René d'Anjou

The Book of the Heart Seized by Love
(Le Livre du Coeur d’Amour Épris)

Le Livre du Coeur: Cover

Illustrated edition.


Part I: The Quest for Sweet Mercy

Part II: The Castle Named Devoid-of-Joy

Part III: Coeur's Rescue

Part IV: The Isle of the God of Love

Part V: The Tombs of the Lovers

Part VI: Lady Courtesy and Lady Pity

Part VII: The Castle of Pleasure

Part VIII: The House of Rebellion

Also See:

The Romance of the Rose (Le Roman de la Rose), by Guillaume de Lorris

Guillaume de Lorris who, it is presumed, came from the village of Lorris, near Orléans, France was educated and literate, and therefore likely to have been of the minor aristocracy. He produced in his Romance, a dream allegory of courtly love, in a poetic, reflective and elegant style. His world-view is also shrewd, with his reflections on love partly derived from Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love. Guillaume’s work, with which René d'Anjou's love quest has affinities, is an epitome of the allegorical style and a fine development of the courtly tradition of ‘fin amour’.

cover image

Translated by A. S. Kline © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved

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