e the sole giver of the eternal value and
consolation, yearned for by mortal man. Christianity had taught man to
look up; now his upward gaze lost its rigidity and beheld living
beauty--metaphysical eroticism had been evolved--the canonisation and
deification of woman. The ideal of the troubadours to love the adored
mistress chastely and devoutly from a distance in the hope of receiving
a word of greeting, no longer satisfied the lover; she must become a
divine being, must be enthroned above human joy and sorrow, queen of the
world. Traditional religion was transformed so that a place might be
found in it for a woman.

The reason for the recognition of spiritual love from the moment of its
inception as something supernatural and divine, is obvious. The heart of
man was filled with an emotion hitherto unknown, an emotion which
pointed direct to heaven. The soul, the core of profound Christian
consciousness, had received a new, glad content, rousing a feeling of
such intensity that it could only be compared to the religious ecstasy
of the mystic; man divined that it was the mother of new and great
things--was it not fitting to regard it as divine and proclaim it the
supreme value? The troubadours had known it. Bernart of Ventadour had
sung:

I stand in my lady's sight
In deep devotion;
Approach her with folded hands
In sweet emotion;
Dumbly adoring her,
Humbly imploring her.

Peire Raimon of Toulouse:

I would approach thee on my knees,
Lowly and meek,
I would fare far o'er lands and seas
Thy ruth to seek.

And come to thee--a slave to his lord--
I'd pay thee homage with eyes that mourn,
Until thy mercy I'd implored,
Heedless of laughter, heedless of scorn.

Raimon of Miraval had said, "I am no lover, I am a worshipper," and
Cavalcanti:

My lady's virtue has my blindness riven,
A secret sighing thrills my humbled heart:
When favoured with a sight of her thou art,
Thy soul will spread its wings and soar to heaven.

Peire Vidal:

God called the women close to Him,
Because he saw all good in them.

And:

The God of righteousness endowed
So well thy body and thy mind
That His own radiancy grew blind.
And many a soul that has not bowed
To Him for years in sin enmeshed,
Is by thy grace and charm refreshed.

The beauty of the adored was divine. Bernart of Ventadour wrote: