A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century England

The purpose of this paper is to prove that the early Plantagenet era brought about favourable conditions for the development of the fi rst specimens of literature propagating the rules of court etiquette in England. The atmosphere of the “twelfth century Renaissance” resulted in a revival of interes...

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Main Author: Idalia Smoczyk-Jackowiak
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Pomeranian University Publishing House 2022-09-01
Series:Polilog: Studia Neofilologiczne
Subjects:
Online Access:https://polilog.pl/index.php/polilog/article/view/494
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author Idalia Smoczyk-Jackowiak
author_facet Idalia Smoczyk-Jackowiak
author_sort Idalia Smoczyk-Jackowiak
collection DOAJ
description The purpose of this paper is to prove that the early Plantagenet era brought about favourable conditions for the development of the fi rst specimens of literature propagating the rules of court etiquette in England. The atmosphere of the “twelfth century Renaissance” resulted in a revival of interest in the elegant code of courtly behavior of ancient Greek and Roman aristocracy. That model served as an inspiration for medieval ecclesiastical writers who managed to integrate classical virtues into the Christian ethical system, creating a new ideal of courtly behaviour. Thus, the poetry and prose works produced by writers associated with the English royal court show the evolution of courtly manners in that period. The analysis of selected passages of Peter Alfonsi’s collection of tales Disciplina clericalis, Stephen of Fougères’s poem Book of Manners, John of Salisbury’s prose work Policraticus and Daniel of Beccless’s poem Civilized Man proves that ecclesiastical and lay writers of that era made a considerable eff ort to raise courtly society to higher levels of social, cultural and ethical awareness.
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spelling doaj.art-6c949bd910fc43e6a3106c40972154ad2022-12-22T04:41:37ZdeuPomeranian University Publishing HousePolilog: Studia Neofilologiczne2083-54852022-09-0112375010.34858/polilog.12.2022.366680A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century EnglandIdalia Smoczyk-Jackowiak0Akademia Pomorska w SłupskuThe purpose of this paper is to prove that the early Plantagenet era brought about favourable conditions for the development of the fi rst specimens of literature propagating the rules of court etiquette in England. The atmosphere of the “twelfth century Renaissance” resulted in a revival of interest in the elegant code of courtly behavior of ancient Greek and Roman aristocracy. That model served as an inspiration for medieval ecclesiastical writers who managed to integrate classical virtues into the Christian ethical system, creating a new ideal of courtly behaviour. Thus, the poetry and prose works produced by writers associated with the English royal court show the evolution of courtly manners in that period. The analysis of selected passages of Peter Alfonsi’s collection of tales Disciplina clericalis, Stephen of Fougères’s poem Book of Manners, John of Salisbury’s prose work Policraticus and Daniel of Beccless’s poem Civilized Man proves that ecclesiastical and lay writers of that era made a considerable eff ort to raise courtly society to higher levels of social, cultural and ethical awareness.https://polilog.pl/index.php/polilog/article/view/494court etiquette, courtesy books, twelfth century renaissance, secular elites, table manners
spellingShingle Idalia Smoczyk-Jackowiak
A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century England
Polilog: Studia Neofilologiczne
court etiquette, courtesy books, twelfth century renaissance, secular elites, table manners
title A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century England
title_full A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century England
title_fullStr A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century England
title_full_unstemmed A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century England
title_short A Literary View on Courtly Manners in Twelfth Century England
title_sort literary view on courtly manners in twelfth century england
topic court etiquette, courtesy books, twelfth century renaissance, secular elites, table manners
url https://polilog.pl/index.php/polilog/article/view/494
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