RE: Courtly Dances

The situation is the other way round, if you read any serious history of dancing.

During the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I the court took up simple peasant "country" dances as being more lively than the rather contrived and formal court dances. These became so popular that they were exported to France (the rest is, as it were, history).

In fact this was not the first time that peasant dances had been introduced to the English court as Edward IV, for example, was rather fond of them.

:-)