—— Le Roman de Brut, ed. Ivor Arnold, 2 vols. Paris: Société des Anciens Textes Français, 1938–40.
—— Le Roman de Rou de Wace, ed. Anthony Holden, 3 vols. Société des Anciens Textes Français. Paris: A. &J. Picard, 1970–73.
MANUSCRIPT AND TEXTUAL QUESTIONS
Busby, Keith, Terry Nixon, Alison Stones and Lori Walters. Les Manuscrits de Chrétien de Troyes. The Manuscripts of Chrétien de Troyes, 2 vols. Faux Titre, 71–2. Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi, 1993.
Flutre, Louis-Fernand. ‘Nouveaux fragments du manuscrit dit d’Annonay des œuvres de Chrétien de Troyes.’ Romania 75 (1954): 1–21.
Foerster, Wendelin. Wörterbuch zu Kristian von Troyes’ sämtlichen Werken. Halle, 1914. Rev. by Herman Breuer. Halle, 1933. 2nd rev. repr. Halle: Niemeyer, 1964.
Foulet, Lucien. Glossary of the First Continuation, Vol. 3, Part 2 of The Continuations of the Old French Perceval of Chrétien de Troyes, ed. William Roach. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1955.
Godefroy, Frédéric. Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes, du IXe au XVe siècle,10 vols. Paris: Viewig (1–5), Bouillon (6–10), 1881–1902.
Greimas, A. J. Dictionnaire de l’ancien français jusqu’au milieu du XIVe siècle. Paris: Larousse, 1969.
Hult, David. ‘Lancelot’s Two Steps: A Problem in Textual Criticism.’ Speculum 61 (1986): pp. 836–58.
—— ‘Steps Forward and Steps Backward: More on Chrétien’s Lancelot,’ Speculum 64 (1989): pp. 307–16.
Hunt, Tony. ‘Chrestien de Troyes: The Textual Problem.’ French Studies 33 (1979): pp. 257–71.
Micha, Alexandre. La Tradition manuscrite des romans de Chrétien de Troyes. Paris, 1939. Repr. Publications Romanes et Françaises 90. Geneva: Droz, 1966.
Oiller, Marie-Louise. Lexique et concordance de Chrétien de Troyes d’après la copie Guiot, avec introduction, index et rimaire. Montréal: Institut d’Études Médiévales; Paris: J. Vrin, 1986.
Pauphilet, Albert, ed. Le Manuscrit d’Annonay. Paris: Droz, 1934.
—— ‘Nouveaux fragments manuscrits de Chrétien de Troyes.’ Romania 63 (1937): pp. 310–23.
Rahilly, Léonard J. ‘La tradition manuscrite du Chevalier de la Charrette et le manuscrit Garrett 125. ‘Romania 95 (1974): pp. 395–413.
Reid, T. B. W. ‘Chrétien de Troyes and the Scribe Guiot.’ Medium Ævum 45 (1976): pp. 1–19.
—— ‘The Right to Emend.’ In Medieval French Textual Studies in Memory of T. B. W. Reid, ed. Ian Short. Occasional Publications Series 1. London: Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1984, pp. 1–32.
Roques, Mario. ‘Le Manuscrit fr. 794 de la Bibliodièque Nationale et le scribe Guiot.’ Romania 73 (1952): pp. 177–99.
Tobler, Adolf, and Erhard Lommatzsch. Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 10 vols. to date Berlin, 1925–. Repr. Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1955–.
Uitti, Karl D. ‘Autant en emporte li funs: Remarques sur le prologue du Chevalier de la Charrette de Chrétien de Troyes.’ Romania 105 (1984): pp. 270–91.
Uitti, Karl D. and Alfred Foulet. ‘On Editing Chrétien de Troyes: Lancelot’s Two Steps and their Context.’ Speculum 63 (1988): pp, 271–92.
Woledge, Brian. Commentaire sur Yvain (Le Chevalier au Lion) de Chrétien de Troyes, 2 vols. Geneva: Droz, 1986 and 1988.
—— La Syntaxe des substantifs chez Chrétien de Troyes. Geneva: Droz, 1979.
GENERAL STUDIES
Altieri, Marcelle. Les Romans de Chrétien de Troyes: Leur perspective proverbiale etgnomique. Paris: Nizet, 1976.
Baumgartner, Emmanuèle. Chrétien de Troyes: Yvain, Lancelot, La Charrette et le Lion. Études littéraires, 38. Paris: PUF, 1992.
—— Chrétien de Troyes: Le Conte du Graal. Études littéraires, 62. Paris; PUF, 1999.
—— Romans de la Table Ronde de Chrétien de Troyes: Erec et Enide, Cligés, Le Chevalier au Lion, Le Chevalier de la Charrette. Paris: Gallimard, 2003.
Burgess, Glyn. Chrétien de Troyes: Erec et Enide. Critical Guides to French Texts 32. London: Grant & Cuder, 1984.
Busby, Keith. Chrétien de Troyes, Perceval (Le Conte du Graal). Critical Guides to French Texts 98. London: Grant & Cuder, 1993.
Cazelles, Brigitte. The Unholy Grail: A Social Reading of Chrétien de Troyes’s Conte du Graal. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1996.
Colby, Alice M. The Portrait in Twelfth-Century French Literature. An Example of the Stylistic Originality of Chrétien de Troyes. Geneva: Droz, 1965.
Duggan, Joseph J. The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2001.
Frappier, Jean. Chrétien de Troyes et le mythe du Graal: Etude sur le Perceval ou le Conte du Graal. Paris: SEDES, 1972.
—— Chrétien de Troyes: L’homme et l’œuvre. Paris, 1957. Rev. ed., Paris: Hatier, 1968 (trans. Raymond J. Cormier. Chrétien de Troyes: The Man and His Work. Athens: Ohio UP, 1982).
—— Etude sur Yvain ou Le Chevalier au Lion de Chrétien de Troyes. Paris: SEDES, 1969.
Haidu, Peter. Aesthetic Distance in Chrétien de Troyes: Irony and Comedy in Cligès and Perceval. Geneva: Droz, 1968.
Holmes, Urban T., Jr. Chrétien de Troyes. TWAS 94. New York: Twayne, 1970.
Hunt, Tony. Chrétien de Troyes: Yvain (Le Chevalier au Lion). Critical Guides to French Texts 55. London: Grant & Cuder, 1986.
Kelly, Douglas, ed. The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes, A Symposium. Edward C. Armstrong Monographs on Medieval Literature 3. Lexington, KY: French Forum, 1985.
—— Sens and Conjointure in the Chevalier de la Charrette. The Hague/Paris: Mouton, 1966.
Lacy, Norris J. The Craft of Chrétien de Troyes: An Essay on Narrative Art. Davis Medieval Texts and Studies 3. Leiden: Brill, 1980.
Lacy, Norris J., Douglas Kelly, and Keith Busby, eds. The Legacy of Chrétien de Troyes, 2 vols. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1987–8.
Loomis, Roger Sherman, ed. Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, A Collaborative History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959.
—— Arthurian Tradition and Chrétien de Troyes. New York: Columbia UP, 1949; repr. 1961.
Luttrell, Claude. The Creation of the First Arthurian Romance: A Quest. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1974.
Maddox, Donald. The Arthurian Romances of Chrétien de Troyes: Once and Future Fictions. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991.
—— Structure and Sacring: The Systematic Kingdom in Chrétien’s Erec et Enide. French Forum Monographs 8. Lexington, KY: French Forum, 1978.
Marx, Jean. La Légende arthurienne et le Graal. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1952.
Méla, Charles. La Reine et le Graal: La conjointure dans les romans du Graal de Chrétien de Troyes au Livre de Lancelot. Paris: Seuil, 1984.
Noble, Peter S. Love and Marriage in Chrétien de Troyes. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1982.
Owen, D. D. R. The Evolution of the Grail Legend. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1968.
Pickens, Rupert T. The Sower and His Seed: Essays on Chrétien de Troyes. French Forum Monographs 44. KY: French Forum, 1983.
—— The Welsh Knight: Paradoxicality in Chrétien’s Conte del Graal. French Forum Monographs 6. Lexington, KY: French Forum, 1977.
Polak, Lucie. Chrétien de Troyes: Cligés. Critical Guides to French Texts 23. London: Grant & Cuder, 1982.
Ribard, Jacques. Chrétien de Troyes: Le Chevalier de la Charrette. Essai d’interprétation symbolique. Paris: Nizet, 1972.
Ritchie, R. L. Graeme Chrétien de Troyes and Scotland. Oxford: Clarendon, 1952.
Topsfield, Leslie T. Chrétien de Troyes: A Study of the Arthurian Romances. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1981.
Vinaver, Eugène. A la recherche d’une poétique médiévale. Paris: Nizet, 1970.
——— The Rise of Romance. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1971.
Walter, Philippe. Chrétien de Troyes. Que sais-je? 3241. Paris: PUF, 1997.
Zaddy, Zara P. Chrétien Studies. Glasgow: Glasgow UP, 1973.
BRIEFER STUDIES OF CHRÉTIEN AND HIS WORKS
B
enson, Larry. ‘The Tournament in the Romances of Chrétien de Troyes and L’Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal’ Chivalric Literature: Essays. Studies in Medieval Culture 14. Kalamazoo, 1980, pp. 1–24.
Benton, John. ‘The Court of Champagne as a Literary Center.’ Speculum 36 (1961): pp. 551–91.
Burgess, Glyn S. and John L. Curry, ‘“Si ont berbïoletes non” (Erec et Enide, l. 6739).’ French Studies 43 (1989): pp. 129–39.
Diverres, A. H. ‘Chivalry and fin’amor in Le Chevalier au Lion.’ In Roth-well et al., eds., Studies in Medieval Literature and Languages in Memory of Frederick Whitehead. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1973, pp. 91–116.
Flori, Jean. ‘Pour une histoire de la chevalerie: L’adoubement dans les romans de Chrétien de Troyes.’ Romania 100 (1979): pp. 21–52.
Foulet, Alfred and Karl D. Uitti. ‘Chrétien’s “Laudine”: Yvain, w. 2148–55.’ Romance Philology 37 (1984): pp. 293–302.
Fourquet, Jean. ‘Le rapport entre l’œuvre et la source chez Chrétien de Troyes et le problème des sources bretonnes.’ Romance Philology 9 (1956): pp. 298–312.
Fourrier, Antiime. ‘Encore la chronologie des œuvres de Chrétien de Troyes.’ BBSIA 2 (1950): pp. 69–88.
Frappier, Jean. ‘Le Graal et ses feux divergeants.’ Romance Philology 24 (1970–71): pp. 373–440.
—— ‘Le Motif du “don contraignant” dans la littérature du Moyen Age.’ Travaux de Linguistique et de Littérature 7, 2 (1969): pp. 7–46.
——— ‘Le Prologue du Chevalier de la Charrette et son interprétation.’ Romania 93 (1972): pp. 337–79.
——— ‘Sur la composition du Conte del Graal Moyen Age 64 (1958): pp. 67–102.
Hunt, Tony. ‘Redating Chrestien de Troyes.’ BBSIA 30 (1978): pp. 209–37.
——— ‘The Rhetorical Background to the Arthurian Prologue: Tradition and the Old French Vernacular Prologue.’ Forum for Modern Language Studies 6 (1970): pp. 1–23.
——— ‘Tradition and Originality in the Prologues of Chrestien de Troyes.’ Forum for Modem Language Studies 8 (1972): pp. 320–44.
Kelly, Douglas. ‘Translatio studii: Translation, Adaptation, and Allegory in Medieval French Literature.’ Philological Quarterly 57 (1978): pp. 287–310.
——— ‘La forme et le sens de la quête dans l’Erec et Enide de Chrétien de Troyes.’ Romania 92 (1971): pp. 326–58.
——— ‘The Source and Meaning of conjointure in Chrétien’s Erec 14.’ Viator 1 (1970): pp. 179–200.
Ménard, Philippe. ‘Le Temps et la durée dans les romans de Chrétien de Troyes.’ Moyen Age 73 (1967): pp. 375–401.
——— ‘Note sur la date du Chevalier de la Charrette.’ Romania 92 (1971): pp. 118–26.
Misrahi, Jean. ‘More Light on the Chronology of Chrétien de Troyes?’ BBSIA 11 (1959): pp. 89–120.
Oilier, Marie-Louise. ‘The Author in the Text: The Prologues of Chrétien de Troyes.’ Yale French Studies 51 (1974): pp. 26–41.
——— ‘Modernité de Chrétien de Troyes.’ Romantic Review 71 (1980): pp. 413–44.
Owen, D. D. R. ‘Two More Romances by Chrétien de Troyes?’ Romania 92 (1971): pp. 246–60.
Roques, Mario. ‘Le Graal de Chrétien et la demoiselle au Graal.’ Romania 76 (1955): pp. 1–27. Repr. Publications Romanes et Françaises, 50. Geneva: Droz, 1955.
Rychner, Jean. ‘Le Prologue du Chevalier de la Charrette.’ Vox Romagnica 26 (1967): pp. 1–23.
Sargent-Baur, Barbara N. ‘Erec’s Enide: “sa fame ou s’amie?’” Romance Philology 33 (1980): pp. 373–87.
Schmolke-Hasselmann, Béate. ‘Henri II Plantagenêt, roi d’Angleterre, et la genèse d’Erec et Enide.’ Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale 24 (1981): pp. 241–6.
Shirt, David J. ‘Chrétien de Troyes et une coutume anglaise.’ Romania 94 (1973): pp. 178–95.
——— ‘Godefroy de Lagny et la composition de la Charrete.’ Romania 96 (1975): pp. 27–52.
——— ‘How Much of the Lion Can We Put Before the Cart? Further Light on the Chronological Relationship of Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot and Yvain.’ French Studies 31 (1977): pp. 1–17.
Sturm-Maddox, Sara. ‘Lévi-Strauss in the Waste Forest.’ L’Espirt Créateur 18, No. 3 (Fall 1978): pp. 82–94.
Vance, Eugene. ‘Le Combat érotique chez Chrétien de Troyes.’ Poétique 12 (1972): pp. 544–71.
Vitz, Evelyn Birge. ‘Chrétien de Troyes: Clerc ou ménestrel? Problèmes des traditions orale et littéraire dans les Cours en France au XIIe siècle.’ Poétique 81 (1990): pp. 21–42.
MEDIEVAL CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION
Anderson, William. Castles of Europe from Charlemagne to the Renaissance. New York: Random House, 1970.
Delort, Robert. Le Moyen Age: Histoire illustrée de la vie quotithenne. Lausanne: Edita, 1972. Repr. Coll. Points-Histoire. Paris: Seuil, 1982 (Trans. Robert Allen. Life in the Middle Ages. New York: Greenwich House, 1983).
Duby, Georges. Le Temps des cathédrales: L’art et la société 980–1420. Paris: Gallimard, 1976.
Ferrante, Joan M. ‘Cortes’ Amor in Medieval Texts.’ Speculum 55 (1980): pp. 686–95.
Goddard, Eunice Rathbone. Women’s Costume in French Texts of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1927; repr. New York: Johnson Reprint Co., 1973.
Hindley, Geoflrey. Medieval Warfare. New York: Putnam’s, 1971.
Holmes, Urban T., Jr. Daily Living in the Twelfth Century, Based on the Observations of Alexander Neckhan in London and Paris. Madison, 1952; repr. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964.
Hunt, Tony. ‘The Emergence of the Knight in France and England, 1000–1200.’ Forum for Modern Language Studies 17 (1981): pp. 91–114.
Lazar, Moshé. Armour courtois et fin’amors dans la littérature du XIIe siècle. Paris: Klincksieck, 1964.
Morawski, Joseph. Proverbes français antérieurs au XVe siècle. Classiques Français du Moyen Age 47. Paris: Champion, 1925.
Newman, F. X., ed. The Meaning of Courtly Love. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1968.
Pastoureau, Michel. La Vie quotidienne en France et en Angleterre au temps des chevaliers de la Table Ronde (XIIe–XIIIe siècles). Paris: Hachette, 1976.
Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 20 vols. London: Macmillan, 1980.
Tuve, Rosemond. Allegorical Imagery. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1966.
EREC AND ENIDE
THE peasant in his proverb says that one might find oneself holding in contempt something that is worth much more than one believes; therefore a man does well to make good use of his learning according to whatever understanding he has, for he who neglects his learning may easily keep silent something that would later give much pleasure. And so Chrétien de Troyes says that it is reasonable for everyone to think and strive in every way to speak well and to teach well, and from a tale of adventure he draws a beautifully ordered composition that clearly proves that a man does not act intelligently if he does not give free rein to his knowledge for as long as God gives him the grace to do so.
This is the tale of Erec, son of Lac, which those who try to live by storytelling customarily mangle and corrupt before kings and counts. Now I shall begin the story that will be in memory for evermore, as long as Christendom lasts – of this does Chrétien boast.
On Easter day, in springtime, at Cardigan his castle, King Arthur held court. So rich a one was never seen, for there were many good knights, brave and combative and fierce, and rich ladies and maidens, noble and beautiful daughters of kings; but before the court disbanded the king told his knights that he wanted to hunt the white stag in order to revive the tradition.
My lord Gawain was not a bit pleased when he heard this. ‘Sire,’ said he, ‘from this hunt you will gain neither gratitude nor thanks. We have all known for a long time what tradition is attached to the white stag: he who can kill the white stag by right must kiss the most beautiful of the maidens of your court, whatever may happen. Great evil can come f
rom this, for there are easily five hundred damsels of high lineage here, noble and wise daughters of kings; and there is not a one who is not the favourite of some valiant and bold knight, each of whom would want to contend, rightly or wrongly, that the one who pleases him is the most beautiful and the most noble.’
The king replied: ‘This I know well, but I will not give up my plan for all that, for the word of a king must not be contravened. Tomorrow morning with great pleasure we shall all go to hunt the white stag in the forest of adventures: this will be a most wondrous hunt.’
Thus the hunt was arranged for the morrow at daybreak. The next day, as soon as it was light, the king arose and made ready: to go into the forest he put on a short tunic. He had the hunting-steeds readied, the knights awakened. Carrying their bows and their arrows, they set off to hunt in the forest. Afterwards, the queen mounted, accompanied by an attendant maiden – a king’s daughter – who sat upon a good palfrey.
A knight came spurring after them: his name was Erec. He was of the Round Table and had received great honour at court: as long as he had been there no knight had been so highly praised, and he was so handsome that there was no need to seek a man of finer looks anywhere. He was very handsome and valiant and noble, and he was not yet twenty-five years old; never was any man of his youth so accomplished in knighthood. What should I say of his virtues? Mounted on a charger, he came galloping along the road; he was dressed in a fur-lined mantle and a tunic of noble, patterned silk that had been made in Constantinople.1 He had put on silken stockings, very finely made and tailored; he was well set in his stirrups and was wearing golden spurs; he was unarmed except for his sword.
Spurring his horse, he caught up with the queen at a bend in the road. ‘My lady,’ said he, ‘I would go with you, should it please you, on this road. I have come here for no other reason than to keep you company.’
And the queen thanked him for that: ‘Good friend, I greatly like your company; know this truly: I can have none better.’
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