POST 7:why did romantic love develop first in the aristocratic courts of Europe, China, India, and Japan.

According to Wikipedia, the idea of romantic love or 'courtly love' as it has been called was first developed in the aristocratic courts of Europe, China, India, and Japan  for the entertainment of the nobility. However, as time passed, these ideas about love changed and attracted a larger audience. Unlike today's modern day society which has become more sexualized, perverse in our thoughts and open with our romantic feelings towards one another, this was the exact opposite for a male or female living in medieval courts in Europe, China, India or Japan. Societies back then did not experience romantic love as we do. Everything was an arrangement and almost robotic in how it was carried out. Marriage and family formation followed other rules. People were not allowed to choose their partners, especially women and were denied romantic adventures. Marriages were arranged by the parents, some even before they are born and were based on mutual sympathy, survival, and financial gain at best. marry a wealthy family (or at least someone of equal economic status to you). Have as many kids as possible (because someone might die young, and we need people to help around the farm). Marry the most widely respected person possible so that the community will always take care of you if you ever fall on hard times.Marriage was also used by royalty and nobles to form alliances.

Take for instance 'The Wife of Bath's tale' she has had 5 husbands three of which she describes as being"goode, riche, and olde" it isn't until her fifth marriage to Jankyn that we actually get a sense of her being in love with him despite of the fact that he beats her and takes pleasure in his misogyny. Prior to that she was in the marriages for the wealth and used sex as a means to achieving what she wanted.since at the time some marriages among nobility had little to do with modern perspectives of what constitutes love, Romantic love became a thing as a way for nobles to express the love not found in their marriage. "Lovers" in the context of courtly love need not refer to sex, but rather the act of emotional loving. These "lovers" had short trysts in secret, which escalated mentally, but might not physically.On the other hand, continual references to beds and sleeping in the lover's arms in medieval sources such as the trobador albas and romances such as Chrétien de Troyes's Lancelot imply at least in some cases a context of actual sexual intercourse.