Arthurian Romances

Early eleventh-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes composed four tales about the knights of King Arthur’s court: Érec and Énide (written c. 1170), Cligès (c.1176), Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, and Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (both written from 1177–1181). Focusing on chivalrous deeds and aristocratic romances, De Troyes’s tales are among the most influential works of medieval literature and a major source for Arthurian literature. De Troyes probably originated, among other things, the story of Lancelot and Guinevere’s love affair.

Érec and Énide centers on the tension between the demands of love and the demands of knighthood. While the other knights accompany Arthur on his hunt, Érec, unarmored, keeps Queen Guinevere company. A rude knight approaches and insults the queen’s servant, so Guinevere orders Érec to follow him; Érec pursues the knight to a far-away town. There, Érec meets and falls in love with Énide, the daughter of an impoverished vavasor. A contest takes place in the town in which knights compete for a falcon, to be awarded to the most beautiful lady present. Érec defeats the rude knight and awards the falcon to Énide. Érec takes his new bride back to Arthur’s court, where despite her humble clothes, her innate nobility is recognized by all.

Sometime later, people at court begin to whisper that Érec is so besotted with his wife that he is neglecting his knightly duties. Énide hears these stories and is upset. When Érec finds her crying, he orders her to prepare for a journey and sets out to defend his knightly honor with his wife for company. On this adventure, Érec defeats several knights, including two noblemen who try to kill Érec in order to abduct Énide. Although at the outset Érec orders his wife to be silent throughout the journey, she saves his life several times by warning him of danger. The poem closes with Érec and Énide becoming King and Queen of Nantes.



Cligès begins before the title character’s birth, as his father Alexander, the son of the Greek emperor, comes to Britain hoping to become a knight of King Arthur’s court. Alexander proves his mettle by helping Arthur to recapture Windsor Castle from the treacherous Count Angrès. When Queen Guinevere notices that Alexander is in love with Arthur’s niece, Soredamors, she encourages him to confess his love. Alexander and Soredamors marry and have a son, whom they name Cligès.

Alexander takes his new wife and child back to Greece. His father is dead, and Alexander is the rightful heir, but his uncle Alis has claimed the throne. Alexander allows Alis to rule, on the condition that Alis not marry, so that on his death, Cligès will succeed to the throne. Alis agrees.

Alexander dies, and some years later, Alis decides to marry, choosing the daughter of the German emperor, Fenice. Cligès at once falls in love with his new aunt, and his love is reciprocated, but naturally, it cannot be consummated. Like his father before him, Cligès travels to Britain to become a knight in Arthur’s court. He, too, earns the king’s favor and returns home as a knight.



In the meantime, Fenice has devised a plan to be with her beloved. Using a magic potion obtained by her governess, Fenice fakes her own death. Cligès abducts the “body” and takes Fenice to a hiding place. However, Alis learns their whereabouts, and Cligès is forced to return to Arthur to ask the king for support to win his kingdom back. Fortunately, for Cligès, Alis dies in his absence, and Cligès inherits the kingdom and Fenice.

Yvain, the Knight of the Lion concerns a knight who must regain his lady’s favor. Yvain defeats the supernaturally powerful knight Esclados, winning the love of his widow, Laudine, with the help of her servant, Lunete. When they have been happily married for a while, King Arthur’s nephew, Sir Gawain, convinces Yvain that he must return to the knightly work of adventuring. Laudine doesn’t want him to go, so Yvain promises to return after one year. However, he becomes involved in a complex exploit and fails to keep his promise. When Yvain does return, Laudine rejects him.

Yvain is grief-stricken. He pledges to find a way to win back Laudine’s favor. As he is traveling through a forest, he encounters a serpent fighting a lion. Yvain beheads the serpent and prepares to confront the lion, but the lion appears to surrender, and when Yvain remounts, the lion follows him.



In a fit of remorse about his broken promise, Yvain tries to kill himself, but the lion roars and lies down at Yvain’s feet to dissuade him, and the two become firm friends.

Lunete has been falsely accused of betrayal by a treacherous steward and sentenced to death. Yvain promises to be her champion. On the way to defend Lunete, he encounters a giant, who proves almost too strong for Yvain, but the knight is saved from possible defeat by the lion, who tears off the giant’s skin. A similar fate awaits the treacherous steward, who is crushed by the lion when he tries to attack Yvain. The steward’s two brothers wound the lion, which enrages Yvain so much that he angrily kills both men.

Laudine witnesses the fight, but she does not recognize the knight who has rescued her faithful servant. When she asks him his name, Yvain tells her that he is known as the Knight with the Lion, and returns to his adventuring.



When Laudine has need of a knight’s services herself, Lunete suggests the Knight with the Lion. Laudine agrees, and Lunete suggests that in exchange, Laudine should offer to help the Knight with his troubled marriage. When Yvain’s identity is revealed, the couple is reunited, and Yvain promises not to leave the castle again.

Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart is the earliest known source for the Arthurian story of Lancelot’s affair with Guinevere. The evil trickster Meleagant has abducted the queen. Sir Gawain speeds after them, and on the way, he encounters Lancelot, who rides so fast that he has soon ridden two horses to death. A passing dwarf tells them he knows where Meleagant went, but he will only help them if the knights agree to travel in the dwarf’s cart. Lancelot agrees reluctantly, since it is dishonorable for a knight to travel in a cart. Gawain refuses, following on horseback. The two knights overcome many opponents, and finally, agree to split up so they can cover more ground.

Lancelot finds Guinevere in Gorre, but she receives him coldly (later it is revealed that she knows he was reluctant to travel in the cart). He breaks into the tower where she is imprisoned and they spend the night together. Having cut his hand while breaking in, Lancelot leaves blood on Guinevere’s sheets. In the morning, Meleagant accuses Guinevere of sleeping with Sir Kay, a wounded knight who is recuperating nearby. Lancelot challenges Meleagant to avenge this insult.



Lancelot agrees to a one-year delay before the duel takes place. In the meantime, Lancelot is tricked and imprisoned, while Guinevere is released and allowed to return to Arthur. When the time appointed for the duel approaches, Lancelot persuades his captors to release him by promising to return after the fight. When he arrives, Guinevere asks him to lose, in order to prove his love for her. He allows himself to be injured, and Guinevere changes her demand, asking him now to win, which he does. Afterward, he is imprisoned by Meleagant.

In the final section of the story, probably written not by de Troyes but by Godefroi de Leigni, Lancelot is rescued from imprisonment by Meleagant’s sister, whom Lancelot had earlier saved from abduction. He returns home in time to fight Meleagant again, cutting off his arm.

The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes explore many themes beyond their major motifs of love and chivalry, including Christian faith, moral self-development, and the nature of aristocratic power. The narrative structures of de Troyes’s romances are regarded by many as a key stepping-stone in the development of the modern novel.