55 pages • 1 hour read
Andreas CapellanusThe Art of Courtly Love
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1186A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaBook 1, Chapter 6, Fourth-Fifth DialogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 1: “Introduction to the Treatise of Love”
Book 1, Chapter 6, Fourth Dialogue Summary: “A nobleman speaks with a woman of the middle class”
The Fourth Dialogue is between a nobleman and a middle-class woman. Andreas tells Walter that a nobleman may sit next to a middle-class woman without her permission because “of the privileges his higher rank permits him” (62). With a woman of his own class, a nobleman may only sit next to her if she has given him permission. A man of lower rank than a woman must not ask to sit beside her but in a lower position.
The nobleman tells the middle-class woman that he is an ambassador “from the court of Love” (62) sent to her to seek the answer to the question that asks who is more deserving of praise—a noblewoman or a commoner. The woman’s initial response is the noblewoman since “those things we come by naturally seem to be more desired than those which are external” (63). The man counters that the commoner is more worthy since a commoner’s character is the product of her soul’s “innate qualities” (63) and thus can be considered natural. The woman replies that the man seems to lack good sense since he is belittling nobility. Further, his argument inclines her to value good character more in a commoner than a noble.
The man praises her good opinion and expresses his determination to love a commoner. Since she is a commoner, he dedicates his good deeds to her. The woman questions whether he can truly be considered a nobleman since he has not earned the love of a woman within his own class. The man rebukes the woman for being ignorant of what is obvious: that Love “impels men’s hearts to love” (65). This love makes a woman beautiful and noble in the eyes of the man who loves her. If she is so noble despite being middle-class, the woman wonders, then why should she not pick a commoner of noble character as her love. The man agrees that if she can find a commoner with better character than the nobleman, then the woman should accept his love. He leaves it to “Your Prudence” to “make a careful investigation” (66) and accept the love of whoever is more worthy. The woman notes that the man seems to be backtracking; nevertheless, she agrees to weigh the matter carefully. The man asserts that he will continue to pray for her to love the proper man.
Book 1, Chapter 6, Fifth Dialogue Summary: “A nobleman speaks with a noblewoman”
The Fifth Dialogue is between a nobleman and a noblewoman. The man begins by praising the noblewoman, to which the woman expresses pleasure at his words. He escalates his praise, declares his intention to serve her, and hopes that she will ease his suffering by returning his love. The woman praises his character and says she would not want to be responsible for his death. The man tells her that he wants either hope of her love or a quick death. The woman declares that she will never subject herself “to the servitude of Venus or endure the torments of lovers” (70). However, she is willing to accept his service. The man counters that she can only reject love after she has tried it. The woman compares the court of Love to the court of hell, saying it is easy to get in but impossible to get out. She tells the man he labors in vain to change her mind.
The man warns the woman that by denying love she is opening herself up to “unbearable torments” (72). He tells a story of riding through France’s forest and becoming separated from his party. After wandering for a short time, he saw a riding party that he mistakenly believed was the one from which he was separated. Riding quickly to catch up with them, he noticed three groups. The first included well-cared-for women dressed in costly garments and attended by knights. The second group also included knights serving women, but this group was more chaotic and overeager. A third group featured beautiful women who were dressed in filthy clothes and unattended by knights or servants. The nobleman spoke with one of the women in the third group.
She explained that their group was the army of the dead. Leading the group was the God of Love, who joined the army once per week in order to give each his just desserts. The first group was women who accepted love nobly. The second group was the shameless women who accepted love indiscriminately. The third group, to which the woman belonged, was made up of those who rejected love. The woman urged the man to warn women who are still alive not to subject themselves to the everlasting torments that result from denying love during life.
After witnessing the delights that noble lovers enjoyed and the torments that those who rejected love suffered, the man asked the King of Love for permission to depart, promising to advocate for love in the world of the living. The king ordered him to correct any women who pledge to avoid love’s entanglements by telling them what he saw. The king also enumerated 12 rules of love. These are avoiding avarice, remaining chaste, not breaking up happy love affairs, refusing the love of anyone who forbids their lover to marry, avoiding falsehood, being discrete, obeying ladies’ commands and serving love, being modest when giving and receiving love, “speak[ing] no evil,” not revealing love affairs, being polite and courteous, and “not exceed[ing] the desires of thy lovers” (81-82).
After the nobleman concludes his story, the noblewoman tells him that, whether true or false, his story has frightened her. She will strive to choose a worthy candidate. The nobleman expresses faith in her nobility and in her ultimately choosing him.
Book 1, Chapter 6, Fourth-Fifth Dialogue Analysis
The Fourth and Fifth Dialogues continue the pattern set in the first three, in this case with a nobleman addressing first a woman of the middle-class then the simple nobility. Like the middle-class man, the nobleman may initiate conversation with the middle-class woman without her permission, but he may not do the same with the noblewoman.
Opening the conversation with the middle-class woman, the nobleman identifies himself as an ambassador from Love’s court, sent to ask her whether good character is more commendable in a commoner or a noble. It is a loaded question that foregrounds the significance of class. Since she is a middle-class woman being propositioned by a man above her social station, she has a personal stake in saying good character is more impressive in a commoner. However, she says the opposite, adhering to the view that the class system reflects inherent natural rules of superior and lesser. This forces the man to disagree with her since he wants to establish that despite being above her station, her good character elevates her to the nobility, thus rendering her his equal.
The middle-class woman proves herself as capable of sparring verbally with the nobleman as she did with the middle-class man. She identifies the weaknesses in his argument, accusing him of disrespecting his own class, and resists his facile attempt to praise her. In this sense, Andreas creates a contrast between his description of middle-class woman in the introductions to the dialogues and his portray of them within the dialogues. This tension supports the view that Andreas is subtly critiquing the practice of attributing higher and lesser qualities based on class rank.
Similarly, in the dialogue between the man and woman of the simple nobility, Andreas describes the noblewoman as being pleased by the man’s compliments. Yet in the First Dialogue, he identified middle-class women as being more susceptible to flattery and noblewomen as more likely to be suspicious of it. These internal contradictions, prevalent throughout the text, have caused scholars to interpret The Art of Courtly Love as a critique of the upper class’ superficiality and materialism.
Also notable in the Fifth Dialogue are the story the man tells of encountering the army of the dead and his enumeration of the 12 rules of love. When he first introduces the story, the noblewoman tells him that his words are “too obscure” (73) and he will have to explain what he means. This portrays the noblewoman as not particularly sophisticated or sharp. The story itself has a pagan tint, as Love is at one point described as a god (alternately, he is a king). Those who enjoyed love in proper measure enjoy eternal delights while those who overdid love suffer chaos and those who rejected love discomfort. The notion of eternal suffering or pleasure plays on the Christian concept of eternal reward. Given the pagan imagery in the story, it may be meant as a mockery of the notion that love affairs can lead to reward in the afterlife. Similarly, the 12 rules of love play on the notion of commandments handed down by God.
