 ja non sera trop cortes.50 Moderation is evident in gracious converse, courtliness in love. If one wishes to avoid being contemned, then let him abstain from all baseness, from mockery, and from folly: Mesura es de gen parlar, E cortezia es d'amar; E qui non vol esser mespres De tota vilania'is gar, D'escarnir e de folleiar.51 After he had deserted the service of love, Folquet de Marseille acknowledges the folly of his former bondage and rejoices in his newly found joy of freedom.
48 xxx, 82-84: 'There where man does not observe moderation reason is wanting, so say the ancient folk.' Ed. cit., p. 141. 49 xv, 7-12: 'That man can certainly become base who wills to revile courtliness, because the wisest and the most learned cannot so speak and act that one cannot teach him more or less at any hour of the day.' Ed. cit., p. 61. 50 Ibid., 13-18: 'He who knows aright how to observe moderation can glory in courtliness; and he who wants to hear everything there is and expects to gather up everything he sees, moderation is absolutely necessary for him or else he will not be courtly.' Ibid., p. 62. 51 Ibid., Moderation applies to gracious converse and courtliness applies to love; and he who does not want to be held in contempt, let him refrain from all baseness, from mockery and from folly. Ibid.

Courtly Love and Courtliness

The poet however stifles his bitterness towards love in keeping with courtliness which is moderation. He reproaches love for her lack of moderation towards him:
Cortesia non es als mesura, mas vos, Amors, no saubetz anc que fos; per qu'ieu serai tant plus cortes de vos, qu'al major briu calarai ma rancura.52 In keeping with moderation, therefore, cortezia is manifest in elegance and goodness of speech and action. Peire Vidal reflects on the shortness of this life and the folly of the man who does not strive to amend and to act in courtly fashion: Horn no's deuria tarzar De ben dir e de melhs far Tan quan vida l'es prezens; Que'l segles non es mas vens, E qui plus s'i fia Fai major folia; Qu'a la mort pot hom proar C'om pauc val aurs als manens: Per qu'es fols qui no's castia E non renh' ab cortezia.53 Giraut de Bornelh likewise points to the fleeting of time to spur men on to good deeds. He tells of Alfonso II of Aragon who is courtly, humble, generous to a fault. It is from these qualities that flow his worthy deeds and gracious words: Mas un en sai que'm par Trop ben aministratz De far rics fachs prezatz, De be-dir e de far E de bos fachs sabens; Qu'es cortes e plazens, Umils, de bel solatz E ja no'lh chal a nos Donar dels esperos, Ans es, s'om no'l rete Trop duramen el fre, Vas pretz tan eslaissatz C'un pauc en sembla fatz.54
62

xii, 41-44: 'Courtliness is nothing else than moderation, but you, love, never knew what it was;

I therefore, shall be so muchthe morecourtlythan you, becauseI will muzzlemy rancorwith the Ed. StanislawStronski,Le Troubadour Folquetde Marseille(Cracow,1910), greatestearnestness.'
p. 59.
63 xII, 21-30: 'One ought not to put off speaking well and doing better as long as life is present; for this world is nothing else than wind and who trusts in it the most plays the fool the more; for when death comes, one can verify how little gold avails the rich; therefore, he is a fool who does not correct himself and who does not conduct himself with courtliness.' Ed. cit., p. 69. 64 63, 53-65: 'But I know a man who seems to be very well equipped to accomplish cherished, mighty deeds, to speak and act well and to do pleasurable actions, because he is courtly and amiable, humble, pleasure-giving, and we need never to spur him on in giving gifts, but unless he is restrained rather firmly, so unbridled is he towards renown, that he appears thereby to be almost a simpleton.' Ed. cit., p. 406.

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Courtly Love and Courtliness

Graciousness and amiability in word and work are the mark of a courtly person: Tot autre joi desconois et oblida qui ve'l sieu cors coind' e cortes e gai, qu'enaissi sap d'avinen far e dir ab purs plazers tot so qu'ill ditz ni fai, qu'om no'n pot mal dire senes mentir.65 Piere Vidal's beloved, the mistress of Vertfueil and Montlaur, maintains probity of life because she reigns courteously: she avoids treachery, has no love for scandalmongers and jealous wretches: Et a cor que pretz mantenha, Car ab cortezia renha, Que s'om honratz la vai vezer, Tan li fai e'l ditz de plazer, Qu'al partir s'en vai sos amics. At anc no'l plac engans ni tries Ni lauzengiers ni gelos brics.6 According to Arnaut Daniel, these are the virtues which cortezia teaches and forms in his beloved: moderation, sound judgment; these are its effects: beauty, youth, good deeds and gracious diversion and the avoidance of all evil deeds: Ben ai estat a maintas bonas cortz Mas sai ab lieis trob pro mais que lauzor; Mesura e sen et autres bos mestiers, Beutat, joven, bos faitz e bels demors. Gen l'enseignet Cortezia e la duois; Tant a de si totz faitz desplazens rotz De lieis ne cre rens de ben sia a dire.57 Possessed of the joy of love, Daude de Pradas feels the necessity of pleasing gentle folk, of doing honor to jongleurs, of loving youth, of giving unasked. Though these be not in his power, he asks why not, at least, pretend that such good actions please him when they are done by another. By such vicarious virtue, he is considered courtly by the gallant and an enemy to the churlish: Joyos son ieu et ai mestier de far plazer a bona gen, d'onrar jocglars, d'amar joven, de dar enanz que hom no'm quier; Arnautde Mareuil,viII, 9-13: 'He who sees her charming, 66 courtlyand joyouspersondisregards and forgetsevery otherjoy, becauseshe knowshow to do and say so attractivelyeverythingpleasing that she does do and say, that one cannotspeakill of her withouttellinglies.' Ed. cit., pp. 44-45. 56 herselfwith courtliness, XLV, 28-34: 'Shehas it in herheartto upholdworthbecauseshe conducts withhim, doesshe behaveandconverse so that if somerenowned personcomesto see her,so pleasantly that whenhe departs,he goesawayherfriend.Neverdid deceitnor treachery pleasehernorscandalEd. nor mongers jealouswretches.' cit., p. 145. 67 xv, 15-21: 'I have been in many courts,but here with her I found a great deal moreto praise; and moderation intelligenceand other good qualities,beauty, youth, excellentdeeds and pleasant diversions.Courtliness nobly taught and instructedher, so far fromherselfhas she banishedall obnoxiousdeedsthat I do not think that anythingmoreof good can be said of her.'Ed. Rene Lavaud, Daniel (Toulouse,1910),pp. 92-94. Les Poesiesd'Arnaut

Courtly Love and Courtliness

e qan del tot no'n ai poder, sivals que non fasa parer, quant autr'o fai, que'm sia belh? Qu'adoncs fas d'autruy flors capdelh, e suys tengutz cortes pels pros e enemicx dels enujos.58

61

There is one vice that is obnoxious to the courtly and which the troubadours single out as uncouth and base: a breach of mesura. That is pride and its external manifestation, boasting and vainglory. In a violent attack on Piere d'Auvergne and his boastful claim that he was the perfect poet, Bernart Marti castigates him for his self-glorification. Excessive self-praise is not the work of a courtly man: E selh no par ges cortes Qui's lauza ni's glorifia, Car eys Dieus nos anuncia: 'Qui trop s'yssaussa, menr' es Bayssan, e selh levatz es Qui segon so s'umilia'. So dis qu'om si conogues, E qui aisso gardaria, Ja no's sobre lauzaria, Que sobrelaus follesc es, E pareys be, si pros es, Ja el mezeis no o dia.59 It is the part of a boor to praise himself. Courtliness demands that one's praise be bruited about by another and not by oneself: Pro sap e ben es apres Qui so fay que ben estia, Et es mager cortezia
Que sos laus es pels paes

Per autruy que per el mes, Qu'ab pobol par vilania.60 Likewise, to boast of one's love is not courtly but churlish. Bernard de Ventadour experiences the truth of this fact in the world about him: Per merce prec als amadors, chascus per se cossir e pes
58xi, 11-20: 'I am joyous and I feel the need of doing pleasure to good folk, of honoring jongleurs, of loving youth, of giving before I am asked. And when this is completely out of my power, why should I not, at least, show that I am pleased when another does them. For then I make a crown with another's flowers and I am considered courtly by the gallant and an enemy of the ill-behaved.' Ed. cit., pp. 50-51. 59 vI, 55-66: 'And that man certainly does not prove himself courtly who praises and glorifies himself, because God Himself announces to us: "He who exalts himself to a singular degree, is less when he falls, and he is exalted who, according to this, humbles himself." He said this in order that a man might know himself, and he who would observe this, never would he exalt himself excessively, because excessive (self) praise is folly; if he be of worth, it is indeed apparent, even though he himself does not say so.' Ed. Ernest Hoepffner, Les Poeies de Bernart Marti (Paris, 1929), p. 18. 60Bernart Marti, ibid., 67-72: 'The man who does what is becoming is wise and well taught, and it is greater courtliness that his praise should be diffused abroad throughout the lands by another rather than by himself; among the people, that appears to be boorishness.' Ibid., pp. 18-19.

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del segle com es enoyos e can pauc n'i a de cortes! c'amors, pois om per tot s'en vana, non es amors, mas es ufana, et es enois, vilan' e foudatz, qui no gara cui deu esser privatz.61

To sum up, corteziais a quality that arises from love and which has its origin in
love. He who does not love cannot be courtly. It is a virtue closely allied to the moral principle jovens. The downfall of jovens with its component virtues of liberality and fidelity in love transforms cortezia into vilanatge. Cortesia consists in observing moderation between the extremes of excess and deficiency, in cultivating humility and avoiding pride and vainglory, in promoting excellence of speech and act and in avoiding what is odious and vile. Peire Vidal summarizes in a negative way the troubadours' conception of the courtly man in these verses: Ben fo astrucs qui primiers saup amar, C'om qu'es cortes en sap meils esquivar Enueg, villania e falhizo.62 Blessed is the man who first did love, because the courtly man can best shun what vexes people and brings him into odium, can best avoid what is base and mean, can best eschew what transgresses: lack of moderation, infidelity to one's beloved, avarice, and perfidy. If we compare the troubadour conception of cortezia with the conclusions reached by Dupin and with, perhaps, our own idea of courtoisie as synonymous with the social and moral ideal of the Middle Ages, there are these points that are striking: first of all, for the troubadours, cortezia is an outcome of love. Love is not a characteristic or trait of cortezia nor is it simply the element that applies to life and living the courtly virtues. Secondly, cortezia is a specific and particular virtue, although an abstract one, on the same level as valors, pretz, jois, francheza, etc.,63
6122, 17-24: 'Devoutly do I beg lovers that each one consider and weigh well how vexatious the world is and how few there are of courtly people therein. Because love, after a man brags about it everywhere, is not love but the phantom of it, and it is a nuisance, a baseness and a folly that a man does not take care to whom he ought to be confidential.' Ed. cit., pp. 127-128. 62XLIV, 37-39: 'Not ill-starred was the man who first did love, because a man who is courtly can best avoid vexation, baseness and defection.' Ed. cit., p. 143. 63 Corteziais very frequently associated with other virtues and good qualities: Marcabru, supra, note 32; Bernard de Ventadour, 21, 7-8, p. 118; Giraut de Bornelh, 31, 46-48, p. 176; 33, 11, p. 184; 34, 31, p. 194; 34, 47, p. 194; 47, 2-3, p. 290; 71, 28, p. 448; Arnaut de Mareuil, ii, 15, p. 12; xn, 9, p. 72; xIII, 1-2, p. 78; xxi, 1-7, p. 121; xxv, 41-45, p. 149; Daude de Pradas, xvII, 1-8, p. 83; Gaucelm Faidit, supra, note 16; Peire Vidal, xvII, 6-7, p. 83; Bertran de Born, 29, 1-5, p. 118; 34, 57-60, p. 130; Aimeric de Peguilhan, supra, note 13; 15, 45-47, p. 102; etc. Cortes, likewise, is but one of the attributes attributed by the troubadours to the ideal beloved and courtly lover: Bernart Marti, VII, 36-42, p. 25; Giraut de Bornelh, supra, note 54; Arnaut de Mareuil, vi, 25-27; p. 33; xxii, 41-50, p. 129; Daude de Pradas, III, 9-12, p. 13; Peire Vidal, xxiI, 61-65, pp. 70-71; Aimeric de Peg-lilhan, 30, 10-18, p. 161; Bertran de Born, 31, 3-6, p. 120; 33, 7788, p. 128; Guilhem Ademar, xII, 29-30, p. 158; Raimon de Miraval, 25, 13-16, p. 156. The attributes that are most often linked with cortes are naturally enough larc, leial, and franc: Marcabru, Ix, 32, p. 28; Giraut de Bornelh, 13, 37, p. 66; 31, 52, p. 176; 66, 8, p. 420; 73, 35, p. 464; 77, 16, p. 486; Peire Vidal, xvIII, 52, p. 59; XLII, 33-36, p. 134; Perdignon, xi, 1-7, p. 32; Bernard de Vendadour, 31,54,

Courtly Love and Courtliness

63

and not a generic, collective virtue comprehending within itself all the virtues that go to make up the ideal of courtly life. Finally, corteziais concerned primarily with the moral side of behavior, with liberality, moderation, fidelity, rather than with the social aspects of life. It is true, one may interpret its observance of moderation in word and act, its avoidance of what ill befits, as applying to social decorum. The troubadours were concerned primarily with moral worth and moral perfection; their stress and accent is on the ethical aspect of behavior. There is nothing of le salut, le baiser, le conge, l'accueil, with the niceties of social interof course, nothing of the politesse recherchee the chivalric ideal. The difference is, one of genesis. It may perhaps be phrased thus: corteziais an ideal and a perhaps, virtue of the courtly lover; courtoisie is the virtue and the ideal of the chevalier. I should like to suggest three items that grow out of these considerations: first, since Courtly Love and courtliness are two distinct phenomena, one arising from and having its origin in the other, they should be kept separate. Secondly, we know pretty well what Courtly Love is, its essence and essential features; we can, therefore, seek for its sources and origin in comparative safety. Thirdly, in view of the discrepancies that emerge from the data furnished by the troubadours on the one hand, and from the romances, tales, and didactic poems of the North of France on the other, I suggest that our knowledge of the essence of courtliness and that further study is wise, if not and its essential characteristics is deficient64 before we set out to seek its sources and origin. necessary,
PONTIFICAL INSTITUTE OF MEDIAEVAL STUDIES TORONTO, CANADA p. 191; 33, 21, p. 196; Raimon de Miraval, 30, 19-21, p. 188; Elias Cairel, supra, note 33; Aimeric de Peguilhan, supra, note 34, 11, 37, p. 86; etc. 64 There is uncertainty of the value of cortezia and cortes in some of the translations given by the various editors. Thus along with the normal courtoisieand courtois, Hbfischkeitand hofische,'courtesy' and 'courteous': grans cortezia is translated by 'freundliche Tat' (Appel, Bernart von Ventadorn, p. 103); corteziaby 'rechte Lebensart' (Kolsen, Sdmtliche Lieder von Giraut de Bornelh, p. 177); 'edle Lebensart' (ibid., p. 179); 'Freundlichkeit' (ibid., p. 195); 'artigkeit' (ibid., p. 239); s'est chamjatzde corteziaen vilanatgeby 'sich aus einer gesitteten in eine gemeine verwandelt' (ibid., p. 437); corteziaby 'Ritterlichkeit' (p. 106); by 'Gesittung' (Beitrdge zur altprovenzalischenLyrik, p. 229); cortes by anmutige' (ibid., p. 93); by 'gesitteten' (ibid., p. 112); 'freundlich' (ibid., pp. 127, 159); cortes by 'agreable' (Johnston, Les Poesies lyriques du troubadourArnaut de Mareuil, pp. 47, 48); cortes by 'diligent' (Shepherd and Chambers, The Poems of Aimeric de Peguilhan, p. 156); rime cortezaby 'rimes agreables' (Almqvist, Poesies du troubadourGuilhem Ademar, p. 161); sieu bel cors cortes by 'sa personne belle et aimable' (ibid., p. 161); la plus cortezby 'la dame la plus agreable' (ibid., p. 163); cortes Folquet de Marseille, p. 133). gienhs de Dieu by 'une belle idee de Dieu' (Stronski, Le Troubadour On the other hand courtoisie and courtois, 'courteous' and 'courtesy,' are used to render qualities other than cortesiaand cortes: Shepherd and Chambers translate ab gens servirby 'by means of courteous service' (op. cit., p. 218); ab dous aculhir by 'with her sweet courtesy' (ibid., p. 238); Langfors renders per vostreconoixenza by 'par votre grande courtoisie' (Les chansons de Guilhem de Cabestanh, Paris, 1924, p. 6); Lavaud, ensenhamensby 'courtoisie' (Les Poesies d'Arnaut Daniel, p. 29); Anglade, pros by 'courtois' (Les Poesies de Peire Vidal, p. 22); domneis by 'courtoisie,' (ibid., p. 68); francx by 'courtois' (ibid., p. 129); Johnston, pro dompna conoissens by 'dame courtoise et de valeur' (op. cit., p. 130); Dejeanne, Ja no'us en fasatz cortes by 'ne vous avisez pas de faire la cour' (Les Poesies du troubadourMarcabru, p. 31).