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stamens feel free to hazard the heterodox opinion that stamens and pollen grains were the
male sexual structures of flowers.
During the 600- year period from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries that spanned
the High and Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, these two cultural shifts did indeed
occur, preparing the ground for the two- sex model.
The greatest impetus for what has been called the “Twelfth Century Awakening” came
in response to the Christian capture of the Islamic city of Toledo by Alfonso VI of Castile
in 1085, which brought into Europe a sudden influx of Greek learning that had been pre-
served by Islamic scholars— most of which had not been translated into Latin. The response
of European intellectuals was a passionate revival of classical thought and a burgeoning
enthusiasm for classical literature.The First Troubadour
The first signs of a new wind blowing began in the eleventh century with the appearance
of an important new literary movement. The troubadour poets appeared first in southwest-
ern France, bordering Spain and the Mediterranean, in a region called Aquitania by the
Romans. Their secular lyrics, written in the Provençal dialect, focused on the powerful
themes of chivalry and courtly love, and, over the course of the next two centuries, the
influence of the troubadours spread throughout Europe.
The proximity of Aquitaine to Muslim Spain placed it on the front line of cultural
exchange between the Christian and Muslim worlds. Indeed, some scholars believe that the
first known troubadour of Aquitaine, William IX, the duke of Aquitaine, may have been
influenced by Arabic love poetry filtering in from the courts of Andalusia.^2 William IX
also may have been influenced by Ovid, whose poetic works included three on the topic of
romantic love: The Art of Love, The Cure for Love, and The Amours. Ovid’s poems treated
Love in a light- hearted, elegant manner and were widely available in southern France during
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in both Latin and Provençal.
Ovid’s love poetry emphasized courtship over consummation. In one passage in The Art
of Love, Ovid counseled a young woman not to yield too quickly to her suitor’s importun-
ing, for the more barriers that were placed in his path the more heightened his anticipation
of the ecstasy that awaited him. In this hyperaroused state, the boundary between pleasure
and pain becomes blurred. Ovid’s idea of the heightening effect of delayed gratification was
embraced by the troubadour poets, who soon took it to its logical extreme: the unending,
blissful torment of unrequited love. In this way, physical love could be celebrated without
transgressing the medieval Christian ideal of chastity.
William of Aquitaine’s poetry uses nature imagery to express the tenderness of love, as in
“For the Sweetness of Springtime”:In the sweetness of springtime
Forest, flower, and the birds
Sing— each in his native chant—
Therefore a man stands well
When he has what he most desires ...