There has always been the notion of love, but over the centuries it has been perceived differently with the fashions and customs of the time; the way it has been written, discussed and evolved is evident.
Our ideas of romantic love and the expression of love today have not always been popular or acceptable. In the past the feelings of love could have been considered an illness, people have not always had so much freedom to choose whom they could marry and expressions of love were not always socially appropriate.
“People in every time and culture have fallen in love, but not every culture has written about love or valued it in the same way”
– Professor Ashe
Did Love Begin in the Middle Ages?
In the early writings about relationships and love, love is of little consideration compared to marriage for economic or social gain such as trade routes, war, acquisitions and arranged marriages were common.
The earliest account of love is from Ibycus (circa 530 BC) a Greek lyric poet who wrote about love, but viewed it as an unavoidable turmoil:
Wikipedia
Greek love stories and poetry are popular from this time and an enduring myth (earlier than Ibycus) is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, a Greek myth with no definable author. By the time it was written down, it was already an old myth. It is a tragic love story and has been commented on by the great’s such as Plato who spoke disparagingly of Orpheus’ actions and Virgil in his poem about nature and Greek myths. It has inspired poems, plays and films even to this modern age: a film was made in 2003 and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone even references the myth. http://www.shmoop.com/orpheus-eurydice/context.html
By the 11th and 12th Century ideas of love changed.
There arose and articulated through the Troubadour Poets an idea of courtly love and chivalry from the 11th Century throughout the Middle Ages. An ideal romantic love rather than anything physical, it was a no-sex spiritual bond.
At this time love songs became a distinguishable genre also.
“Idealised customs were based on traditional codes of conduct associated with knighthood, such as duty, honour, courtesy and bravery.”
British Library: Courtly Love
Views on love and marriage were also changing by the 12th Century. Marriage it was decided would be a holy sacrament mainly because the act of marriage could be very haphazard and in many cases it was uncertain if couples were actually married or not. As Professor Ashe states:
“There was a transformation in culture… A series of church reforms in the 12th century took Christianity from a rather austere view of God the Father to a new focus on Christ’s humanity.”
Did Love Begin in the Middle Ages?
And as such, Professor Ashe suggests, that people were encouraged to look at their own humanity to have a more personal and spiritual relationship with God. Therefore, the popularity of romantic love is an extension of this because it encourages “self-fulfilment as an individual.”
Still even up until the 1700’s, the long held belief remained, that marriage was for practicality and children and love was for excitement, drama and sex, and that the two did not necessarily go hand in hand. It was only with a change in the Law in the UK in the late 1700’s that parental consent for marriage was now necessary and the Industrial revolution that displaced people into new cities and moved them away from familial relationships and land based work, that people’s opinions changed and with it the rise of Romanticism. The artistic and intellectual movement that stressed emotion, freedom and imagination. People’s feelings mattered and with that the belief that love should come first in a marriage, propelling love into the ideal of married life.
With this change in popular opinion and the law, people who wanted to marry without their parents consent in the UK went to Scotland and married at Gretna Green.
This shift in thinking continued in to the 1800’s and the Enlightenment that challenged traditional thinking. Jane Austin’s book Pride and Prejudice (1813) highlights this shift by proposing a woman should love the man who proposes, although practicalities must be considered such as financial security.
When researching this blog post I was surprised to find that many old notions of love, some from over 800 years ago, are still with us today:
“In the 12th century, romantic love became something that was worth celebrating and exploring in songs and stories – and you only have to look at modern film and music to see that legacy is still with us”
-Professor Ashe
Did Love Begin in the Middle Ages?
William M. Reddy goes one step further:
“The plot of the story Lancelot and Guinevere written about 1170 and the plot of the famous movie Casablanca (1942) … are virtually the same.”
William M. Reddy: Romantic Love
He also asks an interesting question: “Why have heroic visions of love endured through all these centuries?”
I think the answer is in the way these stories are interpreted and given new meaning through time as was highlighted in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. What people from the 12th century learnt, felt and gained from a story is far different to us, today. In the case of Lancelot and Guinevere from the 12th Century it served as a warning to fool hardy desires and tragic love stories were a means of deterring people from these quests and emphasises “the idea that the living individual is to be celebrated and that it might be better to stay alive after all.” Professor Ashe, whereas today it is the unrequited love, the tragedy and the actual love itself which engages people and so the story endures
There is a continuity that suggests there are some aspects of love that are attractive to our psyche – tragedy, overcoming adversity, faithfulness in challenging times and their epitome in poetry and love songs.