History. Romantic Love from the Medieval Period

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The poetry of the troubadours seems to be quite modern for us and all the feelings glorified in their songs with a wealth of poetic words are quite ordinary for our ears. But this poetry was a turning point in the Medieval Period. People accustomed to the underestimated and domestic role of a woman were shocked when the troubadours glorified her as a goddess.

The poetry of the troubadours has overturned the Western attitude to the notion of love.

The troubadours and trobairitz were known for the creation of the notion of “courtly love” (Abdelwahed, n.d.). They introduced a new conception of love which has been influenced the western psyche and the position of a woman in society. With a new approach of erotic love in the verses of the troubadours and trobairitz, the role of women in western society has been changed (Rutherford, p. 1). Opposed to the poetry of the Middle Ages where the role of the woman is neglected and she is depicted as a servant of a man in the Medieval Period a woman has endowed the dominant position when the liege lord proposes her his love and becomes her vassal or servant (Rutherford, p.2).

The main peculiarities of the troubadours’ poetry.

According to Rutherford, one of the main peculiarities of the poetry of the troubadours is that “the object of love was unfailingly a married woman, and therefore the poems of the troubadours were paeans to adultery” (p.3). There are a lot of different points of view concerning the paean to adultery. Many writers consider this poetry to glorify adultery depicting the actual situation in the courts of that time (Rutherford, p. 3).

It is difficult to identify whether the troubadours glorified the adultery in the courts of that time or just their fantasies of adultery. It is more reasonable to conclude that this poetry was devoted to the fantasy of adultery as far as these songs were not a secret and they were sung publicly. All feelings which seemed to be private were sung publicly and shocked the society as well as the court (Chaytor, 2004). These songs changed the public attitude to intimate feelings and love became the most pleasurable state of living. Falling in love means living for the troubadours.

Contessa de Dia as the brightest representative among women troubadours and her Cruel Are the Pains I’ve Suffered

Mainly, men were troubadours. But there were a few cases of women among troubadours. One such example is the Countess de Dia. The women troubadours belonged to the aristocrats and their poetry differ from the poetry of men troubadours. Their songs are more individually oriented and often based on a real experience (Rutherford, p. 6). They seem to be like a play as far as women consider love to be like a game while men are too serious in this question.

The Countess de Dia’s song Cruel Is the Pains I’ve Suffered is one of the best examples of women troubadours’ poetry (Kehew & Pound, 2005). It is a song about the feelings of a married woman who has fallen in love with another man and wants to be with him and gives him her body. It was immoral for a woman to behave like that in court. It was brave for a woman to express all these immoral feelings and thoughts publicly. This woman suffers great anguish that she gives her body to her husband but it belongs to the beloved man. All these innermost feelings and details of intimate life were shocking for that society but it is quite normal nowadays.

The influence of the troubadours’ poetry on the modern vocabulary.

As we can see from the above said, the poetry of the troubadours has changed the role of love in our life. It has influenced the Western psyche accustomed to hiding intimate feelings. More than that, the troubadours’ poetry has enlarged the vocabulary associated with romantic love as far as innermost feelings have been verbalized in songs (Study Guide for Medieval Love Song, n.d.).

Reference List

Abdelwahed, S. (n.d.) Troubadour Poetry: An Intercultural Experience. Web.

Chaytor, H. (2004). The Troubadors. Web.

Kehew, R. & Pound, E. (2005). Lark in the Morning. The Verses of the Troubadours. USA: The University of Chicago.

Rutherford, R. (1996). The Inventors of Romantic Love. The Troubadours of Occitania. Web.

Study Guide for Medieval Love Song. (n.d.). Web.

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History. Romantic Love from the Medieval Period

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