No good
troubadour, who is at the same time an honest lover, has ever abandoned
himself to base sensuality and ignoble desires." The same author opined
that a troubadour who asked his lady for a kiss, was committing an act
of indecency. On the other hand, Andreas was very broad-minded in
drawing the line between both kinds of love, allowing kisses, and even
more, in the case of true love. (The best troubadours disagree with him
in this respect.)
A scholasticism of love, modelled on ecclesiastical scholasticism and
substituting the beloved woman for the Deity, was gradually evolved.
Love, veneration, humility, hope, etc., were the sacrifices offered at
her shrine. She was full of grace and compassion, and was believed in as
fervently as was God. Some of the poets were animated by a curious
ambition "to prove" their feelings with scholastic erudition, and more
especially by the later, Italian, school, _amore_, _cor gentil_,
_valore_, were conceived as substances, attributes, inherent qualities,
etc.
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