Chivalry and Romantic Love in the Courts of Eleanor of Aquitane
Graduation Date
Spring 2007
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
First Reader
Leslie Ross, PhD
Second Reader
Patricia Dougherty, OP, PhD
Abstract
Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine (1122-1204), has long been recognized as an important political and cultural force in the Middle Ages. The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate specifically how her patronage of troubadour poetry extolling women brought civilizing changes to France and England, and merged chivalry and romantic love. The poetry was influenced by a renewed enthusiasm for worship of the Virgin Mary and by the lyric quality of Hispano-Arabic poetry. Based on romance, it differed from epic poetry which was centered on adventures and deeds.
Eleanor’s coveted inheritance of Aquitaine, now southwestern France, augmented the small kingdom of France when she married King Louis VII. Her subsequent marriage to King Henry II of England created the Angevin empire, extending from the Pyrenees to Scotland. As Queen, Eleanor was able to instill in the courts of both kingdoms of northern Europe the refinements of her native Aquitaine. For these specific contributions, she merits greater praise.