Editing Courtly love (section)

==Origin of term==
===Contemporary usage===
The term "courtly love" appears in only one extant source: [[Old Occitan|Provençal]] {{lang|pro|cortez amors}} in a late 12th-century poem by [[Peire d'Alvernhe]].{{sfn|Boase|Bornstein|1983}}

It is associated with the [[Provençal language|Provençal]] term {{lang|pro|fin'amor}} ("fine love") which appears frequently in poetry, as well as its German translation {{lang|de|hohe Minne}}.{{sfn|Boase|Bornstein|1983}} Provençal also uses the terms {{lang|pro|verai'amors}}, {{lang|pro|bon'amors}}.{{sfn|Boase|1977}}

===Modern usage===
{{Graphical timeline
|caption = Formation of the modern usage of the term
|from = 1880 |to = 1940
|scale-increment = 5
|height = 25 |width = 0
|note1-at = 1883 |note1 = [[Gaston Paris]]{{sfn|Paris|1883}}
|note2-at = 1896 |note2 = [[Lewis Freeman Mott]]{{sfn|Mott|1896}}
|note3-at = 1899 |note3 = [[William Allan Neilson]]{{sfn|Neilson|1899}}
|note4-at = 1934 |note4 = [[Alfred Jeanroy]]{{sfn|Jeanroy|1934}}
|note5-at = 1936 |note5 = [[C. S. Lewis]]{{sfn|Lewis|1936}}
}}

The modern use of the term "courtly love" comes from [[Gaston Paris]]. He used the term {{lang|fr|amour courtois}} ("courtly love") in a 1883 article discussing the relationship between [[Lancelot]] and [[Guinevere]] in [[Chrétien de Troyes]]'s ''[[Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart]]'' ({{circa}} 1181).{{sfn|Paris|1883}} In his article, Paris outlined four principal characteristics of {{lang|fr|amour courtois}}:
# The love is illegitimate, furtive (ie. [[adulterous]]).
# The male lover is in an inferior position and the woman in an elevated one.
# The man does quests, tests, or trials in the woman's name.
# There is an art to it, it has rules, in the same vein as [[chivalry]] or [[courtesy]].{{sfn|Paris|1883}}

Paris used it as a descriptive phrase, not a technical term, and used it interchangeably with the phrase {{lang|fr|amour chevaleresque}}. Nonetheless, other scholars began using it as a technical term after him.

In 1896, [[Lewis Freeman Mott]] applied the term "courtly love" to [[Dante Alighieri]]'s love for Beatrice in ''[[La Vita Nuova]]'' (1294).{{sfn|Mott|1896}} The two relationships are very different — Lancelot and Guinevere are secret adulterous lovers, while Dante and Beatrice had no actual romantic relationship and only met twice in their whole lives. Nonetheless, the manner in which the two men describe their devotion to and quasi-religious adoration of their ladies is similar.

In 1936, [[C. S. Lewis]] wrote ''[[The Allegory of Love]]'' which popularized the term "courtly love". He defined it as a "love of a highly specialized sort, whose characteristics may be enumerated as Humility, Courtesy, Adultery, and the Religion of Love".{{sfn|Lewis|1936|p=2}}

In 1964, Mosché Lazar differentiated three separate categories within "courtly love".{{sfn|Lazar|1964}}

====Criticism====
Scholars debate whether "courtly love" constitutes a coherent idea.

[[D. W. Robertson Jr.]] said, "the connotations of the term ''courtly love'' are so vague and flexible that its utility for purposes of definition has become questionable."{{sfn|Robertson|1962}} John C. Moore called it "a term used for a number of different, in some cases contradictory, conceptions" and called it "a mischievous term which should be abandoned".{{sfn|Moore|1979}} Roger Boase admitted the term "has been subjected to a bewildering variety of uses and definitions", but nonetheless defended the concept of courtly love as real and useful.{{sfn|Boase|1977}}

[[E. Talbot Donaldson]] criticized its usage as a technical term as an [[anachronism]] or [[neologism]].{{sfn|Donaldson|1970}}

Richard Trachsler says that "the concept of courtly literature is linked to the idea of the existence of courtly texts, texts produced and read by men and women sharing some kind of elaborate culture they all have in common". He argues that many of the texts that scholars claim to be courtly also include "uncourtly" texts, and argues that there is no clear way to determine "where courtliness ends and uncourtliness starts" because readers would enjoy texts which were supposed to be entirely courtly without realizing they were also enjoying texts which were uncourtly. This presents a clear problem in the understanding of courtliness.{{sfn|Trachsler|2006}}