aw cannot reach. It was the same way
then. There were controversies which no mere man could adjust. To remedy
the defect the wives of the lords created tribunals of their own.

In the English dominions on the Continent generally, as also in Flanders,
Champagne and Provence, these courts were frequent. In describing them
Nostradamus said that "disputes arising from the beautiful and subtle
questions of love were submitted to illustrious ladies who, after
deliberation, rendered judgments termed, 'Lous arrests d'amours.'"

Of the beautiful and subtle questions here is one: A confidant charged by
a friend with messages of love found the lady so to his liking that he
addressed her in his own behalf. Instead of being repulsed he was
encouraged. Whereupon the injured party brought suit. Maitre Andre,
prothonotary of the court, relates that the plaintiff prayed that the
fraud be submitted to the Countess of Champagne, who, sitting in banco
with sixty ladies, heard the complaint and, on deliberation, rendered
judgment as follows: "It is ordered that the defendants henceforth be
debarred the frequentation of honest people." Here is another instance. A
knight was charged by a lady not to say or do anything in her praise. It
so fell about that her name was lightly taken. The knight challenged the
defamer. Thereupon the lady contended that he had forfeited all claim to
her regard. Action having been brought the court decided that the defence
of a lady being never illicit the knight should be rehabilitated in favor
and reinstated in grace. Which, the prothonotary states, was done.

It was over these delicate matters, over others more delicate still, that
the Courts of Love claimed and exercised jurisdiction. Execution of the
decrees may seem to have been arduous. But judgments were enforced not by
a constabulary but by the community. Disregard of a decision entailed not
loss of liberty but loss of caste. In the case of a man, entrance was
denied him at the tournaments. In the case of a woman, the drawbridges
were up. Throughout the land there was no one to receive her. As a result
the delinquent was rare. So too was contempt of the jurists. Sometimes a
girl appeared before them. Sometimes a king.

To-day it all seems very trivial. But at the time marriage was a matter
concerning which the party most interested had the least to say. Love was
not an element of it and disinclination a detail. Moreover in the
apoplectic conditions of t