the sexes. To be sure, medieval aristocratic marriage and social relations were a matter of property and "social necessity" dominated by men, and women's chastity was the social norm--even though plenty of adultery seems to have occurred. Courtly love actually "supported the male-dominated social order rather than subverted it" (Kelly-Gadol 181). But its conventions, articulated in poetry and chivalric romance, positioned high-born women as the object of desire to be served and adored by the knightly lover outside the marital context. Also, medieval women were allowed to inherit property and to manage estates as well as the affairs of children and stepchildren. Such women as Eleanor of Aquitaine famously intruded themselves into French and English politics in the 12th century. Harris (261ff) cites widows' and wives' overt and covert exploitation of "informal channels of power" for such purposes as negotiating marriage contracts, managing and protecting their estates, even interceding on behalf of husbands who had incurred royal displeasure. Harris (281) cites English men's praise of "effective women by saying they acted like men," which shows that the masculine ideal prevailed but which also says something of the possibility for women's self-conscious action.
In Italy, Renaissance valorization of classical culture came to dominate all of Europe. Even courtly love was
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