InsaneJournal

The Stages of Courtly Love
For future reference and so I don't forget that I meant to use this somewhere, the prescribed stages of courtly love:

*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

Positively medieval...but still rather romantic, I have to admit. Though courtly love has no basis in reality as far as the historians say.