Crete 201around which medieval love literature was written.
Courtly love was considered essentially chivalric and a
product of 12th-century France, especially of the
TROUBADOURS. The conventions of this poetry involved
the idealization of a beloved woman, whose love, as did
all love, refined and ennobled her lover. The male lover
existed to serve the female. This adulterous union of their
minds or bodies was not to be apparent to others and
allowed them to attain a higher excellence of character.
Upper-class marriage was considered to be contracted for
economic and social reasons, not for love. These ideas
were to permeate much of European literature.
See alsoALIGHIERI,DANTE; ALLEGORY;CAPELLANUS,
ANDREAS;CHRÉTIEN DETROYES;CHIVALRY;ELEANOR OF
AQUITAINE;GOTTFRIED OF STRASSBURG;MARIE DE
FRANCE; ROMAN DE LA ROSE; ROMANCES;PETRARCH,
FRANCESCO; WILLIAMIX,DUKE OFAQUITAINE; WOMEN,
STATUS OF.
Further reading: Peter L. Allen, The Art of Love:
Amatory Fiction from Ovid to the Romance of the Rose
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992);
C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tra-
dition(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936); F. X. Newman,
ed., The Meaning of Courtly Love(Albany: State University
of New York, 1969); Roger Boase, The Origin and Meaning
of Courtly Love: A Critical Study of European Scholarship
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977).
Courtrai, Battle of (Battle of the Golden Spurs)
Courtrai, now in BELGIUM, became famous in the 14th
century when a French army, sent by PHILIPIV to disci-
pline the nearby towns of BRUGESand GHENT, among
others, was defeated on July 11, 1302, by urban militia.
The French knights were unable to break the defenses of
massed Flemish infantry and suffered huge losses. As a
result of this humiliating defeat, the French monarchy
lost control of FLANDERSto more pro-English sentiments.
The increased tensions that resulted from Flanders’s eco-
nomic links to England later contributed to the HUNDRED
YEARS’WAR. The name Battle of the Golden Spurs referred
to the capture of the spurs of the fallen French knights.
See alsoCAVALRY.
Further reading: Hilda Johnstone, trans., Annales
Gandenses(London: Oxford University Press, 1957); J. F.
Verbruggen, The Battle of the Golden Spurs (Courtrai, 11
July 1302): A Contribution to the History of Flanders’ War
of Liberation, 1297–1305,ed. Kelly De Vries and trans.
David Richard Ferguson (Woodbridge, England: Boydell
Press, 2002).
courts and court system, ecclesiastical and secular
SeeCRIME, PUNISHMENT, AND THE COURTS.
covetousness SeeSEVEN DEADLY OR CAPITAL SINS.
Cracow(Kraków) Medieval Cracow was a city situated
on the left bank of the Vistula, in a place where a leg-
endary founder, Krak or Krok, traditionally defeated a
dragon. Founded in the ninth century by SLAVsettlers, the
city became a major political and religious center under
Great MORAVIA. In the 10th century it was disputed
between the dukes of BOHEMIAand Poland, but from the
reign of BOLESLAVI, Polish domination was maintained.GROWTH AND REBIRTH
Under Boleslav III (r. 1102–38), Cracow became a com-
mercial center connecting GERMANY with Slavic coun-
tries. The city was the seat of one of the four
principalities of Poland. Its development in the late 12th
century was interrupted by conquest in 1241 by the
MONGOLS. In the beginning of the 14th century, Cracow
was rebuilt with a new GOTHICcathedral, churches, and
palaces. The development of commerce attracted German
and JEWISHsettlers, and Cracow became the capital of
Poland during the reign of CASIMIRIII in the mid-14th
century. The high court of the realm was moved to Cra-
cow and the city was granted the status of an urban free
COMMUNE. In 1364 Casimir founded the university at
Cracow, making the city a cultural center of the kingdom.
In the 15th century it became a center of a growing trade
with Italy and was influenced by Italian culture.
Further reading:Jan Bialostocki, The Art of the Renais-
sance in Eastern Europe: Hungary, Bohemia, Poland(Ithaca,
New York: Cornell University Press, 1976); Samuel Fisz-
man, ed., The Polish Renaissance in its European Context
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988).Crécy, Battle of The Battle of Crécy was the first major
land battle of the HUNDREDYEARS’WAR, and was fought
on August 26, 1346. King EDWARDIII and EDWARD THE
BLACKPRINCEdefeated the numerically superior French
forces of Philip VI (r. 1328–50) of France. The success of
the English longbow men, who probably fired more than a
half-million arrows from a good defensive and surround-
ing position, and a lack of competent leadership on the
French side, led to more than 10,000 French casualties,
compared with approximately 500 English. The English
went on to lay siege to Calais and take control of much of
western and southwestern France.
Further reading:Alfred Higgins Bume, The Crécy
Wa r (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1955); Jonathan
Sumption, The Hundred Years’ War,Vol. 1, Trial by Battle
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990);
Jonathan Sumption, The Hundred Years’ War,Vol. 2, Tr i a l
by Fire Battle(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 1999).Crete Medieval Crete was an island in the eastern
Mediterranean located almost equidistant from main-
land GREECEand AFRICA. The island was successively