Christine de Pizan was partially right when she said that women who allowed themselves to be wooed by lovers put themselves in a vulnerable position, but that is only half of the story. Troubadour love poetry and the practice of courtly love empowered women to a certain extent. The poetry of the Goliards and the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine are two very different groups of people and yet they praised women and allowed them power over men's hearts (and loins). The poetry of Bernart de Ventadorn both praised and despised women for their beauty and power. Courtly love gave birth to chivalry but it also gave birth to the tradition of putting women on an inaccessible pedestal that they would perch on, unable to move, for centuries to come. Anderson and Zinsser see the positive and negative aspects of courtly love and much information can be drawn from them as well as troubadours of the time. .
There are many ways in which courtly love allowed women a modicum of power in a world where otherwise they were supposed to be dependent, obedient and chaste wives and daughters. Troubadours waxed poetic about women's beauty saying, "no one who looked at her was not warmed with joy,"" and, " her eyes bright, her face white, a beautiful mouth, a well-set nose ,"" (Anderson and Zinsser, 311). For one of the first times in this period women were worthy of something "love. A woman's beauty and virtue combined made her something men strived for; her qualities made her something men wanted not just because she could provide them with heirs. .
These beloved women made the men who loved them run the gamut of emotions. Women had power over the way men acted, felt and spoke; at the drop of a hat the lover would do anything for his beloved. These men would risk being caught by jealous, angry husbands just to spend a night of pleasure in the arms of their beloved all done in the name of the all-encompassing love.
