HELP!!! Romance and Courtly Love in the Middle Ages/Medieval Times?

Question

I have to write a 5 page research paper on Romance and Courtly Love in the Middle Ages/Medieval Times. I have NO idea where to start/what to write about.
This is my "task": to write a research based literary analysis in which you closely examine aspects of the Medieval time period, develop a thesis centered on one major concept, and use literature from the era to support your thesis.
Minimum of one book, one non-internet source, and up to 5 reliable internet sources.
You should not be answering these questions at face value, but using them as a starting point and reference guide for the greater topic: What role did knights have in medieval society? In what ways was chivalry played out bothe on the battle field and within society at large? How did "knights' tales" influence the general public? Were they popular and why?
As I said earlier I have NO idea what I am doing/where to start. This essay has to be 4-5 pages long and is due Friday. If you have any ideas please tell me.

Answer 1

"The Renaissance" by Will Durant
"The Book of the Courtier" by Baldesar Castiglione

both these books should be able to help you. Good Luck

Answer 2

If you typed "Courtly Love" into any search engine you would find a wealth of resources that cover all the courts of the medieval era. It was a time of troubadours and knights and chivalry-however courtly love was not usually an honorable courtship rather an affair between a person of the court and a servant or other of low class. If the party from the lower class was fortunate they may be raised up to a higher status but more often than not this was not the case. Great scandal much like stars in today's tabloids. The troubadours would wander spreading the gossip from township to township for food, drink or lodging - if he was particularly clever he would bring tales from as far away as possible to gain a sponsor and have his efforts in story collecting paid for. There are many stories and sites that will also point you to books you might wish to peruse for illustration and reference so not all of your report comes from websites. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Go to the library and start reading some books and journal articles on the subject. You'll be able to narrow down your topic once you start gathering some general information on the time period. In order to write intelligently about this, you've got to devote some time to reading sources and jotting down notes and ideas. That's what research is all about.

Answer 4

I thought it said Courtney Love, who I actually know less about than Courtly Love, so you are lucky.

The two best examples in literature of Courtly Love are:
Gwenivere and Lancelot
Tristan and Isolde (sp?)
but NOT Romeo and Juliet

The theme Is best represented by the Metaphoric act of "Kissing a Woman's Hand"

You see, Lancelot was Guinivere(multi. sp.)'s Champion. He defended her honor. He worshipped her as the Queen of his Master King Arthur. Jousting (sp>?) was a classic Medival Tournament to showcase just that. But obviously their love was taboo. They both suffered in agony; their love and respect for Arthur vs. their lust and desire for each other. Suffering and Impossible Love (i.e. adultery w/ a queen) are classics in Medival Romance. Gwen and Lance finally ran off together. But as is the case with all Medieval Romance, they were either apprehended, or Lancelot's loyalty caught up with him and he returned to serve Arthur at the last minute. Gwen retired to a nunnery, having never provided an heir.

The story of Tristan and Isolde is quite similar.

I've never seen a Knight's Tale, but Chaucer is appearently in it.

The Quest for the Holy Grail is also a similar theme, the chalice representing divine, perfect and unattainable feminity.

I would stick with King Arthur and use Sir Thomas Mallory and Christien de Troyes (sp?) works. Note that in Christien's version, the Grail was just "A" Grail, that may have been proceeded in a court parade entrance by the "SPEAR OF DESTINY" (Which presents a phallis and forceful masculinity). By the way Hilter is contected to the legend of the SPEAR of Destiny, if you ever want some interesting myth-history. So was Jesus. Thus people assumed this cup was indeed in the Holy Grail, stained with Christ's Blood (latter people assumed it was also used at the last supper). A myth out of mistranslation perhaps.

I don't know the context of your class, but if you really want an original paper unlike anyone elses, I would go with Chinese or Japanese or Arabian courtly love or African- (the hardest to find info on). Check out Night in the Panther's Skin and Shudo. You would really shock her with Shudo, Homosexual Courtly Love amoung Samurai's in Feudal Japan!!!!!!!!!! I would be so proud!

All these civilizations had similar practices and traditions which often get racially smudged over in History classes. Your teacher's assignment s very clear about the time period and not the place. (Unless she said differently in class about what places you could choose, you can technically sue her if she doesn't except your paper-I've never had to take an arguement that far, but I once did a banned-before-I-wrote-it presentation on Hilter and ended up getting an "A". It was called Hilter the Misconception. It was about abuse he suffered as a child. That accusations of his homosexuality and jewish background were largely western fabrication for war propoganda. And that dispite tyranny, many other Germans contributed to the overall Nazi crimes and he was popular and well-supported till the war turned on him...sound familiar?

Good luck with your paper. Again, regurgitating the same paper every other Medieval History student has done about courtly love is a waste of time. I strongly encourage you to take the road less travelled.

P.S. Don't cite Wikipedia. Get an overview and follow original sources from their article.

The Knight in the Panther's Skin ("Vepkhis Tqaosani", "ვეფხის ტყაოსანი" in Georgian) is a well-known epic poem written in the 12th century (though the earliest surviving copy dates to the 16th century) by the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli, who was a Prince, the Treasurer (Mechurchletukhutsesi) of Queen of Georgia Tamar. The Knight in the Panther's Skin is often seen as Georgia's national epic. The poem was first printed in 1712, in Tbilisi.

In the poem, Rustaveli talks about Medieval European humanistic ideals: chivalry, feelings of love, friendship, courtly love, courage and fortitude. The heroes of the poem are brave, philanthropic, and generous. The heroes of the poem are not restricted to Georgian nationality. The regions of Arabia, China, and India all figure in the poem.

The story is of the passionate search for a woman, symbol of the sun, stolen to the west across the sea, by a knight who undertakes the complex task for her distraught suitor.


Shudo (衆道 shudō or shūdō) is the Japanese tradition of age-structured homosexuality prevalent in samurai society from the medieval period until the end of the 19th century. The word is an abbreviation of wakashudo (若衆道), "the Way of the young" or more precisely, the Way of young (若 waka) men (衆 shu). The "do" (道) is related to the Chinese word tao, considered to be a path to awakening.


Stages of Courtly Love
(Adapted from Barbara Tuchman)
Attraction to the lady, usually via eyes/glance
Worship of the lady from afar
Declaration of passionate devotion
Virtuous rejection by the lady
Renewed wooing with oaths of virtue and eternal fealty
Moans of approaching death from unsatisfied desire (and other physical manifestations of lovesickness)
Heroic deeds of valor which win the lady's heart
Consummation of the secret love
Endless adventures and subterfuges avoiding detection


PLEASE e-mail me your report. I would love to read it whatever you choose (or Proofread if you wish). I would give you my e-mail on-line, but then everyone would have it. You can do it anon through my Yahoo! Answers.

BEST OF LUCK!

Answer 5

Pretty much the same as it is today - watch a movie, ice cream, drive through, bucket of chicken. Just elaborate on that.