elf-abandonment, and they felt in no way jealous of
these fine knights who were more in sympathy with their wives than they
could ever hope to be. So the lover became an accepted person who had
rights which the wife did not conceal and which the husband did not
deny. The husband literally owned the body of his wife, it is true, but
the lover had her soul, for the feudal customs gave to the woman no
moral power over her husband, while the code of love, on the other hand,
made of woman the guide and associate of man. It was all a play world,
of course; the troubadour knight and lover would discuss by means of the
_tenso_, which was a dialogue in song, all sorts of questions with his
lady, or with another of his kind, while the slow, thick-headed husbands
dozed in their chairs, dreaming of sudden alarums and the din of battle.
Here, however, was afforded opportunity for a quick display of wit, and
here was shown much nimbleness of mind, and, all in all, woman profited
by the intercourse and became, as has been said, more than the "link
between generations," which was all she had been before. It was in the
great hall, about the wide hearth, after the evening meal, that the harp
was sounded and the _tenso_ was begun which was of such interest to the
singer and his fair chatelaine; and among the questions of serious
import which they then discussed, the following will serve by way of
illustration: "Which is better, to have wisdom, or success with the
ladies?" "Which is better, to win a lady by skill or by boldness?"
"Which are greater, the joys or the sorrows of love?" "Which brings the
greater renown, Yes or No?" "Can true love exist between married
persons?" Futile and ridiculous as all this may seem to us to-day, the
very fact that women were here put upon the same footing as the men,
even upon a superior footing, as great deference was shown them by their
knightly lovers, all this was but an indication of the fact that woman's
place in society was surely advancing. Thus, outside of marriage and
even opposed to it, was realized that which constitutes its true
essence, the fusion of soul and mutual improvement; and since that time
love and marriage have more often been found together, and the notion
has been growing with the ages that the one is the complement of the
other. Marriage, as has been said, was but an imperfect institution at
this time, and in many cases it appears that the code of love, as it may
be called, was qu