courtly romance
Medieval aristocratic love
Courtly romance is a medieval literary genre featuring knights, noble ladies, and idealized love.
The stories follow chivalric heroes on quests, with romantic love portrayed as ennobling and often unconsummated—the knight devoted to a lady he cannot possess.
Arthurian legends exemplify the form: Lancelot's courtly romance with Guinevere.
The term also describes the stylized, formal approach to love these works celebrated.
- roseStood up, or fragrant bloom
- Middle AgesEurope's feudal millennium
- troubadourMedieval Provençal lyric poet
- chivalryKnightly code of honor
- knight-errantMedieval adventure-seeking warrior
King Arthur · fair maiden · loyalty · feudalism · minstrelsy · forbidden love · allegory · fealty · damsel · noble knight · quest · gallantry · honor code · sworn oath · tournaments · aristocracy · epic poem · virtue
- high societygossip, socialites, socialite, aristocrats, aristocrat
- medieval courtkings, lord, queens, lady, queen
- CrusadesFirst Crusade, crusade, crusader, Third Crusade, Knights Templar
- Renaissance LiteratureShakespeare, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Prince, Don Quixote
- Alexander legendsBucephalus, Gordian knot, world conquest, divine birth, water of life
- medieval textsmanuscripts, Gutenberg Bible, breviary, codices, missals
courtly romanceribaldry
Vulgar or indecent humor
satire · naturalism · bodice ripper · pulp romance · pornography
court, courtly, courts, courted, courting, courtier, courtiers, courtesy, courteous