Courtly love is known in general as a romantic and glamorous type of love, which was practised by the members of the courts across Europe during the Middle Age. Characteristic for courtly love is that the "object of the lovers affections was a married lady of high rank" that theoretical only could be adored at a distance however, the romantic custom of courtly love allows the knights and ladies to show their admiration regardless of their marital sex (Porter, 5). It was a common occurrence for a married lady to give a token to a knight of her choice to be worn during their tournament. The concept of courtly love is also combined with the code of chivalry which forms the ideal medieval world of brave and elegant knights. The probably most famous example for a courtly love relationship is the Legend of King Arthur and his wife who fell in love with the knight Sir Lancelot. Lancelot, who totally represents the ideal of the brave, strong and honourable knight, affects the queen by his heroic actions and is clearly her favourite (cf. Chretien de Troyes). But concerning to this romantic idea, the big question is to what extent the concept of courtly love is coextensive with the reality of ordinary love relationships at court in the Middle Age and in how far 'courtly love literature' is misinterpreted. .
The term 'courtly love', as we know it, was introduced by Gaston Paris in 1883 to describe the illicit, secret, demeaning and ultimately disastrous love of Lancelot and Queen Guinevere (cf. Paris, 460-481).Accordingly, the term was an invention of the Victorian time and had not existed in the Middle Age, which leads to the assumption that the concept of courtly love "had very little to do with the reality of ordinary romantic relationships "in the Middle Age (Porter, 9). In the actual medieval period the terms 'Amour Honestus' (Honest Love) and 'Fin Amor' (Refined Love) appeared.
