Court of Love in Provence in the 14th Century (after a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris).
Courtly love is a special idea of love that people had in Europe in the Middle Ages. The word "court" means the courts where princes or dukes lived. Courtly love is usually when a young man, who may be a peasant or even a simple King, falls in love with a rich lady and tries to make himself worthy of her by doing brave things or by singing beautiful love songs.