Effects of Courtly Love on Medieval Women

This is an essay for my Women's History in Medieval Europe sophomore-level course. It discusses the effect of troubadours and courtly love practices on women of the High Middle Ages. Women were both empowered by these practices and also were made vulnerable. References to texts used in the course are made in parantheticals- not necessary to understanding the essay. Love overcomes both great and small, Love rules, for Love is lord of all. "Fealty to …

…her; not only would the man suffer because of his feelings but the woman's reputation would suffer a blow as well. Women's power and the misogyny that came with it are not mutually exclusive after all, "The jongleurs and troubadours inherited the traditional beliefs about the female and her power over men. In the great halls and courtly gatherings they recast the ancient heroines and presented the ancient fears in new settings, (Anderson and Zinsser, 336).