Constance of Brittany's 1160 letter to Louis VII

[transemacabre]

I came across this letter, which C. Stephen Jaegar calls "remarkable" in his book, Ennobling love: in search of a lost sensibility (1999), and thought I'd share it here

Comments

[syntinen_laulu]

I agree that it sounds like a love letter. But is the nub of it the bit where she says, in effect, "I'd rather marry a Frenchman of any rank at all than marry the King of Scots"?

[transemacabre]

Yes; Judith Everard suggests that Constance may have written the letter after the death of Louis VII's queen, Constanza of Castile (she died in 1160 giving birth to Alys) and that Constance may even have been angling to marry Louis herself. Constance mentions her brother is in England, perhaps arranging the Scots marriage or for his own wedding to Margaret of Scotland, so not only did Constance take the initiative in sending that letter, she may even have been trying to circumvent Conan's marital plans for her! Pretty bold!

I also find it amusing, after seeing Robert de Blois' etiquette rules for proper ladies, that Constance is breaking several of them here. She boasts that "many men" have offered her "many gifts of love", she outright solicits love-tokens from Louis and offers him anything he wants in return. Now, Robert de Blois' Chastoiement des dames is mid-13C, but I'm fairly sure that kind of behavior wasn't totally proper back in 1160, either.

[syntinen_laulu]

Well, it'a a very old observation that it you're 'only' a lady or gentleman you have to behave in a ladylike or gentlemanly way to be considered as such, but if you're royalty or top-whack aristocracy you can do pretty much what you d*mn well like.