Scholars have for a long time examined the fascinating phenomenon of the sudden rise of courtly love in southern France, the Provence, in the early twelfth century. There are many hypotheses to explain this new cultural development, such as the poets’ inspiration from their Arabic and Hebrew colleagues in the Iberian Peninsula (close geographic proximity); contacts with Arabic culture during the crusades in the Holy Land; the emergence of a new religious cult dedicated to the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary; the rise of folkloric poetry and song and their merging with courtly culture; the development of a strong feudal structure requiring lower-ranked aristocrats to submit themselves under the dominance of a territorial ruler, who was then projected, in poetic terms, as the distant…
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Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (Guillaume IX d'Aquitaine)". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 December 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15349, accessed 30 December 2024.]
