The age of manners started way back then with the French courts with the beautiful widow of William IX of Aquitaine, I believe, when the ideal woman had a 'back like a rabbit's' etc and everyone adored her and did great deeds in her honour and she was chaste and pure and the men were lusty and brave etc.
Manners were a way of sorting the wheat from the chaff- just like today. Jongleurs or Minstrels played songs and read poetry written by troubadours that spread the word through France - it was not written in Latin so indicating it's French origins.
All formal arrangements such as these new manners were put into place and it started the criticism of other countries Royal Courts as 'barbarous' and 'crude'. The French Courts were forever after held up by most as the epitome of elegance and taste.
The tale of King Arthur or Laucelot is seen in France around 1230 but its roots are earlier (origins of story are uncertain according to my sources right here but others might post answers for you later)
Chaucer harked back to this era of manners and courtly love in some of his Canterbury Tales a hundred years or so after, I forget which one talks specifically about these matters but a decent A Level teacher will enlighten you.
Elizabethan England aspired to this French ideal also when Elizabeth found herself much in the same position of William IX's widow. All these sentiments are reflected in Shakespearean works written at that time and later into James' era - when some said barbarous manners returned to the Court once more!!
In Florence Machiavelli was writing 'The Prince' which was spread far and wide which you may find quite interesting to study and was a coda for behavioural matters at court, etc.
Romanticism then harked back to the Aquitaine Courts standards and it became quite fashionable amongst many of the younger generation.
And, well, the Georgians just went mad with it! They took it as far back to its original roots as it could go with every gesture meaning 'something vital' with eyes, looks, fans, etc. You could barely sneeze without getting yourself engaged.
The Victorian age only modified it and cleaned it up a bit and it's ideals were still affecting the modern age well into the twentieth century last time I looked.
The age of sense and sensibility, as it were. There's a lot to be said for it. I don't know much about pre-Aquitaine. It's not called the Dark Ages for nothing!
Good luck if you're studying it. If not, then sorry to have bored you rigid:err:
