Knights and Tokens of Love

[dreaded_beast]

I remember reading somewhere that when a knight courts a woman, he often gives or receives a token of that love, like a handkerchief or something similar.

Can someone expound on this or point me to a website with more information regarding this ritual, such as the historical background, true purpose, etc.

 

[Aurora]

Here's the only thing I could find on the subject. I always heard it was that the lady gives the knight a token of love.

http://hometown.aol.com/noramunro/Tokens/

 

[Wombat]

There have been many different kinds of love tokens handed out by ladies to knights, especially around tournaments.

(Boy, do I wish I had access to some of my books on the topic right now -- they are in a storage locker -- I'll be back with citations later on...)

Beginning in the mid-12th century, women gave their champions pieces of embroidery, sashes, veils, napkins (these were very upscale items in the era), and other small tokens. The idea was that the knight would be seen as upholding the honour and name of a given lady and the lady was seen to have an admirer -- this is all part of the Courtly Love "game" of the High Middle Ages. Another popular token was for the woman to give the knight a sleeve -- this is actually easier than it might seem, as (1) people tended to dress in layers and (2) many women's dresses came with detachable outer sleeves in case of hot or cold weather; indeed, there was a fashion for a while of making all such dresses with three sleeves, that way you could give one to a knight and still have enough for your dress. Often this sleeve would be wrapped around the knights helmet, sort of like a turban.

Now the knight and the lady might not be married, involved, or engaged at all; this was part of the larger game. Still, by the 14th century, it was nearly unheard of for a knight to enter a serious tournament without some token from a lady, even if he had only met her that day.

I'll get you some more info a bit later.

addendum: You might want to check this article on Courtly Love from the wikipedia -- hardly the last word, but a fun place to start on the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtly_love

 

[dreaded_beast]

addendum: You might want to check this article on Courtly Love from the wikipedia -- hardly the last word, but a fun place to start on the topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtly_love

Good info Wombat!

And Courtly Love is definitely a topic that I find interesting! Any other good sites you would recommend or information you can share?

 

[Mycanid]

Book wise you might be interested in a book called "The Allegory of Love" by C.S. Lewis. It's one of his earliest (and most neglected) works and goes into detail precisely on this issue. I read it years ago, but have since found it to still be the best thing I have read on the subject. He had an uncanny knack for understanding how people thought centuries ago and relating it to how we perceive (or misperceive) them.

Another good book by him on the world view of the medieval/renaissance man in Europe by the same author is called "The Discarded Image", and it is amazing. It might draw the perfect backdrop in which the whole subject of "courtly love" emerged. Again, it is hard to find a better book on the subject.

I'd bet you'd be likely to find information on the subject in the fields related to the King Arthur "cycle" of literature too.

 

[Wombat]

This site is great for medieval material in general:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook2.html

More specific to the topic, allow me to introduce you to Andreas Capellanus:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/capellanus.html

(He literally wrote the book on Courtly Love -- this is a good quick list from the site of some of his major points in this regard -- you can find is Art of Courtly Love in many libraries.)

If you are interested in Arthurian material, let me suggest:

http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/cphome.stm

There is a bunch of good material on courtly love, tournaments and the like here.

And for tournaments, this is a great clearing site:

http://www.chronique.com/

And back to the (sometimes questionable, but good starting place) wikipedia, take a look at these entries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrétien_de_Troyes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Capellanus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joust

These'll give you something to go on for the nonce.

And now let us bow our heads in honour of the anniversary of the death of Harold Godwinson, last of the Anglo-Saxon kings of England.