Lit. 'elegance of manners, fashion'. The term points to those qualities necessary for a courtier and a sophistication of manners and behaviour: conduct should be moderate and affable, self-effacing but always competent. These qualities first appeared in Germany after Charlemagne's reign in the 8c: that example was admired and much copied, as Charlemagne himself had been. It was incipient "chivalry, a style established at court but widely copied beyond. -
Cf. Curialis
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.