Andreas Capellanus the Art of Courtly Love Full Text

Andreas Capellanus
The Fine art of Ladylike Beloved

Volume I

Introduction to the Treatise on Love

We must first consider what love is, whence it gets its proper noun, what the effect of love is, between what persons love may exist, how it may be acquired, retained, increased, decreased, and ended, what are the signs that one�s love is returned, and what one of the lovers ought to do if the other is unfaithful

Affiliate I

What love Is

Honey is a sure inborn suffering derived from the sight of and excessive meditation upon the dazzler of the opposite sex activity, which causes each one to wish above all things the embraces of the other and past common desire to carry out all of love�southward precepts in the other�south comprehend

That dearest is suffering is piece of cake to see, for earlier the love becomes equally counterbalanced on both sides there is no torment greater, since the lover is e'er in fear that his dearest may not proceeds its desire and that he is wasting his efforts He fears too, that rumors of it may become abroad, and he fears everything that might harm it in whatever manner, for earlier things are perfected a slight disturbance oft spoils them If he is a poor man, he likewise fears that the woman may contemptuousness his poverty; if he is ugly, he fears that she may despise his lack of beauty or may give her love to a more handsome homo; if he is rich, he fears that his parsimony in the past may stand in his way To tell the truth, no 1 can number the fears of i single lover This kind of honey, then, is a suffering which is felt past only one of the persons and may be called �single love� Just even later both are in love the tears that arise are just every bit great, for each of the lovers fears that what he has acquired with and so much try may exist lost through the effort of someone else, which is certainly much worse for a man than if, having no hope, he sees that his efforts are accomplishing goose egg, for it is worse to lose the things you are seeking than to exist deprived of a gain you merely promise for. The lover fears, too, that he may offend his loved ane in some manner; indeed he fears then many things that it would he difficult to tell them.

That this suffering is inborn I shall show you conspicuously, because if you volition look at the truth and distinguish carefully you will meet that it does not arise out of any activity; merely from the reflection of the heed upon what it sees does this suffering come up for when a homo sees some woman tit for love and shaped according to his taste, he begins at once to animalism after her in his heart then the more he thinks most her the more than he burns with love, until he comes to a fuller meditation Presently he begins to recall well-nigh the fashioning of the woman and to differentiate her limbs, to call up about what she does, and to pry into the secrets of her trunk, and he desires to put each part of it to the fullest use Then after he has come to this complete meditation, love cannot agree the reins, but he proceeds at one time to action: straightway he strives to get a helper to observe an intermediary. He begins to plan how he may find favor with her, and he begins to seek a identify and a time opportune for talking: he looks upon a cursory hour as a very long twelvemonth, considering he cannot exercise anything fast enough to suit his eager mind Information technology is well known that man things happen to him in this mode This inborn suffering comes, therefore, from seeing and meditating. Not every kind of meditation can be the cause of love, an excessive 1 is required; for a restrained idea does non, as a rule, return to the mind, and so love cannot arise from it.

Chapter Ii

Between What Persons Dear May Exist

Now, in dear you should note get-go of all that dear cannot be except betwixt persons of opposite sexes. Betwixt ii men or two women dear can find no place, for nosotros see that ii persons of the aforementioned sex are not at all fitted for giving each other the exchanges of love or for practicing the acts natural to it. Whatever nature forbids, dearest is ashamed to accept

Chapter III

What the Effect of Love Is

Now information technology is the effect of love that a true lover cannot be degraded with any avarice Love causes a rough and uncouth human being to be distinguished for his handsomeness; it can endow a man even of the humblest nascency with dignity of character; it blesses the proud with humility; and the man in love becomes accustomed to performing many services gracefully for everyone O what a wonderful thing is love, which makes a maul shine with so many virtues and teaches everyone, no matter who he is, so many good traits of graphic symbol! There is another thing about beloved that we should not praise in few words it adorns a human, and so to speak, with the virtue of chastity, because he who shines with the lite of one love can inappreciably think of embracing some other woman, even a cute ane For when he thinks securely of his beloved the sight of whatsoever other woman seems to his heed rough and rude

Affiliate IV

What Persons Are Fit for Beloved

We must now see what persons are fit to behave the arms of love You should know that everyone of audio listen who is capable of doing the work of Venus may be wounded by one of love�s arrows unless prevented past historic period, or incomprehension, or excess of passion

An excess of passion is a bar to love, because at that place are men who are slaves to such passionate want that they cannot exist held in the bonds of beloved�men who, after they accept thought long about some adult female or even enjoyed her, when they see some other woman straightway desire her embraces, and they forget almost the services they take received from their first dearest and they experience no gratitude for them. Men of this kind lust afterward every adult female they meet; their dear is like that of a shameless dog. They should rather, I believe, be compared to asses, for they are moved only by that low nature which shows that men are on the level of the other animals rather than by that truthful nature which sets us apart from all the other animals by the departure of reason.

Affiliate Five

In What Mode Love May Be Acquired,
and in How Many Ways

Information technology remains next to be seen in what means love may be acquired

A beautiful figure wins dear with very little endeavour, especially when the lover who is sought is unproblematic, for a uncomplicated lover thinks that there is nothing to look for in one�south dearest as well a beautiful effigy and face and a body well cared for.

Only a wise woman will seek as a lover a man of praiseworthy character�not one who anoints himself all over similar a woman or makes a rite of the care of the torso, for it does not become with a masculine figure to adorn oneself in womanly fashion or to be devoted to the care of the trunk.

Likewise, if you run across a woman likewise heavily rouged you volition not exist taken in by her beauty unless you lot have already discovered that she is good company too, since a adult female who puts all her reliance on her rouge unremarkably doesn�t accept any particular gifts of character Equally I said most men, so with women�I believe you should not seek for beauty so much as for excellence of character For since all of us human beings are derived originally from the aforementioned stock and all naturally claim the same ancestor, it was non beauty or care of the torso or even affluence of possessions, but excellence of character lone which showtime fabricated a distinction of nobility amid men and led to the difference of class

Character alone, and so, is worthy of the crown of love Many times fluency of speech will incline to love the hearts of those who do non love, for an elaborate line of talk on the office of the lover unremarkably sets love�s arrows a-flying and creates a presumption in favor of the first-class character of the speaker How this may exist I shall effort to prove yous as briefly as I can

To this end I shall starting time explain to you that i woman belongs to the middle class, a second to the simple dignity, and a third to the college nobility So it is with men ane is of the middle grade, another of the nobility, a tertiary of the higher nobility, and a fourth of the very highest dignity What I mean by a woman of the middle course is clear plenty to you; a noblewoman is i descended from an untitled nobleman [vavasor] or a lord, or is the wife of one of these, while a woman of the higher nobility is descended from dandy lords The same rules apply to men, except that a mart married to a woman of higher or lower rank than himself does not change his rank. A wife changes her status to friction match that of her husband, but a human being tin never change his dignity past wedlock In improver, among men we find one rank more than amid women, since there is a homo more noble than any of these, that is, the clerk

Affiliate VIII

The Piece of cake Attainment of I �s Object

The readiness to grant requests is, we say, the same thing in women as overvoluptuousness in men�a thing which all agree should be a total stranger in the court of Love. For he who is so tormented by carnal passion that he cannot encompass anyone in heartfelt beloved, but basely lusts after every woman he sees, is not called a lover but a counterfeiter of dearest and a pretender, and he is lower than a shameless dog Indeed the mall who is so wanton that he cannot confine himself to the love of one woman deserves to be considered an impetuous ass. It volition therefore exist clear to you that you are leap to avoid an overabundance of passion and that you ought non to seek the love of a woman who y'all know will grant easily what you seek.

Volume Ii

How Love May Be Retained

Affiliate I

How Love, When It Has Been Acquired, May Be Kept

Now since we have already said enough about acquiring beloved, it is non unfitting that we should next run across and describe how this honey may be retained subsequently it has one time been caused The man who wants to proceed his love matter for a long fourth dimension untroubled should above all things be careful not to let it be known to any outsider, merely should keep it hidden from everybody; because when a number of people begin to go air current of such an affair, it ceases to develop naturally and even loses what progress it has already fabricated. Furthermore a lover ought to appear to his love wise in every respect and restrained in his behave, and he should exercise naught disagreeable that might annoy her. And if inadvertently he should do something improper that offends her, permit him straightway confess with downcast face that he has done incorrect, and let him give the alibi that he lost his temper or brand some other suitable caption that will fit the instance And every human ought to be sparing of praise of his dearest when he is among other men; he should not spend a slap-up deal of time in places where she is. When he is with other men, if he meets her in a group of women, he should not endeavor to communicate with her by signs, only should treat her almost like a stranger lest some person spying on their love might have opportunity to spread malicious gossip Lovers should not fifty-fifty nod to each other unless they are sure that nobody is watching them. Every man should also clothing things that his beloved likes and pay a reasonable amount of attention to his appearance�not too much considering excessive care for one�s looks is distasteful to everybody and leads people to despise the practiced looks that one has If the lover is lavish in giving, that helps him retain a honey he has acquired, for all lovers ought to despise all worldly riches and should give alms to those who have need of them. Also, if the lover is ane who is fitted to be a warrior, he should see to information technology that his courage is credible to everybody, for it detracts very much from the good character of a human being if he is timid in a fight A lover should always offer his services and obedience freely to every lady, and he ought to root out all his pride and be very humble. And then, likewise, he must keep in mind the general rule that lovers must non fail anything that skillful manners demand or good breeding suggests, but they should be very conscientious to do everything of this sort Love may likewise be retained past indulging in the sweet and delightful solaces of the flesh, but merely in such fashion and in such number that they may never seem dull to the loved ane. Permit the lover strive to practise gracefully and manfully whatsoever act or mannerism which he has noticed is pleasing to his dear. A clerk should not, of course, affect the manners or the dress of the laity, for no 1 is likely to please his beloved, if she is a wise woman, by wearing strange clothing or by practicing manners that practice not suit his status. Furthermore a lover should make every endeavor to exist constantly in the company of expert men and to avoid completely the society of the wicked. For association with the vulgar makes a lover who joins them a thing of contempt to his beloved.

Affiliate II

How Love, One time Consummated, May Be Increased

Nosotros shall attempt to show you in a few words how love may be increased after information technology has been consummated. At present in the first place information technology is said to increment if the lovers run into each other rarely and with difficulty for the greater the difficulty of exchanging solaces, the more practice the want for them and the feeling of honey increase. Love increases, also, if 1 of the lovers shows that he is aroused at the other; for the lover falls at once into a great fright that this feeling which has arisen in his beloved may last forever. Dear increases, likewise, if ane of the lovers feels real jealousy, which is called, in fact, the nurse of love. Even if he does not suffer from existent jealousy, only from a shameful suspicion, still by virtue of this his love ever increases and grows more powerful. Love increases, too, if it happens to last after it has been made public; ordinarily information technology does not concluding, only begins to neglect just as presently every bit it is revealed. Again, if one of the lovers dreams about the other, that gives rise to love, or if dearest already exists it increases it. So, too, if yous know that Someone is trying to will your beloved away from you lot, that will no doubt increase your love and you will begin to feel more than amore for her. I will go farther and say that fifty-fifty though you know perfectly well that another mall is enjoying the embraces of your beloved, this volition brand y'all brainstorm to value her solaces all the more, unless your greatness of soul and nobility of mind go along you from such wickedness. When you take gone to some other place or are near to go away�that increases your love, and so exercise the scoldings and beatings that lovers suffer from their parents, for not just does a scolding lecture cause love to increase after information technology is perfected, but it even gives a perfect reason for beginning a dearest thing that has non still started. Frequent home with delight on the thought of the beloved is of value in increasing dearest; then is the sight of her eyes when you are by yourselves and fearful, and her eager acceptance of a demand for the acts of dearest. Honey is profoundly intensified past a carriage and a fashion of walking that please the honey, past a readiness to say pretty things, by a pleasant manner of speaking, and past hearing men sing the praises of the loved i.

Chapter 5

Indications That Ane�due south Love Is Returned

Now that we have thus disposed of these questions and accept, in a brusk space, finished them up, permit us add together to them a discussion of how to notice out whether one�s love is returned. There are many means in which a lover can find out the faith of his dearest and test her feelings If you see that your loved 1 is missing all sorts of opportunities to run across y'all or is putting false obstacles in your path, yous cannot hope long to enjoy her love. And so, too, if you find her, for no reason at all, growing half-hearted nigh giving you the usual solaces, y'all may see that her faith is wavering. If you find that she keeps out of your sight more than than she was accustomed to practise, her feelings are non very stable; and if she tries to hibernate from your faithful messenger, at that place is no incertitude that she has turned you lot afloat in the mighty waves and that her honey for you lot is only feigned If at the very moment of delight when she is offer yous her sweet solaces the act is more wearisome to her than usual, you need not doubt that she has no dearest for you So, too, if she finds more fault with you than usual or demands things that she has non been in the addiction of demanding, you may know that your love will not last much longer. Again, if when she is with you or someone else she frequently talks almost what you did and what the other human did, without making any distinction between you, or if on some clever pretense she asks what sort of human being he is or what sort of graphic symbol he has, y'all may know that she is thinking about the love of the other man. Moreover, if you find that she is paying more attention to the intendance of her person than she had been doing, either her love for you is growing or she is interested in the beloved of someone else.

Affiliate VI

If 1 of the Lovers Is Unfaithful to the Other

If i of the lovers should exist unfaithful to the other, and the offender is the man, and he has an eye to a new love affair, he renders himself wholly unworthy of his former love, and she ought to deprive him completely of her embraces.

Just what if he should be unfaithful to his honey,�not with the thought of finding a new love, but because he has been driven to it by an irresistible passion for some other woman? What, for instance, if chance should nowadays to him an unknown woman in a convenient place or what if at a time when Venus is urging him on to that which I am talking most he should come across with a fiddling strumpet or somebody�due south servant girl? Should he, just because he played with her in the grass, lose the love of his beloved? We can say without fear of contradiction that merely for this a lover is non considered unworthy of the love of his beloved unless he indulges in so many excesses with a number of women that nosotros may conclude that he is overpassionate. But if whenever he becomes acquainted with a woman he pesters her to gain his end, or if he attains his object equally a effect of his efforts, and then rightly he does deserve to he deprived of his former love, because there is strong presumption that he has acted in this way with an center toward a new one, especially where he has strayed with a woman of the nobility or otherwise of an honorable estate

I know that once when I sought communication I got the answer that a truthful lover tin never desire a new love unless he knows that for some definite and sufficient reason the old love is dead; nosotros know from our own experience that this dominion is very true. We have fallen in beloved with a woman of the most admirable grapheme, although we have never had, or hope to accept, any fruit of this love. For we are compelled to pine abroad for love of a woman of such lofty station that nosotros dare not say ane word about it, nor dare we throw ourself upon her mercy, and so at length nosotros are forced to find our torso shipwrecked. But although rashly and without foresight nosotros accept fallen into such peachy waves in this tempest, still we cannot call back almost a new honey or look for any other way to gratuitous ourself.

But since you are making a special study of the subject of honey, you may well ask whether a man can have a pure love for 1 woman and a mixed or common love with some other. We will prove you lot, by an unanswerable argument, that no one tin feel amore for 2 women in this mode. For although pure dear and mixed love may seem to be very different things, if you volition await at the matter properly you will see that pure dearest, so far as its substance goes, is the same equally mixed honey and comes from the same feeling of the center. The substance of the dear is the aforementioned in each case, and only the style and course of loving are different, equally this analogy will make articulate to you. Sometimes nosotros see a man with a want to drink his wine unmixed, and at some other fourth dimension his appetite prompts him to beverage only water or wine and water mixed; although his appetite manifests itself differently, the substance of it is the same and unchanged. So likewise when two people have long been united by pure love and subsequently desire to practice mixed dearest, the substance of the love remains the sane in them, although the way and the way of practicing it are unlike.

Chapter VII

Various Decisions in Honey Cases

At present and so, let usa come to diverse decisions in cases of love.

I. A sure knight loved his lady beyond all measure out and enjoyed her full embrace, but she did not dearest him with equal ardor. He sought to go out her, merely she, desiring to retain him in his former status, opposed his wish. In this affair the Countess of Chaunpagne gave this response �It is considered very unseemly for a woman to seek to be loved and yet to refuse to love. It is silly for anybody disrespectfully to enquire of others what she herself wholly refuses to give to others.�

II. A sure man asked the Lady Ermengarde of Narbonne to make clear where there was the greater affection�between lovers or between married people. The lady gave him a logical answer She said �We consider that marital affection and the true love of lovers are wholly unlike and ascend from entirely different sources, and and so the ambiguous nature of the give-and-take prevents the comparing of the things and we have to place them in different classes. Comparisons of more or less are not valid when things are grouped together under an cryptic heading and the comparison is made in regard to that ambiguous term. It is no truthful comparison to say that a name is simpler than a torso or that the outline of a speech is better arranged than the delivery.�

III. The sane human asked the sane lady this question. A certain woman had been married, simply was at present separated from her husband by a divorce and her one-time husband sought eagerly for her beloved. In this case the lady replied �If any two people accept been married and afterwards divide in any manner, we consider beloved between them wholly wicked.�

IV. A certain knight was in dear with a adult female who had given her love to some other human being, simply he got from her this much hope of her love�that if it should ever happen that she lost the love of her dearest, so without a doubtfulness her love would go to this man. A trivial while after this the woman married her lover. The other knight so demanded that she give him the fruit of the promise she had granted him, merely this she admittedly refused to practice, saying that she had non lost the dearest of her lover. In this affair the Queen gave her decision as follows: �We dare not oppose the opinion of the Countess of Champagne, who ruled that beloved can exert no power between hubby and married woman. Therefore we recommend that the lady should grant the love she has promised.�

5. The Queen was also asked which was preferable the honey of a swain or of 1 avant-garde in years. She answered this question with wonderful subtlety past proverb, �We distinguish between a adept and a better dearest past the man�south knowledge and his character and his praiseworthy manners, not past his age. But as regards that natural instinct of passion, immature men are usually more eager to gratify it with older women than with young ones of their own historic period; those who are older adopt to receive the embraces and kisses of young women rather than of the older ones. But on the other mitt a woman whether young or somewhat older likes the embraces and solaces of immature men amend than those of older ones. The explanation of this fact seems to be a physiological one�

Affiliate Viii

The Rules of Honey

Permit u.s.a. come now to the rules of love, and I shall try to present to you very briefly those rules which the Male monarch of Love is said to have proclaimed with his own oral cavity and to have given in writing to all lovers.

I Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.

Two He who is not jealous cannot love.

III No one can be bound by a double beloved.

Four Information technology is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing.

V That which a lover takes against his volition of his love has no savour.

VI Boys do not dear until they go far at the historic period of maturity.

VII When i lover dies, a widowhood of 2 years is required of the survivor.

VIII No i should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons.

Ix No 1 can dear unless he is impelled past the persuasion of honey.

X Love is always a stranger in the home of avarice.

Xi It is not proper to love any woman whom ane should be ashamed to seek to ally.

XII A true lover does not desire to embrace in dearest anyone except his beloved.

13 When made public love rarely endures.

XIV. The easy attainment of love makes information technology of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.

Fifteen. Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his dear.

XVI. When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates.

XVII. A new dearest puts to flight an old one.

Eighteen. Expert grapheme lone makes any man worthy of love.

19. If honey diminishes, it apace fails and rarely revives.

Xx. A homo in beloved is ever apprehensive.

XXI. Real jealousy always increases the feeling of love.

XXII. Jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when 1 suspects his beloved.

XXIII. He whom the idea of love vexes, eats and sleeps very little.

XXIV. Every deed of a lover ends in the thought of his dearest.

XXV. A truthful lover considers nothing expert except what he thinks will please his honey.

XXVI. Love tin can deny zip to dear.

XXVII. A lover call never have enough of the solaces of his honey.

XXVIII. A slight presumption causes a lover to suspect his honey.

XXIX. A man who is vexed by too much passion usually does not love.

XXX. A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his love.

XXXI. Nothing forbids one woman beingness loved past 2 men or ane man by two women.

How Dearest May Be Retained (Book II)

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