Raimon of Toulouse:
In the kingdom of love
Folly rules and not sense.
It was typical of this enthusiastic love that the social rank of the
beloved, the mistress, was invariably above the rank of the lover. The
latter was fond of calling himself her vassal and serf, proclaiming that
she had invested him with all his goods; even kings and German emperors
composed love-songs, although in all probability they would have
achieved their purpose far more quickly by other means; but in all cases
we find the characteristic attitude of the humble lover, looking up to
his mistress. The underlying thought is obvious: Love, the loftiest
value in all the world, is the great leveller of all social differences,
a force before which wealth is as dust. "I would rather win a kind
glance from my lady's eyes than the royal crown of France," was a
favourite profession of the poets. Montanhagol, for instance, in a
rhymed meditation, stated that a lady was wise in choosing a lover of a
lower social rank, because not only could she always count on his
gratitude and devotion, but she would also have more influence over him,
a fact which in the case of a social equal or superior was, to say the
least, a little doubtful.
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