SOURCE: Rutherford, John. “Troubadour's Love in Theory.” In The Troubadours: Their Loves and Their Lyrics; with Remarks on Their Influence, Social and Literary, pp. 110-45. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1873.

In the following essay, Rutherford examines the troubadours' four-stage theory of love and how it was put into practice.

The theory of love propounded by the Troubadours was full of fantastic conceits, which their contemporaries doubtless considered “sweetly pretty things.” According to this theory, the lover always dwelt at the sign of the Fair Passion, in the Street of Sacrifice, and in the Parish of Sincerity; while his mistress, the daughter of Cruelty and Tyranny, had her residence at the sign of the Stony Heart, in the Street of Rigour, and in the Parish of Severity. Love was conceived of the imagination, born in the heart, and nursed by the will. It lived on gaiety, drew its strength from...