Ask Me Help Desk - Canterbury tales paper

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truckz

im in high school and am doing a paper having to do with the canterbury tales.i was wondering if anyone could tell me where the chivalrous code, or the phrase courtly love comes from? :confused: i really need help my grades and job depend on this!

-truckz

"Courtly love" was a concept infused in the songs and stories of troubadors during the eleventh century. This type of love was romantic love for romance's sake. It was a love that created an isolated universe between the two lovers and transcended any other earthly relationship or responsibility. Troubadors, who sang of this kind of love, most often performed before nobles and monarchs who were subject--or slave--to arranged marriages and relationships weighted by the responsibilities of maintaining stature or bearing the weight of a kingdom's needs. Over the next two hundred years, the stories of this courtly love gained in popularity and even began to influence the reality of such historical figures as Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Courtly love had several key features:
1) It appealed to--and was usually practiced by--nobles and royalty.
2) The male figure was seen as a servant who courted the female through elaborate rituals that often included gifts and special feats performed in honor of the woman. These rituals--and the reason why--might have been made spectacle in the public arena.
3) The courtly relationships were most often extramarital. From the perspective of the lovers--and the philosophy of courtly love--the pursuit of one another's love, despite the forbidden nature of the relationships, was only evidence that this was the truest, purest form of love.