What do you think?
Rate this book
The Art of Courtly Love
After becoming popularized by the troubadours of southern France in the 12th century, the social system of courtly love soon spread. Evidence of the influence of courtly love in the culture & literature of most of western Europe spans centuries. This unabridged edition of codifies life at Queen Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1170 & 1174 into 'one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explain the secret of a civilization.' This translation of a work that may be viewed as didactic, mocking or merely descriptive, preserves the attitudes & practices that were the foundation of a long & significant tradition in English literature.
228 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1186
33 people are currently reading
886 people want to read
About the author
Andreas Capellanus
4 books5 followersAndreas Capellanus (Capellanus meaning "chaplain"), also known as Andrew the Chaplain, and occasionally by a French translation of his name, André le Chapelain, was the 12th-century author of a treatise commonly known as De amore ("About Love"), and often known in English, somewhat misleadingly, as The Art of Courtly Love, though its realistic, somewhat cynical tone suggests that it is in some measure an antidote to courtly love. Little is known of Andreas Capellanus's life, but he is presumed to have been a courtier of Marie de Champagne, and probably of French origin.
De Amore was written at the request of Marie de Champagne, daughter of King Louis VII of France and of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In it, the author informs a young pupil, Walter, of the pitfalls of love. A dismissive allusion in the text to the "wealth of Hungary" has suggested the hypothesis that it was written after 1184, at the time when Bela III of Hungary had sent to the French court a statement of his income and had proposed marriage to Marie's half-sister Marguerite of France, but before 1186, when his proposal was accepted.
De Amore is made up of three books. The first book covers the etymology and definition of love and is written in the manner of an academic lecture. The second book consists of sample dialogues between members of different social classes; it outlines how the romantic process between the classes should work. Book three is made of stories from actual courts of love presided over by noble women.
John Jay Parry, the editor of one modern edition of De Amore, quotes critic Robert Bossuat as describing De Amore as "one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explains the secret of a civilization".[citation needed] It may be viewed as didactic, mocking, or merely descriptive; in any event it preserves the attitudes and practices that were the foundation of a long and significant tradition in Western literature.
The social system of "courtly love", as gradually elaborated by the Provençal troubadours from the mid twelfth century, soon spread. One of the circles in which this poetry and its ethic were cultivated was the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine (herself the granddaughter of an early troubadour poet, William IX of Aquitaine). It has been claimed[citation needed] that De Amore codifies the social and sexual life of Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1170 and 1174, though it was evidently written at least ten years later and, apparently, at Troyes. It deals with several specific themes that were the subject of poetical debate among late twelfth century troubadours and trobairitz.
The meaning of De Amore has been debated over the centuries. In the years immediately following its release many people took Andreas’ opinions concerning Courtly Love seriously. In more recent times, however, scholars have come to view the priest’s work as satirical. Many scholars now agree that Andreas was commenting on the materialistic, superficial nature of the nobles of the Middle Ages. Andreas seems to have been warning young Walter, his protege, about love in the Middle Ages.
De Amore was written at the request of Marie de Champagne, daughter of King Louis VII of France and of Eleanor of Aquitaine. In it, the author informs a young pupil, Walter, of the pitfalls of love. A dismissive allusion in the text to the "wealth of Hungary" has suggested the hypothesis that it was written after 1184, at the time when Bela III of Hungary had sent to the French court a statement of his income and had proposed marriage to Marie's half-sister Marguerite of France, but before 1186, when his proposal was accepted.
De Amore is made up of three books. The first book covers the etymology and definition of love and is written in the manner of an academic lecture. The second book consists of sample dialogues between members of different social classes; it outlines how the romantic process between the classes should work. Book three is made of stories from actual courts of love presided over by noble women.
John Jay Parry, the editor of one modern edition of De Amore, quotes critic Robert Bossuat as describing De Amore as "one of those capital works which reflect the thought of a great epoch, which explains the secret of a civilization".[citation needed] It may be viewed as didactic, mocking, or merely descriptive; in any event it preserves the attitudes and practices that were the foundation of a long and significant tradition in Western literature.
The social system of "courtly love", as gradually elaborated by the Provençal troubadours from the mid twelfth century, soon spread. One of the circles in which this poetry and its ethic were cultivated was the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine (herself the granddaughter of an early troubadour poet, William IX of Aquitaine). It has been claimed[citation needed] that De Amore codifies the social and sexual life of Eleanor's court at Poitiers between 1170 and 1174, though it was evidently written at least ten years later and, apparently, at Troyes. It deals with several specific themes that were the subject of poetical debate among late twelfth century troubadours and trobairitz.
The meaning of De Amore has been debated over the centuries. In the years immediately following its release many people took Andreas’ opinions concerning Courtly Love seriously. In more recent times, however, scholars have come to view the priest’s work as satirical. Many scholars now agree that Andreas was commenting on the materialistic, superficial nature of the nobles of the Middle Ages. Andreas seems to have been warning young Walter, his protege, about love in the Middle Ages.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
Read
April 5, 2021the second half of this also known as the incel manifesto.. what happened man? who hurt you?
May 17, 2012
I love to read books that are hundreds of years old--and found this primer in the art of courtly love completely charming in social contexts of the author's day and the mixed antiquity and continuously applicable essentials of the ideas. That said, being that Capellanus was a chaplain, the last passage is clearly meant to confuse and put off his detractors. To baffle or dance around what the main text does. I like to read the volume as one man who desires to examine lascivious interaction via the raised platform of instruction, even going so far as to discuss a number of scenarios about what possibilities there may be (or have been) between different classes of lovers-- and then, at the tail end, putting his robes back on for a final summation that tongue in cheek realigns himself with those for whom he must appear to suit his station. Mixed message books always entertain me. Of course, so do views into the psyches of lovers. If you are female, my advice is simple: Enjoy all parts of the book except the final summary, which will piss you off since it replays that old ideology that the woman destroys everyhing and is untrustworthy--EVE in the garden.
I was intrigued by many elements of the text: expected behaviors for widows, an articulated archaic version of "The Rules," a sort of textual dance between off-putting conduct and desire, and a commentary on what kinds of love may be experienced by whom and how.
Ha. Great fun. :)
I was intrigued by many elements of the text: expected behaviors for widows, an articulated archaic version of "The Rules," a sort of textual dance between off-putting conduct and desire, and a commentary on what kinds of love may be experienced by whom and how.
Ha. Great fun. :)
October 17, 2013
Ce texte est extrait du Traité de l'amour rédigé à la fin du 12eme siècle par un clerc de Troyes, lequel côtoyait la cour d'une certaine Marie de Champagne. Le thème est l'amour, plus précisément l'amour courtois. Le fil conducteur est la réponse de l'auteur aux interrogations d’un jeune novice auquel il dévoile par degrés les différents aspects de la question. On retrouve un conte chevaleresque, un ensemble de préceptes, des cas moraux particuliers jugés par la fameuse Marie de Champagne, et aussi des arguments théologiques. Comme L'art d’aimer d'Ovide ou encore le Phèdre de Platon, le texte s'articule autour d'une palinodie (à croire que le thème s'y prête particulièrement). On retrouvera de large passages de ce texte dans le De l'Amour de Stendhal. On est transporté dans ce moyen-âge, où la vertu, le courage et l'honneur étaient les valeurs centrales. Le style est varié et agréable et le sujet est plutôt plaisant
December 21, 2008
Love, per Andreas Capellanus in the 13th Century, is defined as "a certain inborn suffering derived from the sight of and excessive meditation upon the beauty of the opposite sex..."
This book is comprised of instructions on "how love may be acquired, retained, increased, decreased, and ended." As it was written in the 1200's (by a chaplain!) the book now comes across as dated, sexist, amusing, and guaranteed to raise an eyebrow. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it puts a whole new spin on the modern idea of "courtly love."
This book is comprised of instructions on "how love may be acquired, retained, increased, decreased, and ended." As it was written in the 1200's (by a chaplain!) the book now comes across as dated, sexist, amusing, and guaranteed to raise an eyebrow. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it puts a whole new spin on the modern idea of "courtly love."
April 16, 2015
There are some nuggets of advice in here that in the context of today's courtship rituals are hilarious. A few passages made me laugh out loud, such as the bit that states that a woman who accepts a gift from a man without any intentions to reciprocate in some manner is no different from a prostitute.
The blatant misogyny is so pervasive it loops back around to being comical, and if you enjoy medieval literature I think you will find this illuminating and enjoyable so long as you don't take it too seriously.
The blatant misogyny is so pervasive it loops back around to being comical, and if you enjoy medieval literature I think you will find this illuminating and enjoyable so long as you don't take it too seriously.
Read
April 26, 2024I've read this. I swear I've read this and my supervisor somehow believes that there are teachings in it that I promise are not in here ! whatever ! into the footnotes you go.
October 11, 2020
Yay, more misogyny!!!
I skipped through a lot of this, but oh damn that last part was just laying on the anti-woman agenda so thick.
The two stars isn't even because of the misogyny (we all know that men of the past were not the best) BUT the structure of this is so long-winded. This entire book is a didactic trap, claiming to teach you what's on the title, meanwhile having a secret agenda against it that is only revealed towards the end.
I skipped through a lot of this, but oh damn that last part was just laying on the anti-woman agenda so thick.
The two stars isn't even because of the misogyny (we all know that men of the past were not the best) BUT the structure of this is so long-winded. This entire book is a didactic trap, claiming to teach you what's on the title, meanwhile having a secret agenda against it that is only revealed towards the end.
June 19, 2007
Horribly sexist and yet utterly hilarious if you don't take it too seriously.
January 9, 2025
I think I’ll stick to my friends for advice
April 21, 2025
me lo he leído para el TFG
tengo muchas opiniones pero estoy demasiado cansado
tengo muchas opiniones pero estoy demasiado cansado
February 18, 2023
One star, hated it. Will probably throw it in the trash so no one else has to suffer it.
I've read a lot of medieval literature, and this is not the "courtly love" I remember. This book from a little-known 12th-century chaplain is in the first part a lecture on the definition of love (to which he's naive and biased) and in the second part a treatise on how to pick up women of different classes, including negging, arguing, testing her love through trickery, and other sexist and manipulative behaviors that sound very modern. How anyone expects to convince a woman to fall in love with them through a three-hour logical argument about it is beyond me. I've heard the, "You have no excuse not to go out with me!" line before, and it's not pleasant, nor does it make any sense.
There are also choice phrases like, "And if you should, by chance, fall in love with some of their women [peasants], be careful to puff them up with lots of praise and then, when you find a convenient place, do not hesitate to take what you need and to embrace them by force." Because peasant women aren't worth trying to speak with, apparently.
At times, I have to doubt the author even knew any women. He certainly didn't ask any about their motivations or desires. The arrogant mansplaining continues, "Again we confound lovers with another argument. The mutual love which you seek in women you cannot find, for no woman ever loved a man or could bind herself to a lover in the mutual bonds of love. For a woman's desire is to get rich through love, but not to give her lover the solaces that please him. Nobody ought to wonder at this, because it is natural. According to the nature of their sex all women are spotted with the vice of a grasping and avaricious disposition, and they are always alert and devoted to the search for money or profit." He goes on and on about "the avarice of women". No wonder men have so many misconceptions about women if they are teaching each other trash like this instead of actually talking to women.
Andreas may have been trying to warn his protege about falling in love, but I don't think we need to hear any more from ignorant misogynist pick-up artists.
I've read a lot of medieval literature, and this is not the "courtly love" I remember. This book from a little-known 12th-century chaplain is in the first part a lecture on the definition of love (to which he's naive and biased) and in the second part a treatise on how to pick up women of different classes, including negging, arguing, testing her love through trickery, and other sexist and manipulative behaviors that sound very modern. How anyone expects to convince a woman to fall in love with them through a three-hour logical argument about it is beyond me. I've heard the, "You have no excuse not to go out with me!" line before, and it's not pleasant, nor does it make any sense.
There are also choice phrases like, "And if you should, by chance, fall in love with some of their women [peasants], be careful to puff them up with lots of praise and then, when you find a convenient place, do not hesitate to take what you need and to embrace them by force." Because peasant women aren't worth trying to speak with, apparently.
At times, I have to doubt the author even knew any women. He certainly didn't ask any about their motivations or desires. The arrogant mansplaining continues, "Again we confound lovers with another argument. The mutual love which you seek in women you cannot find, for no woman ever loved a man or could bind herself to a lover in the mutual bonds of love. For a woman's desire is to get rich through love, but not to give her lover the solaces that please him. Nobody ought to wonder at this, because it is natural. According to the nature of their sex all women are spotted with the vice of a grasping and avaricious disposition, and they are always alert and devoted to the search for money or profit." He goes on and on about "the avarice of women". No wonder men have so many misconceptions about women if they are teaching each other trash like this instead of actually talking to women.
Andreas may have been trying to warn his protege about falling in love, but I don't think we need to hear any more from ignorant misogynist pick-up artists.
March 5, 2017
The most interesting part of this book was wondering how seriously I should take it. On the one hand, here is a system that so clearly shows itself in widespread literature of the day and for hundreds of year afterwards. But on the other hand it seems to run counter to social order, institutional order, and just plain common sense and realistic-ness, as can be best exemplified in the juxtaposition of book 3 to the preceding two books. There was a lot there that directly contracts itself, such as "all good in the world comes from that which is done in the name of a lover's lady, she being the 'prime mover' of all that is good and upstanding in society" and "lovers are totally useless men and nothing except literally every kind of evil, sin and vice comes from women and the suit of their love." The introduction says that not much changes in the view we have of the author between books 1/2 and book 3, but I disagree. I almost think that the author has been tongue in cheek, or, as he actually claims, expounding on a topic for fancy, up until book 3, in which he then snaps back to reality and craps all over the whole project up until that point. To be clear, I don't think he's sincerely in one camp or the other, but I am unable to place what he is actually serious about and what he's not. I am also thinking, since the ingredients to this book definitely include some degree of satire, how plausible the premise of Don Quixote actually is, where someone with a couple hundred years of removal gets their paws on a book such as this, takes the courtly love tradition at face value, and honestly attempts to emulate it. Previous translators, as mentioned in the introduction, saw the satire in it, were amused by it, and laughed at it, but given the inherent ambiguity that I'm sure contemporary social context would have made clear at the time of its initial writing, it almost makes Don Quixote seem much more reasonable in his absurdity.
November 6, 2015
A fine resource. I was required to read this blasted thing in college at UT Austin. This is some stiff reading. There are clearly a few references to real events, but the text is some kind of digest/abridgment of suitor-speak into classes. The narrative voice reads like someone is making a legal case book - for there are many cross-references to decisions and proofs settled. The 31 rules of love and the chief 13 rules are worth contemplation. (Marriage is no excuse for not loving - a favorite axiom). After 14 years of research I believe Andreas Capellanus began this work as some kind of notebook in Eleanor of Aquitaine's court around 1170, the year Becket is assassinated. Europe is at war with an insurrection against Henri II when dates of this work and and stories of Chretien of Troyes surface. Clearly Eleanor’s daughter Marie of Champagne has picked up her mother’s efforts and offered safe haven for Andreas and Chretien to complete their works. Interestingly, after Andreas writes theories of personal love, love-dialogs between the three classes, and fantasy stories about how the rules of love came into being – the final chapter is a denouncement of the whole work, perhaps written many years later at the behest of the church as inquisitions rise against Cathars, free-thinkers, and secular thought. Two crosses up.
January 1, 2024
4/5
Quizá muchas de las ideas presentadas en este tratado puedan resultar anticuadas y hasta reprobables para nuestros ojos actuales, pero se trata de un libro que considero primordial para conocer el origen de muchos de los conceptos que ahora relacionamos al amor.
Asimismo, el autor muestra ser todo un erudito al abordar los temas aquí presentados; me llama especialmente la atención el hacer énfasis en la parte negativa de las relaciones amorosas construidas por meras conveniencias y tan alejadas del auténtico romance.
Quizá muchas de las ideas presentadas en este tratado puedan resultar anticuadas y hasta reprobables para nuestros ojos actuales, pero se trata de un libro que considero primordial para conocer el origen de muchos de los conceptos que ahora relacionamos al amor.
Asimismo, el autor muestra ser todo un erudito al abordar los temas aquí presentados; me llama especialmente la atención el hacer énfasis en la parte negativa de las relaciones amorosas construidas por meras conveniencias y tan alejadas del auténtico romance.
November 29, 2015
Ach. Damn you, mores and beliefs of the 12th century! However much I hated the belief system in The Art of Courtly Love (Or, How to Pretend Women have Agency While Giving Them Absolutely None), I actually really enjoyed the writing and dialogue.
Read
January 2, 2017I feel like this quote gives you a good impression of what this book is like..."blindness is a bar to love, because a blind man cannot see anything upon which his mind can reflect immoderately, and so love cannot arise in him"
June 9, 2009
Interesting mix of good advice for aspiring courtly lovers dotted with sarcastic jibes at the same people. Read for a class on Medieval Culture at UTSA.
April 20, 2023
I don't agree with this book and the writing is also way too choppy, yet i enjoyed reading it LOL.
October 18, 2022
Written at the request of Marie de France, daughter of King Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine, this treatise on courtly love was widely disseminated during the medieval period.
The work begins with a short preface in which the author addresses a certain Gautier whom he describes as a young man who has just been wounded by an arrow of Love and whom he wants to teach how two lovers can preserve the integrity of their love as well as the means by which those who are not loved can rid themselves of the arrows which Venus has driven into their hearts.
Book I defines love; its conditions of possibility; its effects; the means to obtain it according to the respective social condition of the persons in question. At the very beginning of his treatise, Le Chapelain offers a famous definition of love, which attaches great importance to the traditional conception of vision:
“Love is a natural passion that arises from the sight of the beauty of the opposite sex and the haunting thought of that beauty. One comes to wish above all to possess the embraces of the other and to desire that, in these embraces, be respected, by a common will, all the commandments of love."
In the second part of the treatise, "How to maintain love", the author examines the ways to keep love and the problems of infidelity. It exposes 21 judgments of love which would have been pronounced by some of the greatest ladies of the kingdom of France: seven of these judgments are attributed to Marie de France, countess of Champagne, three to her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, three others to her sister-in-law, the Queen of France Adèle de Champagne.
This part ends with a 31 article Code of Love. This Code highlights the separation between the social and reproductive function institutionalized by marriage.
The third part goes against the previous two books by offering a radical condemnation of love.
The social system of courtly love, gradually developed by the Provençal troubadours from the middle of the 12th century, experienced rapid expansion. One of the circles in which this poetry and its ethics were cultivated was the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine (herself the granddaughter of one of the first troubadour poets, William IX of Aquitaine). This work has been argued to codify the social and sexual life of Eleanor's court in Poitiers, between 1170 and 1174, but it was clearly written at least ten years later and, it seems, in Troyes. It deals with several specific themes that were the subject of poetic debate between troubadours at the end of the 12th century.
The work begins with a short preface in which the author addresses a certain Gautier whom he describes as a young man who has just been wounded by an arrow of Love and whom he wants to teach how two lovers can preserve the integrity of their love as well as the means by which those who are not loved can rid themselves of the arrows which Venus has driven into their hearts.
Book I defines love; its conditions of possibility; its effects; the means to obtain it according to the respective social condition of the persons in question. At the very beginning of his treatise, Le Chapelain offers a famous definition of love, which attaches great importance to the traditional conception of vision:
“Love is a natural passion that arises from the sight of the beauty of the opposite sex and the haunting thought of that beauty. One comes to wish above all to possess the embraces of the other and to desire that, in these embraces, be respected, by a common will, all the commandments of love."
In the second part of the treatise, "How to maintain love", the author examines the ways to keep love and the problems of infidelity. It exposes 21 judgments of love which would have been pronounced by some of the greatest ladies of the kingdom of France: seven of these judgments are attributed to Marie de France, countess of Champagne, three to her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, three others to her sister-in-law, the Queen of France Adèle de Champagne.
This part ends with a 31 article Code of Love. This Code highlights the separation between the social and reproductive function institutionalized by marriage.
The third part goes against the previous two books by offering a radical condemnation of love.
The social system of courtly love, gradually developed by the Provençal troubadours from the middle of the 12th century, experienced rapid expansion. One of the circles in which this poetry and its ethics were cultivated was the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine (herself the granddaughter of one of the first troubadour poets, William IX of Aquitaine). This work has been argued to codify the social and sexual life of Eleanor's court in Poitiers, between 1170 and 1174, but it was clearly written at least ten years later and, it seems, in Troyes. It deals with several specific themes that were the subject of poetic debate between troubadours at the end of the 12th century.
September 20, 2023
I never came across a book like this one. What will be your reaction when you read a book that is literally the manual of "love?" But don't get it wrong with respect to the modern definition or understand of the idea of "love." This is a medieval book and the mannerisms are just as such. We don't know a lot about the author other than the fact that he was someone from the clergy as the last name is Capellanus or "chaplain." This book is important for various reasons but it I have to be very honest, I was bored in between and I am aware of the fact that I am not a person living in medieval Europe.
It is very difficult to tell if this book was serious in its tone or an intelligent sarcasm on the Courtly tradition of its time. The Courtly tradition didn't start from Capellanus. It was already present with people writing about knights and their adventures or "aventure" as Andreas puts it. The love mentioned here is not the marital love as it was very rare to find love in the institution of marriage as the matches were fixed for political conviences. To put it more straightforward, the love that is mentioned is adulterous in nature. Andreas first approaches on the question of who is eligible to love, then goes to how to acquire love, and then goes to the question of how to sustain the love that has been acquired.
Now without going to the details in the book, Andreas makes it clear that class is very important in love. This book is not a universal guide. It's for the middle class and the aristocracy. There are conversations in the book about how to approach the opposite gender and start a conversation with them and then profess their love to them. To everyone who wishes to pick this book up, do have this in mind that it won't be the Instagram guide for love, but a document to understand the Courtly tradition of that time which includes not only love but the mental and psychological states revolving it. This book became the standard for Courtly tradition later. I won't say that I enjoyed the book but I will agree that this book gave a different spectrum to approach the concept of "love" in medieval times.
- Padmanabha Reddy
It is very difficult to tell if this book was serious in its tone or an intelligent sarcasm on the Courtly tradition of its time. The Courtly tradition didn't start from Capellanus. It was already present with people writing about knights and their adventures or "aventure" as Andreas puts it. The love mentioned here is not the marital love as it was very rare to find love in the institution of marriage as the matches were fixed for political conviences. To put it more straightforward, the love that is mentioned is adulterous in nature. Andreas first approaches on the question of who is eligible to love, then goes to how to acquire love, and then goes to the question of how to sustain the love that has been acquired.
Now without going to the details in the book, Andreas makes it clear that class is very important in love. This book is not a universal guide. It's for the middle class and the aristocracy. There are conversations in the book about how to approach the opposite gender and start a conversation with them and then profess their love to them. To everyone who wishes to pick this book up, do have this in mind that it won't be the Instagram guide for love, but a document to understand the Courtly tradition of that time which includes not only love but the mental and psychological states revolving it. This book became the standard for Courtly tradition later. I won't say that I enjoyed the book but I will agree that this book gave a different spectrum to approach the concept of "love" in medieval times.
- Padmanabha Reddy
November 24, 2022
Capellanus is crazy. While it’s good to read the book to understand the concept of courtly love in medieval literature, it all just ends up sounding gross and distorted, and quite frankly, very boring.
Capellanus spends the first book (the text is in three parts) giving very strange case-study style back-and-forth dialogue between men and women. It’s boring. It’s repetitive. Nobody would ever speak that way in real life. This is also BY FAR the longest section.
He then goes on to the second book to speak on courtly love in a slightly more interesting way, but sadly the section is very short.
Finally, Capellanus opens book three by condemning love in all forms. He sang the praises of courtly love for the first two books and just makes a COMPLETE 180. Even better, most of the third book is spent on how evil, sinful, stupid, vain, incapable of loving, etc. etc. etc. women are. If you want to feel disrespected on all levels as a woman, this is for you.
I would give this book negative stars if possible. However, I would at least like to give props to Walsh for providing an excellent translation and copious footnotes.
Capellanus spends the first book (the text is in three parts) giving very strange case-study style back-and-forth dialogue between men and women. It’s boring. It’s repetitive. Nobody would ever speak that way in real life. This is also BY FAR the longest section.
He then goes on to the second book to speak on courtly love in a slightly more interesting way, but sadly the section is very short.
Finally, Capellanus opens book three by condemning love in all forms. He sang the praises of courtly love for the first two books and just makes a COMPLETE 180. Even better, most of the third book is spent on how evil, sinful, stupid, vain, incapable of loving, etc. etc. etc. women are. If you want to feel disrespected on all levels as a woman, this is for you.
I would give this book negative stars if possible. However, I would at least like to give props to Walsh for providing an excellent translation and copious footnotes.
April 17, 2021
The first part is a dialogue, which is a format I despise. There are several imagined conversations between men and women. They are unrealistic because both man and woman seem to converse with the same voice. The man consistently uses reason to convince the woman to love him. I was surprised that (expert) Capellanus stresses logic as a tactic for love.
Each dialogue introduces a principle and the second part collects the principles and states them.
These are original and interesting.
The last part completely reverses the direction of the book. While the first section idealizes love the last section rejects love.
This is confusing. Some reviews say Capellanus is being ironic in the first or the last part. If that is so, it's not clear. Irony has to be grossly obvious for it to work. And if not grossly obvious, the reader is confused because he does not know what the author is saying. For this reason I loath irony because, even when irony is working it's not as funny or entertaining is straight forward humor.
Each dialogue introduces a principle and the second part collects the principles and states them.
These are original and interesting.
The last part completely reverses the direction of the book. While the first section idealizes love the last section rejects love.
This is confusing. Some reviews say Capellanus is being ironic in the first or the last part. If that is so, it's not clear. Irony has to be grossly obvious for it to work. And if not grossly obvious, the reader is confused because he does not know what the author is saying. For this reason I loath irony because, even when irony is working it's not as funny or entertaining is straight forward humor.
October 30, 2016
Libro muy interesante (y para mí también divertido) dictado por la Condesa María de Champaña y redactado por Andrés el Capellán. Si en el occidente actual el amor concevido comúnmente como más elevado es el amor romántico dentro de la pareja, en el occidente medieval del siglo XII las clases nobles (al menos, algunas mujeres nobles) situaban ese amor más elevado en el amor cortés (con sus dos variantes: el amor puro y el amor mixto). Este tratado consta de tres libros: los dos primeros pertenecen a María de Champaña, pero el último parece claramente no pertenecerle a ella, sino solamente a Andrés el Capellán, donde condena ferozmente el amor cortés y describe a la mujer como un ser completamente malévolo. Libro que recomiendo: es de fácil lectura, aun habiendo algún diálogo que se pueda hacer un poco lento.
September 2, 2019
Hard to rate this book in normal terms. Certainly an influential work that documents an important concept in Western though, that of Love. But also highly, highly problematic. The text is extremely misogynistic and ableist, and should really be read as a historical document rather than a doctrine by which to live your life.
Read in conjunction with a Medieval Lit class on Courtly Love. Proves extremely useful for that context. Would recommend for anyone interested in the historical evolution of Love as a concept, as well as anyone interested in medieval literature more generally.
Read in conjunction with a Medieval Lit class on Courtly Love. Proves extremely useful for that context. Would recommend for anyone interested in the historical evolution of Love as a concept, as well as anyone interested in medieval literature more generally.
February 11, 2023
W rizz! I really want to travel back in time and disrupt bloodlines because i feel like i could totally get any chick i wanted in court now. But seriously this book is so funny between the subject matter and the modern translation. At one point the phrase “unclean strumpet” is used. I wouldn’t exactly say its interesting its kinda like listening to drama from that one friend that doesn’t usually have a lot of drama but has her moments. I would totally recommend it tho. If you’re into history or romance its a great read and the introduction is super informative.
Read
February 23, 2023Jealousy is the heart of love, love has no place in marriage - search elsewhere -, love is never divided - it knows only one -, love pronounced is love strangled; this is what I’ve learned.
But most vital of all: “any man hell who devotes his efforts to love loses all usefulness.”
Indolence, selfishness, and plain evil are the results of it all.
No wonder he thinks this way. All of his dialogues were filled with the dullest logic and sophistry, maybe the least romantic man of all time.
But most vital of all: “any man hell who devotes his efforts to love loses all usefulness.”
Indolence, selfishness, and plain evil are the results of it all.
No wonder he thinks this way. All of his dialogues were filled with the dullest logic and sophistry, maybe the least romantic man of all time.
October 16, 2025
"Character alone, then, is worthy of the crown of love. Many times fluency of speech will incline to love the hearts of those who do not love, for an elaborate line of talk on the part of the lover usually sets loves arrows aflying and creates a presumption in favor of the excellent character of the
speaker".
Very decent read to be honest. Quite a handful of thoughts and thesis on love which could be interesting for many (post)modern beings.
speaker".
Very decent read to be honest. Quite a handful of thoughts and thesis on love which could be interesting for many (post)modern beings.
June 30, 2025
Ye olde Fuckboi manual the booke
All jokes aside, I really enjoyed reading this and would a hundred percent recommend that it's a good read if you're interested in the medieval period. do however be aware this is very much a product of its times so do be ready for some wild shit.
All jokes aside, I really enjoyed reading this and would a hundred percent recommend that it's a good read if you're interested in the medieval period. do however be aware this is very much a product of its times so do be ready for some wild shit.
November 19, 2025
"Es también la mujer proclive de toda maldad"
He de decir que me estaba gustando mucho hasta que ha necesitado diez páginas para decir que todas putas. En plan, hijo de su época, pero lo del libro tercero ha sido venirse arriba
He de decir que me estaba gustando mucho hasta que ha necesitado diez páginas para decir que todas putas. En plan, hijo de su época, pero lo del libro tercero ha sido venirse arriba
May 28, 2018
full of archaic ideas and fancy language. but personally I learned about the aspects of middle ages I have never known about, so I'm satisfied.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews