Sometime between 1170 and 1186 Andreas Capellanus wrote his famous Treatise on Love (or De arte honeste amandi). It was intended to portray the Courts of Love held by Eleanor of Aquitaine between 1170 and 1174. Whether Andreas was writing a satire, or a more serious entertainment for the ladies of the Court of Countess Marie de Troyes is still debated. But in this month of St. Valentine I hope you will enjoy the excerpts from Capellanus' work I have chosen. This version was translated by John Jay Parry in 1941, printed by W.W. Norton and Co., 1969.

What Love Is: Love is a certain inborn suffering derived from the sight of and excessive meditation upon the beauty of the opposite sex, which causes each one to wish above all things the embraces of the other and by common desire to carry out all of love's precepts in the other's embrace.

Where Love Gets Its' Name: Love gets its name (amor) from the word for hook (amus), which means "to capture" or "to be captured", for he who is in love is captured in the chains of desire and wishes to capture someone else with his hook.

What The Effect Of Love Is: Love causes a rough and uncouth man to be distinhuished for his handsomeness; it can endow a man even of the humblest birth with nobility of character; it blesses the proud with humility; and the man in love becomes accustomed to performing many services gracefully for everyone.

How Love When Acquired May Be Kept: A lover ought to appear to his beloved wise in every respect and restrained in his conduct, and he should do nothing disagreeable that would annoy her. Even if he know sometimes that what she wants is not so reasonable, he should be prepared to agree to it after he has asked her to reconsider. And if inadvertently he should do something improper that offends her, let him straightway confess with downcast face he has done wrong, and let him give the excuse that he lost hios temper or make some other suitable explanation that will fit the case.

And finally, some of my favorite Rules of Love:
I. Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.
II. He who is not jealous cannot love.
VIII. No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons.
XV. Every lover regularly turns pale in the presense of his lover.
XVII. A ner love puts to flight an old one.
XXIII. He whom the thought of love vexes eats and sleeps very little.
XXVI. Love can deny nothing to love.

and last but not least,
XXXI. Nothing forbids one woman from being loved by two men or one man by two women.

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