Art of Courtly Love

The De Amore of Andreas Capellanus (Andre the Chaplain), composed in France in the 1180s, is celebrated as the first comprehensive discussion of theory of courtly love. The book is believed to have been intended to portray conditions at Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's court at Poitiers between 1170 and 1174, and written the request of her daughter, Countess Marie of Troyes. As such, it is important for its connections to themes of contemporary Latin lyric, in troubadour poetry and in the French romances of Chretien de Troyes. Thereafter its influence spread throughout Western Europe, so that the treatise is of fundamental importance for students of medieval and renaissance English, French, Italian and Spanish. In this comprehensive edition, P.G. Walsh includes Trojel's Latin text with his own facing English translation with explanatory notes, commentary and indexes, along with introduction which sets the treatise in its contemporary context and assesses its purpose and importance.