Middle age

MIDDLE AGE

Courtly love• Origin: the late

11th century bythetroubadours.

• This come fromthe Provence(southerFrance)

• AIM: Redefine traditionalChristian ideals of love, marriage, manhood, virtue, feminity.

• Under thesponsorshipof powerfulnobles likeEleonor of Aquitaineand Marie Champagne…

• …theirinfluencegraduallyspread throughoutFrance, England and Germany.

• By the middle of the 13th century, the troubadourphilosophy becomepracticallyinstitutionalizedthroughout thecourts of Europe, and “fine love” hadbecome the basisfor a glamorous and exciting new styleof life.

• Courtlylove wascharazterized by 5 mainattributes. In essence, therelationship was:

• Aristocratic: courtlylove waspracticed bynoble lordsand ladies.

• Ritualistic: The lady wasthe constantrecipient of songs, poems, bouquets, sweet favoursand ceremonial gestures. Shejust need toreturn a short of approvald, and after all, she was theexalted“domina”.

• Secret: courtly loverswere pledgedto strictsecrecy. Theloverscomposed a universe unto themselves.

• Adulterous: “Fine love” wasextramarital. Lovers escape from the routinesof noble marriage, and exalted theircarnal relationship.

• Literary: as a subject and theme in imaginativeliterature.

• Click on the video to listen a troubadour lovesonghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk1W22yHLJQ&feature=related

The women in the MiddleAge

• The femalemodel beautyand thesituation of women in theMiddle Agewas verydifferent.

• The femalemodel beauty: beautiful, pure, thesymbol of humanwisdom and perfection, without mencouldn¡tascend toheaven…

• He have as exampleDante’sBeatrice…

• …and Petrarch’sLaura.

• But the real position of women in Middle Agewasdifferent…

• Because theywereconsiderinferior and underestimated..

… impures and behind men…

• …and dominatedby men toorder womento do as theywished.

• So the differencebetween thebeauty model and the real womenwas verycontroversial and hypocritical.

• Click on thevideo to see aninterestingreport aboutimportantwomen figures in the MiddleAgehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qRplq2WAk&feature=related

The end