Fin Amor, "refined love" (previously "Courtly Love")

    Discussions of the Phenomena of fin amor
  • Kane, George. "Chaucer, Love Poetry, and Romantic Love." Acts of Interpretation. Ed. Mary J. Carruthers and Elizabeth D. Kirk. Norman: Pilgrim, 1982. 237-55. Reprinted in George Kane, Langland and Chaucer, London: Athlone, 1989.
  • Boase, Roger. The Origin and Meaning of Courtly Love: A critical study of European scholarship. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1977.
  • Frappier, Jean. Amour courtois et Table Ronde. Geneva: Droz, 1973.
  • Robertson, D.W. Preface to Chaucer. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1963. See especially chapter 5.
  • Dronke, Peter. Medieval Latin and the Rise of the European Love-Lyric. 2 vols. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1968. See especially chapter 1.
  • Kelly, Henry Ansgar. Love and Marriage in the Age of Chaucer. Berkeley: U of California P, 1975. See especially chapter 1.
  • Steadman, John. "Courtly Love as a Problem of Style." Chaucer und seine Zeit. Ed. Arno Esch. Tbingen: 1968. 1-33.
    • Discusses the role of "decorum" in literary portrayals of love.
    Andreas Capellanus, De arte honeste amandi :
    The alledged "text book" of fin amor ; the Latin title literally means "Concerning the Art of Loving Honorably." It is translated as:
  • Andreas Capellanus. The Art of Courtly Love. Trans. John Jay Parry. 1941; New York: Norton, 1969.
      • On Andreas' Book, see:
    • Robertson, D.W. "The Subject of the De amore of Andreas Capellanus." Modern Philology 50 (1952-53): 16-23.
    • Donaldson, E. Talbot. "The Myth of Courtly Love." Speaking of Chaucer. New York: Norton, 1972. 154-63.
    Other Classical and Medieval "Primary" Texts on Love
  • Ovid's Art of Love, Loves (Amores) and Remedies of Love make up a kind of trilogy:
    • Ovid. The Art of Love and Other Poems. Ed. and trans. J. H. Mozley. Loeb Classical Library 232. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1962. (Includes The Remedies of Love.)
    • Ovid. Heroides and Amores. Ed. and trans. Grant Showerman. Loeb Classical Library 41. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP, 1914.
  • You can get an idea of the varieties of medieval literary love by looking through the love lyrics in the following three collections.
    • Goldin, Frederick ed. and trans. Lyrics of the Troubadours and TrouvŠres. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1973.
    • Goldin, Frederick ed. and trans. German and Italian Lyrics of the Middle Ages. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1973.
      • Note especially one by the Italian Guido Guinizelli beginning "Al cor gentil."
    • Dante. Dante's Lyric Poetry. Ed. and trans. K. Foster and P. Boyde. 2 vols. (Vol. 1 is texts and translation.) Oxford: Clarendon, 1967.
      • Note especially the poems beginning "Donne ch'avete intelleto d'amore," "Amore e'l cor gentil sono una cosa," "Ne li occhi porta la mia donna Amore."
    • Dante himself wrote about the French love poets and the language they used: De vulgare eloquentia ["Concerning the vernacular language"]. Trans. A.G. Ferrers Howell, The Latin Works of Dante. London: 1925.
    Love in a Wider Context
    See "Important Medieval Books" above. Note especially:
  • Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy, particularly Bk. 2 Meter 8; Bk. 3 Meter 9; Bk. 4 Meter 6. Resv
  • Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. The Romance of the Rose. Resv
  • Alan of Lille (Alanus de Insulis, Alain de Lille). The Plaint of Nature [De planctu naturae].

Back to Bibliography Index