The novela sentimental has been defined as an aristocratic type of fiction based on the portrayal of courtly love. The unifying preoccupation of this form of fiction is implied by the ‘sentimental’ of the generic name which embraces the four novels to be considered here—the Tractado de Amores and Carcel de Amor of Diego de San Pedro and Grisel y Mirabella and Grimalte y Gradissa of Juan de Flores—but there is no justification for the rather common assumption that the sentiments involved are consistently those of courtly love. The two authors, writing almost contemporaneously, treat this topic in ways that are strikingly different.