The theme of love develops through several different levels in Arthurian Literature. Geoffrey of Monmouth and Wace equate love with sexual desire, and little else. The concept becomes less one-dimensional in Hartmann von Aue’s romances. In Erec and Iwein, Hartmann’s definition of love includes emotional attachment and a degree of commitment. He also discusses the importance of love in proper measure. Sex still plays an important part in Hartmann’s discussion of love, but “love” in his works connotes far more than just physical desire. It can be an ennobling or a degenerating entity with the power to refine or to condemn.