As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe.
Definition: Medieval romances are narrative fictions representing the adventures and values of the aristocracy. Romances may be written in prose, in which case they tend to resemble "histories" .
Characters nearly always are, or are revealed to be, knights, ladies, kings, queens, and other assorted nobles.
Plots often involve conflicts between feudal allegiances, pursuit of quests (by males) and endurance of ordeals (by females), and the progress or failure of love relationships, often adulterous or among unmarried members of the court.
Romances typically stress the protagonists' character development over any minor characters, and nearly all seem like "type characters" to modern readers used to full psychological realism.
* Marvels, especially the supernatural, routinely occur in romance plots, whereas they are viewed with skepticism in histories, though they also are positively necessary to saint's lives, a narrative form which resembles both histories and romance.
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There are numerous elements common to the medieval romance. Depending on who you ask and where you look, you may find different answers, but there are four elements that are found pretty much across the board.
First, medieval romances idealize chivalry. The heroes always manifest the qualities of a kind, self-less and charitable knight.
Secondly, most medieval romances have a vague or even sometimes imaginary setting. The romance is TRULY the center of the story, so where it takes place isn't as important. The lack of actual setting also allows the reader to more easily put him or herself in the situations.
Third, medieval romances rely on elements of the supernatural to create mystery and suspense. Whether it's a mystical creature, and supernatural setting, or seemingly normal characters possessing one strangely supernatural quality, this element is key in this type of literature.
Lastly, and arguably most importantly, is the element of the romance. The knight's love for his lady - a love of complete and total devotion - is what drives medieval romances throughout.
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