Modern Medieval: The Literature of Chretien de Troyes

As I’ve written before--probably more than once--Erec et Enide is one of my favorite Arthurian stories. I was excited to begin reading other Arthurian romances by the same author, Chrétien de Troyes:

• Cliges
• Lancelot
• Yvain
• Perceval

And, for the most part, he lived up to the hype. One thing that de Troyes does (that I haven’t noticed much in other “original” Arthurian tales) is give his characters introspection. For instance, when Cliges first meets his true love, Fenice, de Troyes devotes several pages to each of them, relating their inner dialog in almost stream-of-consciousness fluidity.

Like a lot of artists at the time, de Troyes was working on commission from a patron or patroness. He often starts with a little preamble that often is laced with sophisticated and subtle humor. Here is his dedication of the spoilery-titled Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart, which was written for Marie de Champagne (the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France):

Since my lady of Champagne wishes me to undertake the writing of a romance, I shall very gladly do so as one who (and I utter no word of flattery) is entirely at her disposal for the performance of any task in the world. But another might set about it with the intention of flattering and might say, and I would bear him out, that this is the lady who surpassed all others alive by as much as the warm wind that blows in May and April surpassed the other winds. I am not one, I swear, who would wish to flatter his lady. Shall I say the countess is worth as many queens as a gem is worth pearls and sards? Certainly not: I shall not mention it; yet it is true, whether I like it or not.

Of course, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Sometimes I got the feeling de Troyes was being paid by the word, though this could have been the translator being paid by the word (as, contrary to popular belief, I don’t speak medieval French.) After several paragraphs about Love with a capital L, I started really hoping that some Green Knight would show up asking for his head to be chopped off.