M, Nov 15

Monday, November 15, 2010 Important Dates:

11:07 AM 

Today's Topics: Important People:

 Courtly Love 

Lecture Topic:
During the lecture, take notes here.
-courtly love has a strong basis in medieval systems, but also (on the musical and language side of
things) depends on the Islamic concept
-it is therefore a world phenomenon and not simply a European one
-helps to remember that Islamic expansion included parts of Europe
-Islam comes particularly as a political institution imposed on a Christian one
-in 732, Charles Martel defeats the Muslims and keeps their expansion in check
-Christians who traded with Muslims learned Muslim music, esp. as churches expand south
through Spain, almost completely encompassing it by 1400
-ex., the Muwashshah
-created a new language, the Jarchas
-an attempt to translate Arabic poetry into modern Spanish
-emergence of modern vernacular languages to disseminate the concepts
-translated using Arabic script, but into Spanish
-also incorporated musical instruments
-the rebec (pseudo-violin)
-the zummara (pre-oboe)
-the lute (pre-guitar)
-Comtesse Beatrix de Dia, d. 1174
-women are having more access to writing and creating the concept of courtly love

-the courtly love concept

-takes place in the court (the large castle-things, dummy)
-externalizing violence against the Muslims is a manner of controlling the violence within
society-- courtly love does the same thing by creating a code of conduct to control the
base relationships between the lords
-allows for one to find and utilize his sexual identity
-true love, in this system, can only be found when a knight does deeds that win the
favor of a lady
-because marriage is always arranged, and true love operates outside of marriage,
there is an ethical normality and acceptability to adultery
-the lover swears to follow his beloved, in the same way he would with the local lord
-she can judge him based on his performance of fulfilling his oath
-only the aristocracy can appreciate true love-- the peasants cannot understand or
appreciate love, and they can only participate in base, carnal relations

-love always has a measure of angst, duty, and separation

-no sense of fulfillment, instead striving for something that one can never have
-the tournament evolved out of courtly love, taking military training to prove one's love
for his lady
-serious affair, 2-3 times per year
-the losers could lose their very livelihood (suit of armor) and the favor of the lady
-the allegory of courtly love

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 -the allegory of courtly love
-get past jealousy (the husband / mother) and into the garden guarded by the
castle (bed) to kiss the rosebud (have sex with the woman)
-sexualizes violence
-church is now unhappy about it, and turns the same poetry into Christian
literature, or creates the Virgin Mary as the object of devotion
-called mystique courtoise
-created the monastic idea of the "garden of love"
-monks would meditate on the battles between good and evil to
find a pseudo-religio-erotic whereby the lady becomes the church
/ virgin Mary / Jesus himself

-problem is, the concept is wrapped around death

-the Abbey at Saint Foy at Conques
-it is the role of the church to disseminate its information to people as best it can,
but is functioning in an illiterate society
-creates instead a visual system of communication
-tympanums (generally concerned with the last judgment)

Summary
After the lecture, summarize the main points of this lecture topic.
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