Medieval Literary Device

Courtly love is an idealized expression of love in which a noble man pursues a romantic relationship with a noble woman he loves without hope of consummating the relationship.

 Noble and royal families arrange the marriages of their children – often for political or material gain. Love is not a factor in these marriages.  Humans have natural inclinations and are attracted to and fall in love with people who are not necessarily politically or materially advantageous.  Society makes rules, such as the sanctity of marriage, in order to preserve politically or materially advantageous marriages.

 Still, relationships outside of marriage (especially if the marriage is arranged or loveless) do really happen and are usually passionate.  Because such relationships are passionate, they are usually interesting and are thus tempting fodder for authors.  But for such stories to be acceptable, and thus read, they need to be morally suitable.  Therefore the stories of such love are idealized into a formal trope.

 Both of the lovers are of noble or royal rank  One or both of the lovers are unable to participate in a romantic relationship with the other lover – usually because he or she is married.

 The lady in the relationship would often give a token to her courtly lover.  This token of affection is often a handkerchief.  The courtly lover would wear the handkerchief on his armor.

 The male courtly lover would often undertake a challenge to show his affection for the lady he loves.  This challenge was arduous and was meant to show the purity of his love or to purify him of any sin associated with his love.

 Most courtly love is never consummated.  The most physical manifestation of courtly love is the kiss.  Such kisses were often chased, but were meant to express the purity and passion of the courtly lovers.