Courtly
love, or as the French say “amour courtois,” is a recurring theme throughout
romance novels whether the stories are set in history, contemporary times, the
future, or based in fantasy. Most
readers have a sense of what courtly love is but few know the concept initiated
from a man’s desire to love an unattainable woman. It doesn’t seem very gratifying and
apparently it wasn’t to many writers who over the course of time made the woman
more attainable to the man by employing the right method to win a woman’s heart,
the proverbial key to open the lock on the woman’s chastity belt.
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| Susan Frances |
Courtly
love has its roots in the Middle Ages.
It was the term given to what a knight or a courtier felt for a
noblewoman at the royal court whom they devoted themselves to on a metaphysical
level. Though typically these women were
above their admirer’s station and married so they couldn’t reciprocate the show
of affection and instead had to feign their indifference. The most well-known example of this type of
courtly love is the affair between Sir Lancelot and Guinevere, the trusted
knight of King Arthur in Camelot and the wife of King Arthur.
Courtly
love morphed from Lancelot showering his affection directly on Guinevere to Sir
Robin Hood courting Maid Marion through acts of bravery and kind deeds directed
towards the weak and downtrodden in England’s Sherwood Forest. The tales of Robin Hood show a shift in
audience’s preferences in what depicts courtly love. It was the time of King Richard the
Lionhearted and male figures in stories were subjected to a battery of tests to
prove their ardor and commitment to the woman they desired. The ideals of chivalry such as loyalty,
generosity, and protecting women and children were upheld as the precepts of
courtly love.
Some
four hundred years later during the Elizabethan Age, courtly love once again
shifted having a more poetic interpretation exemplified in Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet as Romeo serenades Juliet to win her love. By the early 1800’s, the Brothers Grimm gave
courtly love a very heroic tint in The Sleeping Beauty as Prince Phillip
had to battle the witch Maleficent to save the life of his love Princess
Aurora. Gone with the Wind’s
Rhett Butler is the antithesis of Romeo and Prince Phillip as he was not one
to serenade the woman he desired nor would he ever storm a castle to save
her. Nonetheless, he courts Scarlet
O’Hara but through patience and biding his time before appealing to her ambition
for material possessions.
Today’s
images of courtly love vary based on a combination of these five samples. Present day romance authors apply the traits
of heroic action, chivalry, open affection, patience, and serenading the lady to
demonstrate courtly love. They are the
keys to unlocking the bolt around a woman’s heart, and the magnet which draws
readers into this other world.
The King Maker is a modern romance partly
set in England and partly taking place in New England. When American pilot Steve
McKenna is murdered, he takes with him secrets about an international crime
ring. Secrets that he only reveals to his friend Cullen Danes, an investigator
for the British Aviation Ministry. Cullen is determined to find his friend's
killer, but his life is put in danger when the crime ring's operatives learn he
knows secrets that can expose them. When he meets Nina Holt, a hostess at the
International Aviation Convention, Cullen finds he has to depend on her to save
his life in more ways than one. Together, they uncover a labyrinth of illicit
activities that involves government officials, financial institutions and global
industrialists. Though the dangerous circumstances test their mettle, Nina and
Cullen's true test comes when he asks her to take a big leap of faith. Torn
between jumping into the unknown or remaining in a static position, Nina has to
decide whether to take the biggest risk of her life that is if the King Maker
does not have them killed.
Some information about myself can be found at my websites and author
pages:
http://susanfrancesny.wordpress.com/
3 comments:
You hit the nail on the head. However, add the Alpha male who is too arrogant to court his lady - at first. Then she gets to him and he must surrender his very soul. Doesn't work to well with a historical, but a lot of contemps use this technique.
Never thought of contemporary books from a courtly love perspective, but you're right. In my suspense books, the hero always has to overcome the bad guy before he can win the heroine's love. Great post and thanks for visiting us today.
Susan, great post. And I was so happy to see you on our blog. I read your book way back when. Great read.
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