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37-749: The Three Welsh Romances are: Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain is analogous to Chrétien de Troyes ' Old French poem Yvain, the Knight of the Lion . It survives in the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest , both from the 14th century. The tale's hero, Yvain , is based on the historical figure Owain mab Urien . The romance consists of a hero marrying his love, the Lady of

74-482: A pen name moniker of a Jewish convert from Judaism to Christianity, also known as Crestien li Gois . Chrétien's works include five major poems in rhyming eight-syllable couplets. Four of these are complete: Erec and Enide ( c.  1170 ); Cligès ( c.  1176 ); Yvain, the Knight of the Lion ; and Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart , the latter two written simultaneously between 1177 and 1181. Yvain

111-451: A Welsh audience. It is still possible that Chrétien in turn had a Welsh source, evidence of which can be found in certain episodes in the Life of St. Mungo (also called St Kentigern), where the saint's father Owain tries to woo his mother, Lot of Lothian 's daughter, and which exhibit parallels to the narrative of Yvain . Geraint and Enid , also known by the title Geraint, son of Erbin ,

148-445: A discussion of the etymology of the word troubadour and its cognates, see Troubadour § Etymology .) The modern popular image of the troubadour or trouvère is that of the itinerant musician wandering from town to town, lute on his back. Itinerant singers and performers existed, but they were called jongleurs and minstrels —professional entertainers, usually of somewhat lower social status. Troubadours and trouvères , on

185-480: A female perspective). Johannes de Grocheio , a Parisian musical theorist of the early 14th century, believed that the most elevated trouvère songs, known as grand chants , inspired kings and noblemen to do great things: "This kind of song is customarily composed by kings and nobles and sung in the presence of kings and princes of the land so that it may move their minds to boldness and fortitude, magnanimity and liberality...". The surviving music by trouvères

222-428: A natural reflection of the society that created them. They often revolve around idealized treatments of courtly love ("fine amors", see grand chant ) and religious devotion, although many can be found that take a more frank, earthy look at love. Other genres well represented in the surviving works by trouvères are debate songs known as jeu-partis , pastourelles , dance songs, and chansons de femme (songs with

259-482: A network of references. There are no extant trouvère songs "in which a woman explicitly claims authorship by naming herself". There are, however, poems in which a woman is named as the author in a rubric or table of contents in a manuscript and others in which a female voice, named or unnamed, participates in a jeu parti (debate poem). Many others are written from a woman's point of view and may have been written by women authors. While early scholars often denied

296-421: 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

333-526: A variety of approaches to rhythmic interpretation, including using a free rhythmic approach or relatively equal note values throughout, deriving rhythmic ideas from the text, or applying rhythmic modes found in contemporary polyphonic music. Most trouvère music is strophic , with a single verse of music repeated with multiple verses of text. In some, a repeated one- or two-line refrain is used in each stanza. Some trouvere refrains were also used across multiple different songs and other literary works, creating

370-440: Is analogous to Chrétien de Troyes ' 12th-century poem Erec and Enide ; some scholars think the two derive from a common lost source, while others believe Geraint is based directly or indirectly on Erec (though Chrétien may have had a Celtic source). It survives in the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest , both from the 14th century. The romance concerns the love of Geraint , one of King Arthur 's men, and

407-536: Is generally considered Chrétien's most masterful work. The last romance commonly attributed to Chrétien, Perceval, the Story of the Grail , was written between 1181 and 1190, but left unfinished. It is dedicated to Philip, Count of Flanders , 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

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444-551: Is happily reconciled in the end, and Geraint inherits his father's kingdom. Enid does not appear in Welsh sources outside of this romance, but Geraint was already a popular figure. Some scholars hold that the Erec from Chrétien's poem is based on Geraint, but others think the Welsh author simply replaced an unfamiliar French name with one his audience would recognize and associate with heroism. Alfred, Lord Tennyson based two of his Idylls of

481-552: Is known of his life, but he seems to have been from Troyes or at least intimately connected with it. Between 1160 and 1172 he served (perhaps as herald-at-arms, as Gaston Paris speculated) at the court of his patroness Marie of France, Countess of Champagne , daughter of King Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine , who married Count Henry I of Champagne in 1164. Later, he served the court of Philippe d'Alsace, Count of Flanders . As proposed by Urban T. Holmes III , Chrétien's name, meaning literally "Christian from Troyes", might be

518-445: Is left to guess about Latin or French literary originals which are now lost, or upon continental lore that goes back to a Celtic source in the case of Béroul , an Anglo-Norman 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 ) who died in 1180–1181 and was canonized in 1185: a knight struck by god's vision, planted his sword in

555-513: Is marked by traits of the regional Champenois dialect (which is still fairly similar to the "standard" French of Paris). 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 or Wace might have supplied some of the names, but neither author mentioned Erec , Lancelot , Gornemant and many others who play an important role in Chrétien's narratives. One

592-411: Is seen to be a writer of novels five centuries before novels, as we know them, existed. This article incorporates material from an essay by W. W. Comfort, published in 1914. [REDACTED] Category Trouv%C3%A8re Trouvère ( / t r uː ˈ v ɛər / , French: [tʁuvɛʁ] ), sometimes spelled trouveur ( / t r uː ˈ v ɜːr / , French: [tʁuvœʁ] ),

629-572: 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-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the trobadors , both composing and performing lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages , but while the trobadors composed and performed in Old Occitan ,

666-499: Is the only one of his four poems based on Ovid 's Metamorphoses that has survived. Two short-lyric chansons 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 , but this theory has not found much support. Chrétien names his treatments of Ovid in

703-508: Is vocal music that is monophonic and mostly syllabic , meaning that only a single melodic line was notated, and the text is presented simply with only one or a few notes per syllable of text. Rhythm is not recorded for most songs, and no instrumentation is specified. Because narrative and visual evidence tells us that instruments were widely used, it is likely that instruments were used in some cases, but trouvère songs were likely also performed unaccompanied. Modern scholars and performers take

740-636: The Four Continuations . Similarly, the last thousand lines of Lancelot were written by Godefroi de Leigni , 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

777-526: The Latin races between the close of the Empire and the arrival of Dante ." 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 literature's finest examples, Wolfram von Eschenbach 's Parzival and Hartmann von Aue 's Erec and Iwein , were based on Perceval , Erec , and Yvain ;

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814-483: The Old French word trouverresse as "she who composes, invents", citing a manuscript of a continuation of Robert of Auxerre 's Chronicle . The spelling troverresse also appears in the late 14th-century French– Latin dictionary Aalma , where it corresponds to Latin inuentrix (inventor). The eight named women trouvères are: This is only a partial list. There are 256 named male trouvères known. The following

851-517: The trouvères used the northern dialects of France . One of the first known trouvères was Chrétien de Troyes ( fl. 1160s–1180s) and the trouvères continued to flourish until about 1300. Some 2130 trouvère poems have survived; of these, at least two-thirds have melodies. The etymology of the word troubadour and its cognates in other languages is disputed, but may be related to trobar , "to compose, to discuss, to invent", cognate with Old French trover , "to compose something in verses". (For

888-453: The 1150s". 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

925-429: The Fountain , but losing her when he neglects her for knightly exploits. With the aid of a lion he saves from a serpent, he finds a balance between his marital and social duties and rejoins his wife. It was once thought that Owain and Yvain were derived from a common lost source, but it now seems more likely that Owain was directly or indirectly based on Chrétien's poem, with local literary touches added to appeal to

962-572: The French poem's central object, the grail . Versions of the text survive in four manuscripts from the 14th century. The tale's protagonist Peredur travels to King Arthur 's court to become a knight. The young Peredur embarks on a series of adventures, culminating in his battle against the nine sorceresses . Chr%C3%A9tien de Troyes Chrétien de Troyes ( Modern French: [kʁetjɛ̃ də tʁwa] ; Old French : Crestien de Troies [kresˈtjẽn də ˈtrojəs] ; fl. c. 1160–1191)

999-447: The King on Geraint and Enid . They were originally published as a single poem called "Enid" in 1859; he later split it into two poems, "The Marriage of Geraint" and "Geraint and Enid". Peredur son of Efrawg is associated with Chrétien de Troyes ' unfinished romance Perceval, the Story of the Grail , but it contains many striking differences from that work, most notably the absence of

1036-519: The Three Welsh Romances associated with the Mabinogion ( Peredur, son of Efrawg , Geraint and Enid , 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

1073-618: The beautiful Enid . Geraint, son of King Erbin of Dumnonia , courts Enid. The couple marry and settle down together, but rumors spread that Geraint has gone soft. Upset about this, Enid cries to herself that she is not a true wife for keeping her husband from his chivalric duties, but Geraint misunderstands her comment to mean she has been unfaithful to him. He makes her join him on a long and dangerous trip and commands her not to speak to him. Enid disregards this command several times to warn her husband of danger. Several adventures follow that prove Enid's love and Geraint's fighting ability. The couple

1110-472: The existence of women trouvères, since the 1980s their existence has been generally accepted and an effort has been made to identify anonymous songs composed by women on the basis of lyrics and contextual clues. The latest monograph on women trouvères identifies eight known by name or title, plus a further six named women who judged jeux partis . The term troveresse has sometimes been used for women trouvères. The lexicographer Frédéric Godefroy defined

1147-651: The first writer to mention the Holy Grail ( Perceval ), Camelot ( Lancelot ), and the love affair between Queen Guinevere 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 Aeneid , the Metamorphoses ) were "translated into the Old French vernacular during

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1184-535: 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 . Though so far there has been little critical attention paid to

1221-468: The introduction to Cligès , where he also mentions his work about King Mark and Iseult . The latter is presumably related to the legend of Tristan and Iseult , though Tristan 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 , although it

1258-416: The other hand, were often of higher social class and did not typically rely on music making as a trade. They were either poets and composers who were supported by the aristocracy or, just as often, were aristocrats themselves, for whom the creation and performance of music was part of the courtly tradition. However, these distinctions were not always clear, and varied by community The texts of these songs are

1295-473: 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 praised de Troyes' "significance as a literary artist and as the founder of a precious literary tradition [which] distinguishes him from all other poets of

1332-409: 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 ". Karl Uitti argues: "With [Chrétien's work] a 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

1369-469: Was a French poet and trouvère known for his writing on Arthurian subjects such as Gawain , Lancelot , Perceval and the Holy Grail . Chrétien's chivalric romances , including Erec and Enide , Lancelot , Perceval and Yvain , represent some of the best-regarded works of medieval literature . His use of structure, particularly in Yvain , has been seen as a step towards the modern novel . Little

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