Courtly Love In The High Middle Ages

During the Middle ages, men and women alike were infatuated by the vices the world had to offer them. Whether it was the love of money, power, or possessions, each of these enticements in the end were short lived. This type of love, a finite love that fed off of human nature, this was referred to as Amor. Despite the fact that this type of love did not last long, people during the middle ages flocked to it for it was the only type of love they had ever known. As time would show, there would be a gradual change in how love was understood as it began to take shape or form into an eternal love. A love fueled off of jealousy and at times unrequited love, this new love was known as courtly love. Fully fleshed out within Troubadour poetry, Europe
would undergo a monumental shift as this new love took the world by storm.
Now before the Troubadour poetry, literature work of the High Middle Ages focused not on this idea of courtly love but more on religious texts.
Whether it was spiritual analyses by the likes of Thomas Aquinas or the writing of Anselm of Canterbury, texts of the Middle Ages played a specific role, that being the fact that they were guides to living a moral life. Middle literature was important for it stayed away from the mythological, and instead decided to live in the realm of actuality and fact. One would not read literature of Boniface and expect to come across magical potions, spells, and dragons, each of these things existing in the literature that was intertwined with courtly love. This can be seen in books such as the Romance of Tristan and other works.Medieval stories found themselves not to be playful in nature, but serious in their
tone.

In comparison to the literary works of the past, courtly love was a literary phenomenon that spread throughout western and northern Europe in the twelfth century. Generally associated with the nobility, courtly love grew out of the idea of love between a knight and his lords lady. The ultimate love which may never be possessed, the love the knight would have for the noblewoman would be not only passionate but genuine. An experience one would fine to be humiliating, exalting, elevating and yet damning all at the same time, courtly love was the extreme notion of what one would do for love. When the husband would be away on Crusade or other business, the noblewoman dominated the household and cultural affairs; sometimes this was the case even when the husband was at home. The lady was rich and powerful and literature gave voice to the aspirations of the courtier class, for only those who were noble could engage in courtly love. Many times courtly love was a way for nobles to experience the love that they were not receiving in their marriages. Faithfulness was seen as a sin, for it was one denying themselves from the passions and excitement from a love they could have but choose to abstain from. C.S Lewis, a noteworthy theologian and novelist, was right in saying that the change in modernity came from this understanding of how the Troubadours saw love because as time went on, no longer did the medieval world view things through the scope of Amor, but instead through courtly love.
This led to literary works by many authors, including Dante, who connected courtly love in his stories, in specific the Divine Comedy. Within the Divine Comedy, Beatrice( the love of Dante in the real world) becomes his saviour in the novel as she is the one to lead him on the path through the nine levels of heaven to finally reach the paradise where God resides. By being his earthly inspiration who died too young, the love that Dante has for her does not dwindle as she lives forever in his texts. This is the ultimate example of courtly love for it is unrequited due to the sheer fact that she is gone and will never be able to love Dante, and yet he still loves her anyway. Somehow this idea of love was wrapped into marriage, which is why love today does not reflect the ideals of necessity in the past, but instead they are based on emotion and
passion.