Love and Death in Medieval French and Occitan Courtly Literature

Some of medieval culture''s most arresting images and stories inextricably associate love and death. Thus the troubadour Jaufre Rudel dies in the arms of the countess of Tripoli, having loved her from afar without ever having seen her. Or in Marie de France''s Chevrefoil, Tristan and Iseult''s fatal love is hauntingly symbolized by the fatally entwined honeysuckle and hazel. And who could forget t...