Some Critics on “Courtly Love”

Amour courtois is "illicit, furtive, and extra-conjugal; the lover continually fears lest he should, by some misfortune, displease his mistress

or cease to be worthy of her; the lover's position is one of inferiority; even the hardened warrior trembles in his lady's presence; she, on

her part, makes her suitor acutely aware of his insecurity by deliberately acting in a capricious and haughty manner; love is a source of

courage and refinement; the lady's apparent cruelty serves to test her lover's valour; finally love, like chivalry and courtousie, is an art

with its own code of rules."

Gaston Paris, "Le Conte de la Charette," 1883

(cp. TC 1.470-83, 1072-85 and 2.190-206, on courage and refinement; 1.344-50, on caprice)

The four elements of Courtly Love (from C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love [1936]):

1. Humility (cp. TC 1.810-19, 2.1065-85)

2. Courtesy (cp. TC 1. 1030-36)

3. Adultery (oops!)

4. The Religion of Love (cp. TC 1.421-34, 932-38, 995-1001, 2.519-39)

Such a definition of courtly love as C.S. Lewis's seems to be the result of a confusion on his part of literary criticism with supposedly

objective historical facts which he derived mainly from the earlier literature he was examining.

E.T. Donaldson, "The Myth of Courtly Love," 1965

Troilus and Criseyde from the Roman de Troyle

(Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 331, c. 1480)