Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle Ages Book

	Introduction: Fiction and Reality	1
	Everyday life and the feast day	1
	Courtly society and modern scholarship	5
	Literature as a historical source	7
	The "Praise of Times Gone By" (Laudatio temporis acti)	14
	An overview of the book	16
Chapter I	Noble Society of the High Middle Ages: Historical Background	21
1.	Basic Concepts of the Social Order	22
	The law	22
	Lordship	23
	Estates	26
2.	The Hierarchical Structure of Society	29
	The king	29
	The princes	31
	The nonprincely nobility	32
	The ministerials	33
	The urban population	36
	The rural population	38
3.	The Economy	39
	Economic developments	39
	Trade and commerce	41
	The economic foundation of lordship	43
4.	The Knight and Knighthood	46
	Ritter-miles-chevalier	46
	Noble knighthood	49
	The formation of the knightly class	50
5.	The Court	52
	Itinerant lordship and the formation of permanent residences	52
	Court society	55
	The word "hofisch" (courtly)	57
Chapter II	The Adoption of French Aristocratic Culture in Germany	61
1.	Society	61
	Economic ties	61
	The state of education	68
	Dynastic connections	75
	The adoption of French social forms	79
2.	Language	82
	Language skills	82
	Loan words	85
3.	Literature	88
	The chronology and geography of the transmission of French literature	88
	Courtly epics	92
	Courtly lyric	96
	The characteristics of the literary adaptation	99
Chapter III	Material Culture and Social Style	103
1.	Castles and Tents	103
	The construction of castles and palaces in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries	103
	The architecture of castles and palaces	108
	Furnishings	112
	Castles as instruments of lordship	121
	Luxurious tents	126
2.	Clothes and Cloth	128
	Dress codes	128
	The sources for the history of costume	130
	Precious fabrics	132
	Sartorial extravagance	134
	The courtly ceremony of dress	136
	The beginnings of courtly fashion	138
	Women's clothes	140
	Men's clothes	145
	Changes in fashion	150
	Criticism from the Church	152
3.	Weapons and Horses	155
	The history of armament	155
	The main weapons of a knight	157
	The social significance of weapons	164
	The ceremony of knightly single combat	168
	Horses	175
4.	Food and Drink	178
	Food for the nobility	178
	The protocol of the courtly banquet	182
	Seating arrangements	183
	Service at table	187
	Tableware	191
	The organization of the meal	193
	Courtesy books	196
	Literature of feasting and carousing	199
Chapter IV	Courtly Feasts: Protocol and Etiquette	203
1.	Court Feasts	203
	The court feast at Mainz in 1184	203
	Feast and lordship	207
	Lodging and food	210
	The festive entrance	213
	The ceremony of welcome	219
	Courtly entertainment	220
	Gifts	228
2.	Knighting Ceremonies	231
	Terminology and ceremony	231
	The courtly ceremony of knighting	234
	The role of the Church	239
	From royal practice to mass promotion	242
3.	Tournaments	247
	The beginnings of tournaments	247
	The mass tournament or melee	251
	The buhurt	258
	The single joust and the Round Table tournament	260
	The military, social, material, and political significance of tournaments	264
	Prohibitions and criticism of tournaments	271
Chapter V	The Courtly Ideal of Society	275
1.	The Chivalrous Knight	276
	The traditional image of the ruler	276
	The religious concept of knighthood (militia Christi)	290
	Courtly virtues	301
	Ideal and reality	311
2.	The Courtly Lady	325
	The new image of women	325
	Instruction for women: Upbringing and education	337
	The parameters of women's activities	346
3.	Courtly Love	360
	What is courtly love?	360
	Love-marriage-adultery	377
	Love and society	398
Chapter VI	Criticism of Courtly Life	415
Chapter VII	The Literary Scene of the Courtly Age	425
1.	Oral Culture and Literacy in Courtly Society	426
	Lay education	426
	Oral traditions	436
	The development of organized writing at the secular courts	441
2.	Patrons and Sponsors	458
	The imperial court as a literary center	459
	The patronage of princes	470
	The smaller courts	485
	The beginnings of literary life in the cities	487
3.	Author and Audience	488
	The social standing of the poet	488
	The courtly audience	506
	The impact of literature	512
4.	The Performance and Spread of Literature	518
	Courtly epic	518
	Courtly lyric	545
	Notes	573
	Glossary	679
	Abbreviations	681
	Bibliography	687
	Index	747