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Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (French: Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette) is an Old French poem by Chrétien de Troyes. Chrétien probably composed the work at the same time as or slightly before writing Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, which refers to the action in Lancelot a number of times. The love affair between Guinevere and Lancelot appears for the first time in this poem as does Arthur's court city of Camelot. Chrétien says he composed the romance at the behest of Marie, countess of Champagne, the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France and apparently his patroness at the time. There is reason to believe the adultery of Lancelot and Guinevere was invented wholecloth by Chrétien for the poem, but it is possible he found the episode already in whatever source material Marie provided him.

Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from Troyes, or at least intimately connected with it, and between 1160 and 1172 he served at the court of his patroness Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, perhaps as herald-at-arms (as Gaston Paris speculated). His work on Arthurian subjects represents some of the best regarded of medieval literature. Chrétien de Troyes is generally considered as the first identified major French Language novelist.- Wikipedia ... Read more

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In this extraordinarily fine translation of Cliges, the second of five surviving Arthurian poems by twelfth-century French poet Chretien de Troyes, Burton Raffel captures the liveliness, innovative spirit, and subtle intentions of the original work. In this poem, Chretien creates his most artful plot and paints the most starkly medieval portraits of any of his romances. The world he describes has few of the safeguards and protections of civilization: battles are brutal and merciless, love is anguished and desperate. Cliges tells the story of the unhappy Fenice, trapped in a marriage of constraint to the emperor of Constantinople. Fenice feigns death, then awakens to a new, happy life with her lover. Enormously popular in their own time, each of Chretien's great verse romances is a fast-paced psychologically oriented narrative. In a rational and realistic manner, Chretien probes the inner workings of his characters and the world they live in, evoking the people, their customs, and their values in clear, emotionally charged verse. Cliges is filled with Chretien's barbs and bawdiness, his humor and his pleasure, his affection and his contempt.It is the unmistakable work of a brilliantly individualistic poet, brought to modern English readers by Raffel's poetic translation in a metric form invented specifically to reflect Chretien's narrative speed and tone. ... Read more

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Sir Erec rides with his wife through the country seeking adventure in order to prove to her and King Arthur's court that he is not a coward. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

the beginning of the most famous love triangle in Western history
This is a fascinating epic, meticulously translated and annotated by Cline. It seems to be amazing how much you can learn about some of the most cherished tropes in Arthurian legend by reading this, but this is ultimately unsurprising as The Knight of the Cart was the original source of the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle. It is packed with magical imagery, dark humour, and, of course, fatal flaws. I wish I could read Old French so that I could have a better familiarity with the original text! ... Read more

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This Halcyon Classics ebook contains the four completed, translated Arthurian romances by 12th century French poet Chrétien de Troyes.De Troyes served at the court of his patroness Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine from 1160 and 1172, but little is known of the rest of his life.He is most well-known for composing EREC AND ENIDE (c. 1170); CLIGES(c. 1176), and YVAIN, the Knight of the Lionand LANCELOT, the Knight of the Cart.

This ebook is DRM free and includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.

Contents:

Erec et Enide
Cliges
Yvain
Lancelot
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Four Arthurian Romances is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by de Troyes Chretien is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of de Troyes Chretien then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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From the moment he caught sight of her, he did not turn or take his eyes and face from her, defending himself with backhand blows. And Meleagant meanwhile attacked him as fiercely as he could, delighted to think that the other cannot withstand him now; and they of the country are well pleased too, while the foreigners are so distressed that they can no longer support themselves. ... Read more

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Avec une notice biographique, une notice historique, l'analyse des principaux romans, des citations rajeunies, des jugements, un questionnaire et des sujets de devoirs par Gustave Cohen. Illustrated. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more