Women were consistently devalued and denigrated throughout most of the Middle Ages but, in the poetry of courtly love, they reigned supreme.
It's such a unique and unfortunate reality if fantastical literature sees women so highly there, but are treated so poorly in the real world. It reminds me very much of how the Amazon's were written as they independent, matriarch clan that heavily contradicted the patriarchy led world.
The lady symbolized good as spirit – and so the knight could never consummate his love for her – while the marriage she was trapped in, sanctified by the Church, symbolized the evil of the world. This theory is by no means universally accepted but it should be noted that there seems to be a direct correlation between the activities of the troubadours of southern France and the spread of Catharism in the 12th century CE.
I do wonder if people, if this theory is true, was like a "fantasy reality" people wished for instead, rather than marriage being solely a contract agreement rather than for love with the influence of Catharism.
The work draws on the earlier satirical Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) of Ovid, published c. 2nd century CE, which presented itself as a serious guide to romantic relationships while actually mocking them and anyone who takes such things seriously.
I do remember talking very in depth about this book in my Latin class I took in high school. I can see how it influenced these later Courtly Love works knowing more about it. This book was actually so incredibly successful in its information it got Ovid banned from Rome because, as the story goes, Emperor Augustus's daughter was a massive fan of the book that it taught her how to throw "certain parties".