Love is an inborn suffering proceeding from the sight and
immoderate thought upon the beauty of the other sex, for
which cause above all other things one wishes to embrace the
other and, by common assent, in this embrace to fulfill
the commandments of love. . . .
"Love (amor)" is derived from the word "hook (amar)", which
signifies "capture" or "be captured." For he who loves is
caught in the chains of desire and wishes to catch another
with his hook. Just as a shrewd fisherman tries to attract
fish with his bait and to catch them on with his curved hook,
so he who is truly captured by love tries to attract another
with his blandishments and with all his power tries to
hold two hearts together with one spiritual chain or, if they
be already united, to hold them always together. . . .
This is the effect of love: that the true lover can not be corrupted
by avarice; love makes an ugly and rude person shine with all
beauty, knows how to endow with nobility even one of humble birth,
can even lend humility to the proud; he who loves is accustomed
humbly to serve others. Oh, what a marvelous thing is love,
which makes a man shine with so many virtues and which teaches
everyone to abound in good customs. . . .
Blindness impedes love, for a blind man cannot see that
on which his mind can reflect immoderately. Therefore love
cannot arise in him, as is adequately proven above. But I
recognize that this is true only of the moment in which love
is acquired, for I do not deny that love can endure in a man
who acquired love before he went blind.
Too great an abundance of passion impedes love, for there are
those who are so enslaved by desire that they cannot be
restrained by the bonds of love; those who after deep thoughts
of their lady or even having enjoyed the fruits of love, when
they see another immediately desire her embraces, forgetting
the services received from their former lover and revealing
their ingratitude.
First Dialogue
The woman says: Your words seem to be false, since I do not
have a beautiful figure. Yet you extol me as more beautiful than
other women.
The man says: The custom of the wise is never to praise their
own beauty . . . And if you think yourself not beautiful, then you should
consider me a true lover, since your beauty seems to me to be greater
than that of all other women; love makes even an ugly woman seem
beautiful to her lover. . .
The woman says: Although, your virtue is greatly to be praised,
I am young and I shudder at the thought of the embraces of old men.
The man says: Certainly old age is not to be blamed . . . [
he explains that his many years have enabled him to do more noble deeds
than would be possible for a young man.]
Third Dialogue
The man says: If a man of the middle class seeks to join himself in love
with a women of the higher nobility, he ought to have a multitude
of good qualities, for in order for a lower-born man to be
worthy to seek the love of a higher born woman, he should be
filled with inumerable good qualities, and an infinite
number of good deeds should extol him. . . .
. . . Thus if, after a long period of proof, he is found worthy of love,
a woman of the higher nobility may choose a plebian (gentlemen) as her lover. . .
The man says: I admit that I ask to be loved, for to live in love
is sweeter than anything else in life. But your words show clearly
that you refuse to love me and that this is because of the lowness
of my inferior rank, even though I have great virtue. . . The
aforementioned distinction of classes does not prohibit me from
being numbered among the superior classes or to ask the rewards
of a higher class, provided that can justly object to me on the
grounds of my character . . .
The woman says: Although virtue can ennoble a plebian, yet you cannot
change your rank to the extent that a plebian is made a great lord
or vavasor, unless he is granted that by the power of the prince,
who as he pleases may add nobility to good morals. By right then
you are denied advancement to the love of a countess. . . Moreover,
you claim to be numbered among the knights, yet I discern in you
much that is contrary and harmful to that state. For knights by
their nature should have thin and graceful calves and a foot of
moderate size, longer than it is wide, as if it had been formed with
a certain touch of art. I see that your thighs on the contrary
are fat and round and your feet are huge and as wide as they are
long.
The man says: If for his manners and integrity a commoner
is worthy of being ennobled by a prince, I do not see why he should not be
worthy of a noble woman's love. For if moral integrity alone
makes a man worthy of being noble and only nobility is considered
worthy of the love of a noblewoman, then it follows that only
moral integrity is worthy to be crowned with the love of a noble lady.
But that objection which you put to me about my flabby legs and big
feet is not very reasonable. It is said that in the frontier regions
of Italy, there lives a certain count who has finely shaped legs,
descended from a line of counts, illustrious ancestors, who in the
sacred palace of the Holy See rejoices in elevated offices and shines
with every sort of beauty and abounds in riches; yet it is said that
he is devoid of virtue; all good customs fear him and every depravity
finds its dwelling place in him. On the contrary, there is a king in
Hungary who has very fat legs and big feet, and is almost entirely
destitute of beauty. And yet he has such shining virtue he is worthy
to recieve the glory of the royal crown and almost the whole world
resounds with his praises. And so you should not ask about my legs
and my feet, but what virtues I have acquired by my own deeds . . .
You should learn to object not to one's legs but to one's morals,
since in objecting to legs you seem to be objecting to divine nature.
Andreas next gives instructions on how love may be retained. Then
he provides various judgements delivered by Courts of Love, presided
over by Countess Marie of Champagne, Queen Eleanor of Acquitaine, and
other noble ladies of the time. In Book II the Countess of
Champagne had been asked to settle the problem of whether love is
possible between a man and wife. She replied in a formal letter,
that love between husband and wife is impossible and that jealousy
is absolutely required by love.]
XVII. A Knight was in love with a lady who was already in love
with another; he received some hope to be loved in the following
manner -- that if she was ever deprived of the love of her present lover,
then certainly this knight would have her love. After a brief
time the lady married her lover. The aforesaid knight then demanded
that she grant him the fruit of the hope granted to him, but she
refused, saying that she had not lost the love of her lover.
In this case the queen answered thus: "We do not dare oppose the
decision of the Countess of Champagne, who in her decision decreed
that love can exercise no power over husband and wife. Therefore we
recommend that the aforesaid women grant the love that she has
promised."
1. Marriage is no excuse for not loving.
Trans. (often freely) from Andreae Capellani regii Francorum, De amore libri
tres, ed. E. Trojel, Copenhagen, 1892.
[The work is divided into three books; the first begins in
the manner of an academic lecture, with attention to definitions
and etymology.]
[Since love is often acquired by fluency in speech, Andreas
next provides his readers with a series of sample dialogues,
suitable to the various classes -- plebian (gentry), noble, and
most noble.]
A plebian (gentleman) speaks with a woman of the same class.
[He greets his lady and praises her beauty; she replies that he
is trying to flatter her, since she is not beautiful:]
A plebian (gentleman) speaks with a woman of the higher nobility
[A sample dialogue is given; the man begs the lady to accept his
service as a lover. The lady says that she is not pleased that he
ranks so far beneath her.]
[Book II ends with a discussion of various sorts of lovers -- clergymen
may engage in love, but it is forbidden to nuns. Avoid greedy women.
Prostitutes should be shunned. Peasants rarely love; they copulate
like beasts; moreover, they should
not be instructed in love, since it would distract them from
their labors. If one should by chance fall in love with a peasant women,
praise her elaborately and then "if you come upon a conveninet place,
do not hesitate to take what you want by force."]
Thus, our judgement, which has been pronounced with great moderation
and is supported by the opinion of many great ladies, should be to
you an indubitable and eternal truth.
The year 1174, the Kalends of May [i.e., May 1], the Seventh of the Indiction.
[Her ruling is cited in the following decision:]
[Book II concludes with a set of rules for lovers (an expansion
of a set of rules given earlier; these, Andreas says, were brought
from King Arthur's court by a Breton Knight. (The story of how
he obtained the rules is a brief romance.)
2. He who is not jealous can not love.
. No one can be bound by two loves.
4. Love is always growing or diminishing.
5. It is not good for one lover to take anything against the will of the other.
6. A male cannot love until he has fully reached puberty.
7. Two years of mourning for a dead lover are prescribed for surviving lovers.
8. No one should be deprived of love without a valid reason.
9. No one can love who is not driven to do so by the power of love.
10. Love always departs from the dwelling place of avarice.
11. It is not proper to love one whom one would be ashamed to marry.
12. The true lover never desires the embraces of any save his lover.
13. Love rarely lasts when it is revealed.
14. An easy attainment makes love contemptible; a difficult one
makes it more dear.
15. Every lover turns pale in the presence of his beloved.
16. When a lover suddenly has sight of his beloved, his heart beats wildly.
17. A new love expells an old one.
18. Moral integrity alone makes one worthy of love.
19. If love diminishes, it quickly leaves and rarely revives.
20. A lover is always fearful.
21. True jealousy always increases the effects of love.
22. If a lover suspects another, jealousy and the efects of love increase.
23. He who is vexed by the thoughts of love eats little and seldom sleeps.
24. Every action of a lover ends in the thought of his beloved.
25. The true lover believes only that which he thinks will please his beloved.
26. Love can deny nothing to love.
27. A lover can never have enough of the embraces of his beloved.
28. The slightest suspicion incites the lover to suspect the worse of his beloved.
29. He who suffers from an excess of passion is not suited to love.
30. The true lover is continuously obsessed with the image of his beloved.
31. Nothing prevents a woman from being loved by two men, or a man
from being loved by two women.
[Book III is a palinode -- advising the reader to reject love on the
grounds of religion, good health (copulation weakens the body and
lovers' sleeplessness and tendency to ignore eating have a deleterious effect),
and the fact that women, Andreas says, are so awful. The book ends
with an extended misogynistic tirade.]
For a full translation see Andreas Capellanus. On love, ed. with
an English trans. by P.G. Walsh, London, 1982 [PA 8250.A236 D413 1982].
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