Courtly Love: A Woman’s Way to Exercise Power

This is an essay written for Medieval History at Ursuline College. Originally written in the Spring semester of 2010. The assignment was to analyze multiple portrayals of courtly love, in both literature and film.

Courtly Love: A Woman’s Way to Exercise Power
Erica Raab

Courtly love was a product of its times. With the noble life becoming more gentle and mannerly, and courtly entertainment run by noble women, courtly romances were geared towards pleasing women. This no doubt, had an effect on noble men and women, informing them that this was what love was, and how they should conduct themselves. A patriarchal society, women were second-class citizens. But courtly love, with its wooing of women by any means, put a little power in the noble woman’s hands. Thus, noble women used courtly love to exert power in a world where they had little power.
In A Knight’s Tale, a peasant by the name of William Thatcher poses as a knight in order to participate in tournaments. Along the way, he is captivated by the beauty of a noble lady by the name of Jocelyn. (A Knight’s Tale) William immediately makes a fool of himself by following her on horseback into a church. She seems to enjoy him acting foolishly on her behalf, so addled by her looks and charm. Since Jocelyn is likely to be married off by her father, playing with men’s hearts may be her own way of exerting control over her life. Bored with men vowing to win tournaments in her name, the fact that William does not do so intrigues her. As their mutual interest in each other heightens, Jocelyn demands more and more poetry from William, and is angry when he cannot produce it on the spot. Feeling threatened by William’s drive to win, she tells him that if he truly loves her, he’ll lose a tournament for her, rather than winning. When he obeys, she changes her mind at the last moment, and commands him to win in her name, which he does. It is clear that Jocelyn relishes utilizing her control over William, despite caring about him.
In the Lais of Marie de France, it seems par for the course that when a suitor entreats a woman to love him, with enough repetition and persistence, the woman will eventually give in and accept his suit. In the Lais of Guigemar, Guigmar, a knight, is rescued by a beautiful woman locked away by her suspicious husband. (Marie de France) When he falls in love with this lady, he asks her to love him in return. At first she denies him, but he persists, and begs her not to play with his heart. This implies that noble women often did manipulate their suitor’s hearts. The woman gives in, and accepts his suit. (Marie de France) In the Lais of Equitan, The king Equitan makes a fool of himself to win his seneschal’s wife’s love. After much pleading on the king’s part, she gives in, then later feels no qualms trying to kill her own husband. (Marie de France) In the Lais of Chaitivel, one lady has four suitors, and cannot decide who to settle upon. Instead, she allows them to think she wants only them, distributes favors to her four suitors, and lets them do deeds in her name. Ultimately, three of her lovers die in endeavors pledged in her name, and the fourth is badly wounded. Thus she is punished by playing with other’s hearts. (Marie de France.) Erich and Enide is unusual in that the featured lovers are happily married, and Enide is a caring, unmanipulative, faithful responsible wife. When her husband begins to spend so much time with her that he neglects his lordly duties, she brings the dilemma to his attention so he can act appropriately. (De Troyes) In this, Enide is unusual as she does not relish he power over her husband, that he loves her so much that he neglects his other duties. Instead, she is responsible and dutiful, and tries to right the situation.
Courtly love was a method towards control, but not all women were noble. Courtly love was not the only way for a woman to exert power in a man’s world. A woman could chose to be a nun and thus avoid a marriage, but nuns were typically kept quiet by the church. The way around this was mysticism. By having revelations directly from God, mystics could side-step the church to get influence. (Hollister) Hildegard of Bingen was one of the foremost minds of her time, but her influence was lessened by her being a woman. (Hollister) She turned to mysticism later in her life, and was influential enough to have pictures drawn of her receiving the work of God from heaven and then handing the holy books to members of the church. (A Mystical Vision) Likewise, the virgin Liutbirg earned admiration and the respect of those around her by religious zeal and unusual, possibly holy behavior. (The Life of the Virgin Liutbirg) It is possible that some women became mystics solely for power, but one likes to think most did not.
Courtly love, such stories in demand in the courts by noble women, helped give women a little power in a day when there was little control to ultimately be exercised. It seems women enjoyed their suitors making fools of themselves to win the ladies’ hearts. Not all women chose to follow this route, some forbore marriage altogether and became nuns or female mystics to exert control over their lives. All in all, courtly love served women first and foremost.

Bibliography

A Knight's Tale. Brian Helgeland. Columbia Pictires, 2001. Film.
A Mystical Vision. Medieval Europe: A Short History. By Judith M. Bennett and C.
Warren Hollister. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Plate 12. N. pag. Print.
De France, Marie. The Lais of Marie de France. London: Penguin Books, 2003. Print.
De Troyes, Chretien. "Erec and Enide." The Medieval Record: Sources of Medieval
History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 291-294. Print.
Medieval Europe: A Short History. By Judith M. Bennett and C. Warren Hollister. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
"The Life of the Virgin Liutbirg." The Medieval Record: Sources of Medieval History.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 129-134. Print.