Art of Courtly Love
Andreas Capellanus
pages 299-302
Summary: In these pages, Capellanus gives readers a detailed examination of courtly love. This love originated in Southern France. These types of relationships are modeled by the relationships that a knight and a lord would have. They are the basis for chivalry.
Argument/Main Idea: The main idea of this selection is basically what love is and how it works, where it comes from, and what it means in relating intimately to another person. It is almost a list of instructions and rules that should be followed in order to love "properly."
Evidence:
"Too great an abundance of passion impedes love..." (page 300) Too often, people see love as a complex sort of thing and concentrate on pieces of love, like passion and romance, instead of the simple act of love itself.
"4. Love is always growing or diminishing." (page 301) Love is always there. Sometimes it's large and sometimes it's small. No matter what, though, it is always there in a big or small form.
Response: I liked Capellanus' "Rules of Love." A lot of these rules seemed like they are pretty much what the society we live in applies to love today. Rules like "Marriage is no excuse not to love" and "A man cannot love until he has fully reached puberty" are still very prevalent in our views on love nowadays.
