Stages of courtly love

Stages of courtly love
(Adapted from Barbara Tuchman)

• Attraction to the lady, usually via eyes/glance
• Worship of the lady from afar
• Declaration of passionate devotion
• Virtuous rejection by the lady
• Renewed wooing with oaths of virtue and eternal fealty
• Moans of approaching death from unsatisfied desire (and other physical manifestations of lovesickness)
• Heroic deeds of valor which win the lady’s heart
• Consummation of the secret love
• Endless adventures and subterfuges avoiding detection