A quick refresher, because people these days seem rather akin to a school building on Christmas day.
Which is to say: they ain’t got no class.
This is the correct process that courtship should take, variations are acceptable, on the strict proviso that they are eloquent and beautiful enough that they would lead 9 out of 10 minstrels to break out into spontaneous versification upon hearing of it.
- 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
(Adapted from Barbara Tuchman – A Distant Mirror: the Calamitous 14th Century)
