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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page paper which defines and examines the concept as it existed in Europe during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, citing the anonymously written “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” as an example. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGcourtlov.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
in distress. But long ago and far away, there was more to romance than dashing gentlemen and fair ladies. A knights behavior was determined by a rigid chivalric
code of manners that first and foremost required uncompromising allegiance to King and country, courage, and respect for women. Out of the chivalric code grew the notion of courtly
love, which applied a knights feudal obligations to matters of the heart. Courtly love could be defined as love from afar, or the amorous feelings a knight might have
for a woman of superior status (a titled Lady) who was usually married, and therefore the relationship could never evolve into anything more than a momentary flirtation. Courtly love
was a way of tempering wayward passions with what was regarded as a higher ideal, honor. It existed completely beyond the realm of marriage - which during these times
were usually more arranged unions than love matches - and while a knight and his Lady could look and possibly touch, they were prohibited from ever consummating their relationship.
Courtly love has been celebrated in art and literature, with the most popular examples being Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales and the romantic saga of Sir Lancelot and Queen
Guinevere, wife of King Arthur, as depicted in Chretien de Troyes Lancelot or, the Knight of the Cart, and Thomas Malorys Le Morte DArthur. But the anonymously written medieval
epic "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" perhaps best typifies courtly love, as it existed during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Sir Gawain was one of King Arthurs most
courageous nights, and during his respite from a deadly New Years ritual in which whoever strikes the first blow must submit to an identical blow exactly one year later (which,
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