Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-09-25
THE COURTS OF LOVE.
the Thirty.One Articles of the An
al0Fv COda

tnAJ particular KIM OF Oue calleu tne
tenson; a Provencial word, formed, ac-
cording TO the analogy of troubadour
language, from the Latin accusative
con.tentIo-nem, by dropping the prefix
and case-termin nation. With regard to
these poetical contests, Sismondi says
(vol. j., PIP 1873, l34), when the chief
baron had invited to his court the neigh
boring lords and the knights who were
his vassals, three days were devoted to
jousts and ournaments-asort of mimic
warfare. The younger gentlemen, who,
under the name of pages, followed the
profession of arms, contended on the
first day; the second was devoted
to newly armed knights; and the
third to old warriors; and the
lady of the castle, surrounded by
youthful beauties, distributed to the
conquerors the chaplets which had
been awarded by the judges of the COM
bats. She forthwith in her turn opened
her tribunal, formed in imitation of the
seignorial courts; and, as the baron was
surrounded by his peers to administer
justice, she also formed her court-the
court of love-of the youngest ladies,
most brilliant in their beauty and accom-
plishments. A new career was opened
TO those who ventured to contend no
longer with arms, but in verse; and the
name of tensions given to these dramatic
combats signi6es in fact strife. Often
the same knights who had carried off the
prize for valor presented themselves to
dispute that for poesy One of them,
harp in hand, after having played pre-
lude, proposed the subject of the trial.
Another advanced in his turn, and sing
ing to the same air, answered by a strOphe
in similar measure, and generally with
the same rhymes. Thus they improvised
in turn, and the trial was generally com
prised in five couplets. Immediately the
court of love deliberated gravely. 1t
discussed not only the merits of the two
poets, but the very root of the question;
and gave, generally in verse, judgment
OF love- by which it claimed to settle
the matter"
Passing, however, from this simple
and very likely original Office, the court
of love assumed functions of a more
general nature; and its judgments be-
came quoted as precedents and codifed
into a new and rather revolutionary
standard ofmorals. The chaplain Andre
names the ladies of Gascony, Ermen-
garde, Viscountess of Narbonne, the
Countess Of Champagne, the Countess of
Flanders, and-most interesting of all
to us--Eleanor of Guienne, Queen of
Louis VII of France and Henry III Of
England, as having held courts of love.
Nostradamus, too, adds list of places
at which the courts were held and gives
in many instances the names of the la
dies composing them. In the case of
rival troubadours reciting tensions, it
was also sometimes customary for the
bards themselves, in their couplets, to
name the ladies to whose arbitration
they submitted the dispute.
1t may be as well to cite thirty-one ar
ticles o. the code of love-
l. Marriage is no legitimate excuse
against love.
2. Whoever cannot conceal cannot
love.
8. No one must have two lovers at the
same time.
3. Love must always be increasing or
diminishing.
5. Favors unwillingly granted have no
charm,
6. No male must love until of full age.
7. Whoever of two lovers survives the
other must observe widowhoOd of two
years.
8. None should be deprived of love
except they lose their reason.
8. None can love except when COM
nelled hV the stress of love
10. Love is au exile from the homes
Of avarice.
IL. She who is scrupulous Of the mar
riage tie should not love.
IL. A true lover desires no embraces,
save those of his lady love.
l3. Love divulged rarely lasts.
IA. Easy winning makes love con-
temptible; difficulty renders it dear.
Is. Every lover grows pale at the sight
Of his ladylove.
l6 The heart of lover trembles at
the sudden sight of his ladyloye.
II. A new love makes an old one de-
part.
Is. Probity alone makes q man wor.
thy to be loved
h l9. If love diminishes it soon fails, and
rarely RECEIVERS its strength.
20. The lover is always timid.
2l. From true jealousy love always
increases.
%. When suspicion is aroused about
lover, Jealousy and love increase.
%. Filled with thoughts of love. the
lover eats and drinks less (than usual.
"a. Every act of lover is determined
by thoughts of the beloved.
20. A true lover thinks naught happy
save what would please his beloved.
26. Love can deny nothing to love.
q. A lover cannot be satiated with
the charms of the beloved.
%. A slight prejudice makes lover
think i'll of the beloved.
49, He is not wont = love who is op-
pressed by too great abundance of pleas
ure.
so. A true lover is always, without
filed with the image Of his
lady love.
81 Nothing hinders one woman being
loved by two men, or one man by two
women. With regard to the nature Of
those which were selected in the tensions
of the rival troubadours, Nostradamus
cites an instance in the thesis chosen by
Giraud and Peyronet. 1t was this:
" Which is best loved, the absent or
present lady2" involving the further
question, Which avail tue more in
loving, the eye or the heart" " The re-
suit, Of course, in favor Of the heart,
was thus given in the quaint language
Of the original:
Apres avoir amene plusieurs bonnes
raysons ct examples" the court ruled:
Tout homme de bon jugement cognoit
bieu que lie ceur a seigneurie sur les
yeulx, ct que les yeulx ne servent rien
en- amours 81 le ceur ne le sent, ct sans