During the postclassical era, there were many approaches to the idea of ​​love and the sanctification of love. While some people focused on love simply as a sign of infatuation, others used it as a means to achieve spiritual closeness and a way of sexual gratification. The countries of Europe, India and Japan turned out to be no different. With an emphasis on courtly love, medieval Europe defined love through romantic gestures and abstaining from sexual intercourse, while India defined love in terms of sexual and spiritual connection, and Japan defined love as a means of acting on desire in an elegant way. These very different meanings of love were reflected in the marriages and gender relations of the time. Through its emphasis on courtly love, medieval Europe was able to achieve a more romantic ideal of love. In European society, civil courtship was emphasized as well as the high value placed on women. This can be seen through the works of Ulrich von Liechtenstein in his autobiography, In the Service of Ladies, where he writes “that the greatest honor and happiness for a knight lay in the service of a beautiful and noble woman (Reilly, 317). " Furthermore, for many male suitors “the pursuit is what kept them going. [Their] true reward was in suffering and desire (Reilly, 318).” These mentalities influenced Andres Capellanus' notions, in his book, A Treatise on Love and Its Remedy, that "love [was seen] as a disease (Reilly, 320)". there is no greater torment [than love] since the lover is always afraid that his love may not satisfy his desire and that he is wasting his efforts (Reilly, 331)." With this perspective, many males concentrated most of their time and effort in the servitude of their…papers. Courtly love was also practiced only in the upper classes, which meant that it was not consummated India, love was associated with sex and to religion. It was believed that the only way to achieve the penultimate spiritual relationship with the god Krishna was to participate in polyamorous relationships and orgies. Through this practice, class distinctions were almost non-existent , Japan “invented stylized sex rather than romantic love (Reilly, 324).” There was a clear separation of social classes and numerous relationships were polygamous. All in all, the different interpretations of love in Europe, India, and Japan directly influenced marriage and gender relations during the postclassical era. Bibliography Reilly, Kevin. Worlds of History: A Comparative Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.