 |
|
|
|
| Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) | Italian poet; author of the medieval epic The Divine Comedy. |
| Beatrice | Allegorical symbol of Love, Grace, and Womanhood in Dante's poem. |
| Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) | Renowned English poet; author of the Canterbury Tales. |
| The Romance of the Rose | Allegorical poem about love by medieval French poets Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun; one of the major documents in the culture of courtly love. |
| Mystery plays | Plays based on biblical characters and stories that were produced by medieval guilds and performed publicly on holidays. Also called miracle or morality plays. |
| Pierre Abelard (1079-1142) | Famed logician and theologian; partner with his student Heloise in one of history's most sensational and celebrated love affairs. |
| Heloise (1101-1164) | Pierre Abelard's devoted student and secret lover. |
| Chrétien de Troyes (1140-91) | Leading poet of the courtly love era and originator of much of the material of Arthurian and chivalric romance. |
| Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) | Vibrant and controversial queen of France (1137-52) and later of England (1154-1204); indefatigable promoter of chivalric literature and the courtly-love lifestyle. |
| Marie de Champagne | Daughter of Eleanor of Acquitaine; patron of Chretien de Troyes and Andreas Capellanus; celebrated impresario for the culture of courtly love at her court at Poitiers. |
| Andreas Capellanus
(12th cent.) |
Literally, "Andrew the Chaplain." Supposed chaplain at the court of Marie de Champagne and author of the elaborately witty treatise On Love--a sort of manual and guide book on lovemaking in the courtly style. |
| Thomas a Becket (1118-1170) | Bishop of Canterbury, martyr and saint; pilgrimage to his shrine in Canterbury provides the fictional occasion for Chaucer's Tales. |
| Noah and his wife | In the mystery plays, the archetypal beleaguered husband and his comically shrewish wife; a favorite with medieval audiences. (Note that both the Bible and subsequent literary tradition have left Mrs. Noah conspicuously nameless.) |
| Fabliaux | French term for short verse fables, often racy and satirical, which were very popular in the middle ages. Chaucer's Miller's Tale and Reeve's Tale are typical examples. |
| Allegory | A literary form or mode in which characters and events are used to express abstract metaphysical truths or moral meanings. Example: Dante's Divine Comedy. |
| Lancelot and Guinivere | Camelot's leading knight and lady; the literary inspiration and model for courtly lovers everywhere. |
| Romance | Strictly speaking, a literary genre; originally a verse narrative of colorful adventure and gallant love. |
| Chivalry | A strict medieval code of knightly conduct and manners; defined the ideals whereby a knight guided his relations with his peers, with subordinates, with his lady, with the Church, and with his feudal lord. |
| Heroic couplet | Rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter--a standard form in English verse; originally adopted and made famous by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales. |
| Troubadours | Knightly minstrels and poets errant from the Languedoc who spread the gospel of wordly fashion and courtly love through medieval France. |
| La Gaya Scienza | Literally, "the gay science" or "happy wisdom"; the worldly and vaguely epicurean philosophy and lifestyle characteristic of the troubadours; also known as gai saber. |
Return to lecture
page.