Chrétien de Troyes
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Chrétien de Troyes (Modern ; fro, Crestien de Troies ; 1160–1191) was a French poet and
trouvère ''Trouvère'' (, ), sometimes spelled ''trouveur'' (, ), is the Northern French (''langue d'oïl'') form of the ''langue d'oc'' (Occitan) word ''trobador'', the precursor of the modern French word ''troubadour''. ''Trouvère'' refers to poet- ...
known for his writing on
Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a Legend, legendary king of Great Britain, Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest tradition ...
subjects, and for first writing of
Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
,
Percival Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the G ...
and the
Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...
. Chrétien's works, including ''
Erec and Enide , original_title_lang = fro , translator = , written = c. 1170 , country = , language = Old French , subject = Arthurian legend , genre = Chivalric romance , form ...
'', ''
Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
'', ''
Perceval Percival (, also spelled Perceval, Parzival), alternatively called Peredur (), was one of King Arthur's legendary Knights of the Round Table. First mentioned by the French author Chrétien de Troyes in the tale ''Perceval, the Story of the Gra ...
'' and ''
Yvain Sir Ywain , also known as Yvain and Owain among other spellings (''Ewaine'', ''Ivain'', ''Ivan'', ''Iwain'', ''Iwein'', ''Uwain'', ''Uwaine'', etc.), is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, wherein he is often the son of King Urien ...
'', represent some of the best-regarded of
medieval literature Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (that is, the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of t ...
. His use of structure, particularly in ''Yvain'', has been seen as a step towards the modern
novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
.


Life

Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from
Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...
or at least intimately connected with it. Between 1160 and 1172 he served (perhaps as herald-at-arms, as
Gaston Paris Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, 19 ...
speculated) at the court of his patroness
Marie of France, Countess of Champagne Marie of France (1145 – 11 March 1198) was a French princess who became Countess of Champagne by marriage to Henry I, Count of Champagne. She was regent of the county of Champagne three times: during the absence of her spouse between 1179 and 1 ...
, daughter of
King Louis VII Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...
and
Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...
, who married Count Henry I of Champagne in 1164. Later, he served the court of Philippe d'Alsace, Count of Flanders.


Works

Chrétien's works include five major poems in rhyming eight-syllable couplets. Four of these are complete: ''
Erec and Enide , original_title_lang = fro , translator = , written = c. 1170 , country = , language = Old French , subject = Arthurian legend , genre = Chivalric romance , form ...
'' (c. 1170); ''
Cligès ''Cligès'' (also ''Cligés'') is a poem by the medieval French poet Chrétien de Troyes, dating from around 1176. It is the second of his five Arthurian romances; ''Erec and Enide'', ''Cligès'', ''Yvain'', ''Lancelot'' and ''Perceval''. The p ...
'' (c. 1176); ''
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion , original_title_lang = fro , translator = , written = between 1178 and 1181 , country = , language = Old French , subject = Arthurian legend , genre = Chivalric romance , fo ...
''; and ''
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart , original_title_lang = fro , translator = , written = between 1177 and 1181 , country = , language = Old French , subject = Arthurian legend , genre = Chivalric romance , fo ...
'', the latter two written simultaneously between 1177 and 1181. ''Yvain'' is generally considered Chrétien's most masterful work. Chrétien's final romance was ''
Perceval, the Story of the Grail , original_title_lang = fro , translator = , written = between 1182 and 1190 , country = , language = Old French , subject = Arthurian legend , genre = Chivalric romance , for ...
'', written between 1181 and 1190, but left unfinished, though some scholars have disputed this. It is dedicated to
Philip, Count of Flanders Philip I (1143 – 1 August 1191), commonly known as Philip of Alsace, was count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191. During his rule Flanders prospered economically. He took part in two crusades and died of disease in the Holy Land. Count of Flander ...
, to whom Chrétien may have been attached in his last years. He finished only 9,000 lines of the work, but four successors of varying talents added 54,000 additional lines in what are known as the Four Continuations.Grigsby, John L. (1991). "Continuations of ''Perceval''". In
Norris J. Lacy Norris J. Lacy (born March 8, 1940 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky) is an American scholar focusing on French medieval literature. He was the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor Emeritus of French and Medieval Studies at the Pennsylvania State University until ...
, ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', pp. 99–100. New York: Garland. .
Similarly, the last thousand lines of ''Lancelot'' were written by
Godefroi de Leigni Godefroi de Leigni was a clerk and an associate of Chrétien de Troyes during the 12th century, presumably at the court of Marie de Champagne. He finished Chrétien's romance ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'' after Chrétien abandoned it for unkn ...
, apparently by arrangement with Chrétien. In the case of ''Perceval'', one continuer says the poet's death prevented him from completing the work; in the case of ''Lancelot'', no reason is given. This has not stopped speculation that Chrétien did not approve of ''Lancelot''s adulterous subject (in which case he seems unlikely to have invented Lancelot). There are also several lesser works, not all of which can be securely ascribed to Chrétien. ''
Philomela Philomela () or Philomel (; grc-gre, , ; ) is a minor figure in Greek mythology who is frequently invoked as a direct and figurative symbol in literary and artistic works in the Western canon. Family Philomela was the younger of two daugh ...
'' is the only one of his four poems based on
Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
's ''
Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'' that has survived. Two short-lyric
chansons A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...
on the subject of love are also very likely his, but the attribution of the pious romance ''Guillaume d'Angleterre'' to him is now widely doubted. It has also been suggested that Chrétien might be the author of two short verse romances titled ''Le Chevalier à l'épée'' and ''
La Mule sans frein ''La Mule sans frein'' (English: ''The Mule Without a Bridle'') or ''La Demoiselle à la mule'' (English: ''The Damsel with the Mule'') is a short romance dating from the late 12th century or early 13th century. It comprises 1,136 lines in octosy ...
'', but this theory has not found much support. Chrétien names his treatments of Ovid in the introduction to ''Cligès'', where he also mentions his work about
King Mark Mark of Cornwall ( la, Marcus, kw, Margh, cy, March, br, Marc'h) was a sixth-century King of Kernow (Cornwall), possibly identical with King Conomor. He is best known for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and the husb ...
and Iseult. The latter is presumably related to the legend of
Tristan and Iseult Tristan and Iseult, also known as Tristan and Isolde and other names, is a medieval chivalric romance told in numerous variations since the 12th century. Based on a Celtic legend and possibly other sources, the tale is a tragedy about the illic ...
, though
Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; cy, Trystan), also known as Tristram or Tristain and similar names, is the hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. In the legend, he is tasked with escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed ...
is not named. Chrétien's take on Tristan has not survived, though in the introduction of Cligès, Chrétien himself says that his treatment of Tristan was not well received, possibly explaining why it does not survive. Chrétien's works are written in vernacular
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
, although it is marked by traits of the regional
Champenois dialect Champenois (''lou champaignat'') is a Romance language of the '' langues d'oïl'' language family spoken by a minority of people in Champagne and Île-de-France provinces in France, as well as in a handful of towns in southern Belgium (chiefly t ...
(which is still fairly similar to the "standard" French of Paris).


Sources and influence

The immediate and specific sources for his romances are uncertain, as Chrétien speaks in the vaguest way of the materials he used.
Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiograph ...
or
Wace Wace ( 1110 – after 1174), sometimes referred to as Robert Wace, was a Medieval Norman poet, who was born in Jersey and brought up in mainland Normandy (he tells us in the ''Roman de Rou'' that he was taken as a child to Caen), ending his car ...
might have supplied some of the names, but neither author mentioned
Erec The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
,
Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
, Gornemant and many others who play an important role in Chrétien's narratives. One is left to guess about Latin or French literary originals which are now lost, or upon continental lore that goes back to a
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...
source in the case of
Béroul Béroul was a Norman or Breton poet of the 12th century. He wrote ''Tristan'', a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult of which a certain number of fragments (approximately 3000 verses) have been preserved; it is the earlies ...
, an
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...
who wrote around 1150. For his ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', the influence of the story is clearly tied to the story of Saint Galgano (
Galgano Guidotti Galgano Guidotti (1148 – 3 December 1181) was a Catholic saint from Tuscany born in Chiusdino, in the modern province of Siena, Italy. His mother's name was Dionigia, while his father's name (Guido or Guidotto) only appeared in a document ...
) who died in 1180–1181 and was canonized in 1185: a knight struck by god's vision, planted his sword in the ground that immediately solidified (kept in Abbey San Galgano). However, Chrétien found his sources immediately at hand, without much understanding of its primitive spirit, but appreciating it as a setting for the ideal society dreamed of, although not realized, in his own day. And Chrétien's five romances together form the most complete expression from a single author of the ideals of French
chivalry Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours we ...
. Though so far there has been little critical attention paid to the subject, it is not inaccurate to say that Chrétien was influenced by the changing face of secular and canonical law in the 12th century. This is particularly relevant for his ''Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart'', which makes repeated use of the customary law prevalent in Chrétien's day.
William Wistar Comfort William Wistar Comfort (1874 – December 24, 1955) was president of Haverford College. Life Comfort was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania and raised a Quaker. He graduated from Haverford College in 1894 and received a Ph.D. from Harvard Univer ...
praised de Troyes' "significance as a literary artist and as the founder of a precious literary tradition
hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
distinguishes him from all other poets of the Latin races between the close of the
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
and the arrival of
Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
." Chrétien's writing was very popular, as evidenced by the high number of surviving copies of his romances and their many adaptations into other languages. Three of
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...
literature's finest examples,
Wolfram von Eschenbach Wolfram von Eschenbach (; – ) was a German knight, poet and composer, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of medieval German literature. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry. Life Little is known of Wolfram's life. There are ...
's ''
Parzival ''Parzival'' is a medieval romance by the knight-poet Wolfram von Eschenbach in Middle High German. The poem, commonly dated to the first quarter of the 13th century, centers on the Arthurian hero Parzival (Percival in English) and his long ...
'' and
Hartmann von Aue Hartmann von Aue, also known as Hartmann von Ouwe, (born ''c.'' 1160–70, died ''c.'' 1210–20) was a German knight and poet. With his works including ''Erec'', ''Iwein'', '' Gregorius'', and ''Der arme Heinrich'', he introduced the Arthuria ...
's ''
Erec The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
'' and '' Iwein'', were based on ''Perceval'', ''Erec'', and ''Yvain''; the Three
Welsh Romances The Three Welsh Romances ( Welsh: ') are three Middle Welsh tales associated with the '' Mabinogion''. They are versions of Arthurian tales that also appear in the work of Chrétien de Troyes. Critics have debated whether the Welsh Romances are b ...
associated with the ''
Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, create ...
'' (''
Peredur, son of Efrawg ''Peredur son of Efrawg'' is one of the Three Welsh Romances associated with the '' Mabinogion''. It tells a story roughly analogous to Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished romance ''Perceval, the Story of the Grail'', but it contains many striking d ...
'', ''
Geraint and Enid Geraint () is a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend, a valiant warrior possibly related to the historical Geraint, an early 8th-century king of Dumnonia. It is also the name of a 6th-century Dumnonian saint king from Briton h ...
'', and '' Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain'') are derived from the same trio. Especially in the case of ''Peredur'', however, the connection between the Welsh romances and their source is probably not direct and has never been satisfactorily delineated. Chrétien also has the distinction of being the first writer to mention the
Holy Grail The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...
(''Perceval''),
Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...
(''Lancelot''), and the love affair between Queen
Guinevere Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...
and Lancelot (''Lancelot''), subjects of household recognition even today. There is a specific Classical influence in Chrétien's romances, the likes of which (the ''
Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
'', the ''
Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
'', the ''
Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'') were "translated into the Old French vernacular during the 1150s".Uitti, ''Chrétien de Troyes Revisited'' Foster Guyer argues that specifically ''Yvain, the Knight of the Lion'' contains definite Ovidian influence: "Yvain was filled with grief and showed the Ovidian love symptoms of weeping and sighing so bitterly that he could scarcely speak. He declared that he would never stay away a full year. Using words like those of Leander in the seventeenth of Ovid's Epistles he said: 'If only I had the wings of a dove/to fly back to you at will/Many and many a time I would come'." Chrétien has been termed "the inventor of the modern
novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
". Karl Uitti argues: "With hrétien's worka new era opens in the history of European story telling… this poem reinvents the genre we call narrative romance; in some important respects it also initiates the vernacular novel." A "story" could be anything from a single battle scene, to a prologue, to a minimally cohesive tale with little to no chronological layout. Uitti argues that ''Yvain'' is Chrétien's "most carefully contrived romance… It has a beginning, a middle, and an end: we are in no doubt that Yvain's story is over." This very method of having three definite parts, including the build in the middle leading to the climax of the story, is in large part why Chrétien is seen to be a writer of novels five centuries before novels, as we know them, existed.


See also

* 12th century in poetry


References


Sources

*Loomis, Roger Sherman (1991). ''The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol''. Princeton.


Bibliography

* M. Altieri, ''Les Romans de Chrétien de Troyes: Leur perspective proverbiale et gnomique'' (1976, A G Nizet, Paris). * Jean Frappier, "Chrétien de Troyes" in ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages'', Roger S. Loomis (ed.). Clarendon Press: Oxford University. 1959. * Jean Frappier, ''Chrétien de Troyes: The Man and His Work''. Translated by Raymond J. Cormier. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1982. * Idris Llewelyn Foster, "''Gereint, Owein'' and ''Peredur''" in ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages'', Roger S. Loomis (ed.). Clarendon Press: Oxford University. 1959. * K. Sarah-Jane Murray, "A Preface to Chretien de Troyes," Syracuse University Press, 2008. * Gerald Seaman, "Signs of a New Literary Paradigm: The 'Christian' Figures in Chrétien de Troyes," in: ''Nominalism and Literary Discourse'', ed. Hugo Keiper,
Christoph Bode Christoph Bode (born May 13, 1952 in Siegen/North Rhine-Westphalia) is a literary scholar. His fields are British and American literature, comparative literature, literary theory, narratology, and travel writing. He is full professor and chair of ...
, and Richard Utz (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997), pp. 87–109. * Albert W. Thompson, "The Additions to Chrétien's ''Perceval''" in ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages'', Roger S. Loomis (ed.). Clarendon Press: Oxford University. 1959 * Karl D. Uitti, ''Chrétien de Troyes Revisited'', Twayne: New York, 1995. * ''This article incorporates material from an essay by W. W. Comfort, published in 1914.''


External links

* * * *
The Charrette Project 2 at Baylor UniversityDictionnaire Électronique de Chrétien de Troyes
complete lexicon and transcriptions of the five romances of this Old French author by ATILF/CNRS-Université de Lorraine and LFA/University of Ottawa
El Grial, including poetry by Chrétien de Troyes set to music by Capella de Ministrers & Carlos Magraner
* Bibliography of his works o
Archives de littérature du Moyen Âge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chretien De Troyes 12th-century births 12th-century deaths French fantasy writers People from Troyes French novelists French poets Holy Grail Trouvères Writers of Arthurian literature 12th-century French writers