<P> In Middle Ages arose a new interest in Plato, his philosophy and his view of love . This was caused by Georgios Gemistos Plethon during the Councils of Ferrara and Firenze in 1438 - 1439 . Later in 1469 Marsilio Ficino put forward a theory of neo-platonic love in which he defines love as a personal ability of an individual which guides their soul towards cosmic processes and lofty spiritual goals and heavenly ideas . (De Amore, Les Belles Lettres, 2012 .) </P> <P> Though Plato's discussions of love originally centred on relationships between members of the same sex, notes that the meaning of platonic love underwent a transformation during the Renaissance, leading to the contemporary sense of nonsexual heterosexual love . </P> <P> The English term dates back to William Davenant's The Platonic Lovers (performed in 1635); a critique of the philosophy of platonic love which was popular at Charles I's court . It is derived from the concept in Plato's Symposium of the love of the idea of good which lies at the root of all virtue and truth . For a brief period, Platonic love was a fashionable subject at the English royal court, especially in the circle around Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I. Platonic love was the theme of some of the courtly masques performed in the Caroline era--though the fashion soon waned under pressures of social and political change . </P>

Who is credited with having coined the term platonic love