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The Queen of the Courts of Love: Eleanor of Aquitaine

© Wendy J. Dunn

Eleanor of Aquitaine was many things, including queen of France and England. She was also a patron of the arts, and during her reign as Duchess of Aquitaine, the troubadour’s art flourished. She came by her love of music and poetry almost as much by heredity as by inclination. Her grandfather, Guillaume IX of Aquitaine (1071-1127) is the earliest troubadour whose works have been preserved.

Troubadours (Provencal: trobar, "to find" or "to invent") wrote lyric poems and music. The lyrics were written in the vernacular rather than in Latin, the literary language of the Middle Ages. Native to southern France, the troubadours wrote of chivalric love, setting down the code of behavior to be followed by aristocratic lovers.

Courtly love had rules stemming originally from the Ars Amatoria (The Art of Loving) by the Roman poet Ovid. Lovers pledged themselves to each other and consummated their passion, maintaining complete secrecy. Since most marriages among the nobility were in the form of business contracts, courtly love was a form of sanctioned adultery. Courtly love may have served as a safety valve by providing a model of behavior for a class of unmarried young men who might otherwise have threatened social stability.

Knights were usually younger brothers without land of their own, and thus unable to support a wife. They became members of the household of the feudal lords they served, which is one reason why the lady in the courtly love relationship is typically older, married and of higher social status than the knight. She was modeled on the wife of the feudal lord. The knight serves his courtly lady with the same obedience and loyalty that his owes his liege lord. She is in complete control of the relationship, while he owes her obedience and submission (this certainly didn't correspond to the actual practice!)

Courtly love was originally construed as an ennobling force, as the knight's love for his lady inspires him to do great deeds in order for him to be worthy of her. The courtly love relationship was invented to provide young knights with a model for appropriate behavior.

When Eleanor traveled to the court of France as queen to Louis VII, she brought with her a number of poets and musicians whose work was characteristic of her homeland in southern France. Gradually these poet-musicians developed their own genre, becoming trouveres. While troubadours wrote of love, trouveres placed more emphasis on heroic epics.