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Anglo-Norman Poetry and the Concept of Courtly Love

Anglo-Norman Poetry and the Concept of Courtly Love. England started being invaded by the Germanic Anglo-Saxons in the 5 th century. Anglo-Saxons themselves were invaded by the Danes in the 10 th century.

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Anglo-Norman Poetry and the Concept of Courtly Love

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  1. Anglo-Norman Poetry and the Concept of Courtly Love

  2. England started being invaded by the Germanic Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century. Anglo-Saxons themselves were invaded by the Danes in the 10th century. Thus for nearly a thousand years, England had no national unity, but was a country of many small kingdoms, and recurrent battles. But in 1066, a final and decisive conquest put an end to all that.

  3. In 1066, a nobleman from Normandy in the north of France, conquered Britain, united it under one kingdom, and replaced the Anglo-Saxon rulers with his own men. • To better know and control his new acquisition, England, William the Conqueror made a vast inventory of all property in England called the Doomsday Book.

  4. The famous Bayeux Tapestry narrating the Battle of Hastings and William’s Conquest of England.

  5. The Anglo-Normans spoke a variety of French. In arts, literature and architecture, they were more advanced than the Anglo-Saxons they invaded. They brought their culture with them.

  6. Unlike the Anglo-Saxons who built wooden mead-halls,

  7. the Anglo-Norman built stone castles,

  8. and cathedrals...

  9. William the Conqueror took the lands of most Anglo-Saxon kings and thegns, and he gave them to Norman noble warriors who helped him in his conquest. Thus feudalism came to England. Thus the ordinary Anglo-Saxon people, the ceorls, villagers, became villeins subjected to a lord who had every right over them. The Norman lords built manors (castles) and lived in them.

  10. The Anglo-Norman brought with them • the concept of courtly life style and etiquette, • “romance” literature, • the concept of chivalry, and • courtly love.

  11. “Romance” meant: • The French vernacular language of the middle ages. • Poetry in this language. • Narratives about adventure and love.

  12. Stages of Courtly Love according to Capellanus’s The Art of Courtly Love (12th century): • Attraction to the lady, usually via eyes/glance • Worship of the lady from afar • Declaration of passionate devotion • Virtuous rejection by the lady • Renewed wooing with oaths of virtue and eternal fealty • Moans of approaching death from unsatisfied desire (and other physical manifestations of lovesickness) • Heroic deeds of valor which win the lady's heart • Consummation of the secret love • Endless adventures and subterfuges avoiding detection

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