There’s more to medieval love than gallant knights and fair maidens. The literature of “courtly love” also includes complex psychological fictions, radical gender play, ethical meditations on agency and consent, and werewolves. This course surveys all of the above, focusing on works written in twelfth-century France, where the concepts of romantic love and secular literature emerged hand in hand, and fourteenth-century England, where love became subject for satire and philosophical examination. In the process, we will read some exceptionally good poetry. No previous experience with medieval literature is required or expected.
