The Art of Courtly Love
by Andreas Capellanus

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Book Reviews of The Art of Courtly Love

Book Review: Excellent background for Middle Ages history buffs.
Summary: 5 Stars

I found it an interesting read. You hear a lot about "courtly love", but nobody really talks about the underpinnings of the tradition. Since the writer was a monk, one truly wonders just what in the world he knows about love, but upon reading the dialogues, one becomes convinced that this isn't about love. It's about social behavior within a certain context, within a very narrow time frame within a very narrow part of Europe, one indulged in by a very narrow group of people. And yet when we think of the Middle Ages, we think of courtly love. There's a reason for that, and reading this book will help the introspective reader see why.

The 5 stars were for how it stands as a primary source documenting the period. It is excellent in that regard. It does drag sometimes, and many of the dialogues are, indeed, repetitive-sounding. But that's how medieval documents WERE. They wanted to be sure the point got across, I think. I'm also half-convinced that the writer wasn't being entirely serious in some places. Again, he was a monk, and it's possible it was just an exercise in logic, as the forward to this book explains in good detail.

I'm not sure I'd want to read this if I were just a casual reader. It won't give many hints about how to romance someone in OUR time period -- nowadays we like passion, not logic, to be the impetus for beginning a love affair. But it will give the history student something to chew on and I think it's an essential piece of understanding one of the weirder aspects of the Middle Ages.

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