“On Love,” written by Andreas Capallenus, is about courtly love. It was written in the 11th century. Courtly love is akin to medieval chivalry. However, at that time, courtly love was still more of a fictional idea put forth by Andreas. He wrote of romantic love, which was not the norm at that time. Upper-class marriages were more of arranged unions either to seal deals or preserve nobility and royalty. This presented a desire for romance in most of these unions. Andreas appealed to the upper class to have a love that is fierce in itself, and that inspired acts of chivalry and devotion (Cn.edu).
In Marie’s De France, Le Fresne embodies selfless love for Gurun, especially given that Gurun had to have a noble born heir to keep his lineage and properties. However, at that time, Le Fresne knew very well that she would have to share her beloved Gurun for the greater good. Gurun, on the other hand, knew that he would have to end up marrying a noble woman. In spite of this, he showed deep love for Le Fresne so much so as to donate handsomely to the Abbey, just to excuse his visits to Le Fresne. He ran away with her after she got pregnant to avoid Abess’s wrath. One might also add that it took humility for Le Fresne to prepare Gurun’s and La Codre’s wedding bed. The fact that she added her brocade on the marriage bed, a possession she had since she could remember, symbolizes her humility to part with what she cherished most in order to please her beloved Gurun. She did all of this despite knowing she was the dry ash to be replaced by the flowering hazel tree in exact reference to the meaning of their names.
In Silence (early 13th century), love is depicted in the death of the two counts who were ready to die for love in display of courtly love, which is similar to that in Andrea’s work. The parents of Silence, Cador and Eufemie, had so much love for their daughter that they hid her true sexuality from the world so that she would inherit their wealth (Mssweb.nottingham.ac.uk). This is due to the decree that was passed by King Evan that no woman would inherit any property.
Love is a feeling that embodies deep affection towards another person or something. In Le Fresne, Le Fresne is willing to let the love of her life marry another woman because she knew she was not noble (Freeman 5). Gurun has a deep affection for Le Fresne despite her being ignoble; he ran away with her to avoid the wrath of Abess. In Silence, Eufemie had deep affection towards Cador when she cured him. At the same time, Cador was ready to kill a dragon so he could marry Eufemie. Eufeme also had a feeling of deep affection towards Silence that even led her to send word to the King of France to kill Silence since he rejected her (Freeman 7). King Evan had so much love for Silence, and that is why he could not execute him as Eufeme wanted. After Silence had been discovered, she was spared execution. Instead, he stripped her of male clothes and gave her a female name.
In conclusion, love in itself is a vague concept; the different pieces of writing have their different ways of putting it. Andreas Capallenus influences Marie De France’s interpretation of love in her literary works because they have similarities at various points. He also influenced medieval chivalry, especially in the noble class.
Works Cited
Cn.edu. "Rules Of Courtly Love". Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Freeman, Michelle. "The Power of Sisterhood: Marie de FRANCE's "Le Fresne"". French Forum 12.1 (2016): 5-26. Print.
Mssweb.nottingham.ac.uk. "WLC/LM/6 - Medieval-Women - The University Of Nottingham". Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
