But why this important
spiritual centre should have been formed just here it is difficult to
say.
For the first time the system of ecclesiastical values was confronted by
something novel, which was not--like the old Teutonic ideal of the
perfect warrior--tainted by barbarism, but may be described as the
system of mundane court values. This new ideal was not founded on an
authority which had to be accepted in good faith; it had its direct
origin in the passionate yearning of the human soul. Man had
re-discovered himself and become conscious of his personal creative
force. A very great thing had been accomplished; the seed which, slowly
gathering strength, had lain in the soil for a thousand years, had at
last burst its husk, and was rapidly growing into the magnificent tree
of the European civilisation. In silent opposition to the system of the
accepted ecclesiastical values, the new ideal of _pretz e valor e
beutatz_ (worth and value and beauty), of _cavalaria_ and _cortezia_
(chivalry and courtesy), was upheld in Provence.
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