The 'Familia Regis' and the 'Familia Cupidinis'

Author / Editor
Green, Richard Firth.

Title
The 'Familia Regis' and the 'Familia Cupidinis'

Published
V. J. Scattergood and J. W. Sherborne, eds. English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages (London: Duckworth, 1983), pp. 87-108.

Description
Surveys evidence for the existence of "courts of love" in late medieval French and English culture, considering historical evidence such as Charles VI's "cour amoureuse," and the literary evidence of the love debate, the "demande d'amour," the flower versus the leaf, etc. Draws examples from a range of literature, including Chaucer's LGWP, TC, and Scog. Although the evidence for courts of love is "far from unambiguous," it may indicate that the court society itself was "closed, predominantly masculine . . . self-consciously literary," and perhaps rather "preening."

Alternative Title
English Court Culture in the Later Middle Ages

Chaucer Subjects
Troilus and Criseyde
Legend of Good Women
Envoy to Scogan