So I did a little research and apparently the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is done in a "Romanesque" style and not Gothic? This confused me because it looks very Gothic to me. The Cathedral was completed during the Middle Ages however in 1211. The architect was Fernando de Casas Novoa. So even if the place where this video was filmed is not relevant architecturally for this week, it is certainly relevant for the time period. Also I really love the music group Gregorian. Even though their music selection is a little different than what it must have been in the Middle Ages I can not help but be swept away by the sound.

I quickly realized that the life of Heloise was more complicated than I had ever dreamed. Heloise was a nun who later became an abbess. But by her own report she only became a nun because Abelard told her to. Heloise and Abelard had a rip-roaring love affair and Heloise gave birth to his son. Abelard either married Heloise or intended to marry her but was castrated probably on order of Heloise's uncle Canon Fulbert. After all, who would not be a little angry that their young niece was "taken advantage of" by an older scholar? Thus once again Heloise's choices and desires were controlled by an older more powerful man. Inexplicably Abelard's castration ends their physical love-affair but begins their spiritual struggle/love affair with Christ and secures their places in history with the writing of over 100 "love letters" between teacher and student, monk and nun...former lovers. I included a picture of their shared tomb although whether Heloise is actually in this tomb is unclear. "Héloïse's place of burial is uncertain. According to the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, the remains of both lovers were transferred from the Oratory in the early 19th century and were reburied in the famous crypt on their grounds.The Oratory of the Paraclete claims Héloïse and Abélard are buried there and that what exists in Père-Lachaise is merely a monument. There are still others who believe that while Abélard is buried in the crypt at Père-Lachaise, Héloïse's remains are elsewhere" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heloise_abbess).

I feel like the tomb is symbolic that even in her death, this strong intelligent woman who knew all the classical languages and was a gifted writer is still the subject of soap-opera-esk romantic controversy, and captures the imagination of the world. We insist that these star-crossed lovers should be together in death even though they spent more time vowed to Jesus in life. (See also the Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women's Writing. pgs. 161-171).

What I found fascinating about "Saint" Julian of Norwich is that she is not actually a saint, meaning she was never officially beatified by the Catholic Church. But that is not the only important thing about this Medieval mystic/victim of a huge Catholic clerical error. Julian lived in the 1300's during the plague or "Black Death." France was fighting England in the 100 Years War which Spain joined in 1372. Julian was living in Norwich and was so ill one night everyone thought she was going to die. On May 8th after a priest brought her a crucifix, she began to commune with God and had God give her messages. One such message was concerning a small nut to which God explained that even the smallest things were being cared for/watched after by God. This information was paraphrased from The Loyola Treasury of Saints: From the Time of Jesus to the Present Day, David Self. Loyola Press: Chicago, 2003 pages 150-151. The artifact I found concerning Julian of Norwich is of a video posted on youtube which shows the pilgrimage site for Julian in Norwich. This week we learned that the Church in the Middles Ages used pilgrimages as a means to get money from lay people. It is my hope that Lady Julia's pilgrimage site is more about history/memory and spirituality and not about capital. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNB_oBVUniA

L'amor cortés or courtly love, is described in some detail in Powers on pages 22-28. According to Powers this concept emerged in the twelfth century when "troubadours of the south of France devised lyric poetry of great beauty bound up with the theory of courtly love" (22). Courtly love is the relationship (not necessarily sexual) between a married lady and a gentlemen, most often a knight.

Courtly love not only challenges our perceptions of historical gender dynamics between heterosexual men and women, but also begs the question about traditional marriages and the historical structure of feudal marriages being about contracts and property and not about love (24). Courtly love is related to chivalry as romantic relationships often occurred between knights and ladies. Powers suggests that these relationships are found in literature more than they were actually practiced (28).

I have always loved the movie First Knight. If ever there was an example of
l'amor cortés it would be in the story of Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot. My artifact then is a clip from First Knight which is a steamy and romantic (albeit problematic) scene between Lancelot (Richard Gere) and Guinevere (Julia Ormond). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQoIwmnnAOs