onde Nuremburg doll." (R. Renier, _Il Tipo Estetico
della Donna nel Medioevo_, 1885, pp. 1-24.)

The conventional ideal of the troubadours is, again, thus
described: "She is a lady whose skin is white as milk, whiter
than the driven snow, of peculiar purity in whiteness. Her
cheeks, on which vermilion hues alone appear, are like the
rosebud in spring, when it has not yet opened to the full. Her
hair, which is nearly always bedecked and adorned with flowers,
is invariably of the color of flax, as soft as silk, and
shimmering with a sheen of the finest gold." (J.F. Rowbotham,
_The Troubadours and Courts of Love_, p. 228.)

In the most ancient Spanish romances, Renier remarks, the
definite indications of physical beauty are slight. The hair is
"of pure gold," or simply fair (_rudios_, which is equal to
_blondos_, a word of later introduction), the face white and
rosy, the hand soft, white, and fragrant; in one place we find a
reference to the uncovered breasts, whiter than crystal. But
usually the ancient Castilian romances do not deal with these
details. The poet contents himself with the statement that a lady
is the sweetest woman in the world, "_la mas linda mujer del
mundo_." (R. Renier, _Il Tipo Estetico della Donna nel Medioevo_,
pp. 68 et seq.)

In a detailed and well-documented thesis, Alwin Schultz describes
the characteristics of the beautiful woman as she appealed to the
German authors of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. She must
be of medium height and slender. Her hair must be fair, like
gold; long, bright, and curly; a man's must only reach to his
shoulders. Dark hair is seldom mentioned and was not admired. The
parting of the hair must be white, but not too broad. The
forehead must be white and bright and rounded, without wrinkles.
The eyebrows must be darker than the hair, arched, and not too
broad, as though drawn with a pencil, the space between them not
too broad. The eyes must be bright, clear, and sparkling, not too
large or too small; nothing definite was said of the color, but
they were evidently usually blue. The nose must be of medium
size, straight, and not curved. The cheeks must be white, tinged
with red; if the red was absent by nature women used rouge. The
mouth must be small; the lips full and red. The teeth must be
small, white, and