The Art of Courtly Love

The Fourth Dialogue is between a nobleman and a middle-class woman. Andreas tells Walter that a nobleman may sit next to a middle-class woman without her permission because “of the privileges his higher rank permits him” (62). With a woman of his own class, a nobleman may only sit next to her if she has given him permission. A man of lower rank than a woman must not ask to sit beside her but in a lower position.

The nobleman tells the middle-class woman that he is an ambassador “from the court of Love” (62) sent to her to seek the answer to the question that asks who is more deserving of praise—a noblewoman or a commoner. The woman’s initial response is the noblewoman since “those things we come by naturally seem to be more desired than those which are external” (63). The man counters that the commoner is more worthy since a commoner’s character is the product of her soul’s “innate qualities” (63) and thus can be considered natural. The woman replies that the man seems to lack good sense since he is belittling nobility. Further, his argument inclines her to value good character more in a commoner than a noble.