Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and troubadour 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 Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine (in the Languedoc). By the Late Empire the settlement of Troyes was reduced in extent, and referred to as Tricassium or Tricassae, perhaps the origin of French Troyes ("three"). More likely, Troys was named after the Aryian center in Asia Minor which also inspired the originalname of
London ("New Troy"). Troubadours seem to have been a curious mix influenced by the conservatism of Scotland and Hebrew liberalism in that early medieval era. Few examples exist today.
London ("New Troy"). Troubadours seem to have been a curious mix influenced by the conservatism of Scotland and Hebrew liberalism in that early medieval era. Few examples exist today.Troyes was the seat of a bishop from the fourth century — the legend of its bishop Lupus (French "Loup" meaning "wolf"), who saved the city from Attila by offering himself as hostage is hagiographic rather than historical — though it was several centuries before it gained importance as a medieval center of commerce.
One of the most talented poets to attempt to tell this kind of story and incorporate them into Arthur’s “lost years” was the late twelfth-century Frenchman, Chrétien de Troyes. He wrote five Arthurian poems that have survived, and a version of the Tristan story which has not. But Chrétien puts his own unique spin on courtly love. He suggests, in fact, that not only can love exist within marriage, but that it is the only place where is can healthily exist.
The chroniclers, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Layamon, and Robert Wace, described Arthur’s reign in glorious terms, but they left some years blank. These years were presumably prosperous for the king and his country, but what happened? The medieval insatiable appetite for completeness more or less required that the gap be filled, and the years that followed the publication of the Historia and the Bruts saw the blossoming of a new kind of literature to tell the story of the “lost years” of Arthur’s reign: Arthurian romance.
The word romance means “pertaining to one of the romance languages,” i.e., French, Italian, Spanish—one of the languages that evolved from Latin. Most frequently, these stories, written in the continental vernacular, recounted the deeds of a single knight, rather than a whole army (as did the parallel literary form, the chanson de geste). Most frequently, the knight ended up married to one of the plethora of damsels and maidens that inhabited the world of medieval romance, and thus, romance eventually came to mean “love story,” as it does now. Actually, that definition is very recent indeed—as late as Shakespeare, romance did not yet mean “love.”
Nevertheless, love was frequently a prominent feature in these stories, and this in itself was unusual. In classical times, love was not considered a proper subject for literature. Love stories were largely incidental to the stories that Greek and Latin authors wanted to tell, and sometimes downright detrimental to the heroes: Aeneas’ fling with Dido takes up a brief, if impressive moment of The Aeneid, and the consequences of love in Greek drama can be almost cataclysmic. Ovid, however, wrote a series of poems that became known collectively as Ars Amatoria, The Art of Love. These poems are witty, sometimes psychologically penetrating, but most often flippant. In the twelfth century, French and later German poets began to explore the theme of love more frequently; Andreas Capellanus, a French clerk at the court of Marie de Champagne devised his own response to The Art of Love: De Arte Honeste Amandi, The Art of Courtly Love.
Perceval, or The Story of the Grail is the first romance to deal with the most famous quest-object in the Arthurian canon. Perceval, a rather blundering knight, finds himself at the castle of the mysterious Fisher King. He sees a graal (what it might be is not explained fully, and it is introduced by the indefinite article, rather ingloriously) borne through the hall but, although his curiosity is burning within him, he does not ask whom the graal serves, because of some advice he has been given earlier in the story. When he awakens the following morning, the castle is empty, the lands all around are withered by drought and blight, and he is chidden for not asking the question that was on his mind. After a series of further adventures, Perceval at last returns to the Fisher King’s castle, asks the question, and restores the waste land to fertility.
Chrétien did not finish Perceval, presumably because of death, but it must have been a popular story, because four other poets attempted to write a conclusion to it in French, and Wolfram von Eschenbach wrote his own version of the whole story in German. A little-known poet to those who concentrate on modern literature, whose output was relatively small, Chrétien de Troyes has nevertheless left an unforgettable legacy: no Arthurian story is untouched by his influence.
Synopsis of Perceval
According to Chrétien himself in 'Le Conte du Graal' he had - "turned into rime the best tale ever told in a royal court, which Count Philip had given him in the form of a book", Le Conte du Graal is an Arthurian romance that relates the story of a young knight, Perceval or Parzival. Raised by his mother in a forest after the death of his father in war. On growing up Perceval departs for the king’s court
Journeying home to see his mother, Perceval happens upon a splendid castle. There he is ushered in by a retinue of servants and greeted by a handsome but infirm nobleman who rises with difficulty. He presents Perceval with a richly mounted sword and treats him with great honor.
"While they were talking of this and that, a squire entered from a chamber, grasping by the middle a white lance, and passed between the fire and those seated on the couch. All present beheld the white lance and the white point, from which a drop of red blood ran down to the squire's hand."
Though curious, the youth withholds any questioning about the lance because his lord and teacher, Gornemant, had forbade him from talking too much. At this point two squires bearing candelabra come in, followed by a beautiful damsel holding a grail (graal) between her hands.
"Once she had entered with this grail that she held, so great a radiance appeared that the candles lost their brilliance just as the stars do at the rising of the sun and the moon...The grail...was of pure refined gold [and] was set with many kind so precious stones, the richest and most costly in sea or earth."
"...As each course was served, he saw the grail pass before him in plain view, and did not learn whom one served with it, though he would have liked much to know....In no stingy fashion were the delicious viands and wines brought to the table. The food was excellent; indeed, all the courses that king or count or emperor are wont to have were served to that noble and the youth that night."
Perceval keeps his vow to his teacher and refrains from asking about the grail throughout the meal. Later he is escorted to a bed chamber where he sleeps soundly until the break of day. Upon awakening Perceval discovers that, except for himself and his horse, the castle is deserted. Perceval gallops away through the forest and comes upon a maiden mourning over "the headless body of a knight which she clasps.". It is from her that Perceval learns the identity of his mysterious host in the castle - the Fisher King. Questioning Perceval further, she berates him for not inquiring about the bleeding lance and the grail
"Ah, unfortunate Perceval, how unlucky it was that you did not ask all those things! For you would have cured the maimed king, so that he would have recovered the use of his limbs and would have ruled his lands and great good would have come of it! but now you must know that much misery will come upon you and others."
The maiden reveals that she is Perceval's cousin and enlists his aid in vanquishing the knight who killed her lover. Perceval later defeats the knight in combat and sends him to surrender at King Arthur's court. Perceval's exploits precede him and he is given a warm welcome when he arrives in Camelot.
Great was the joy which the King, the Queen, and the barons made over Perceval of Wales. They returned that evening with him to Caerleon, and the rejoicing lasted that night and through the morrow. On the third day they saw a damsel come riding on a tawny mule, with a scourge in her right hand. Her hair hung in two black twisted braids, and, if the book describes her truly, never was there a creature so loathly save in hell. Her neck and hands were blacker than any iron ever seen, yet these were less ugly than the rest of her. Her eyes were two holes, as small as those of a rat; her nose was like that of a monkey or a cat; her lips were like those of an ass or an ox; her teeth resembled in color the yolk of an egg; she had a beard like a goat. In the middle of her chest rose a hump; her backbone was crooked; her hips and shoulders were well shaped for dancing! Her back was hunched, and her legs were twisted like two willow wands. Her figure was perfect for leading a dance! the Loathly Damsel rebukes Perceval for being so reticent to inquire about the lance or grail and so cure the Fisher King. As a result, she say, Perceval is responsible for the continuing misfortune
"Do you not know what will happen if the King does not hold his land and is not healed of his wound? Ladies will lose their husbands, lands will be laid waste, maidens, helpless, will remain orphans, and many knights will die. All these calamities will befall because of you!"
The Loathly Damsel then tells the King how a knight may "have the supreme glory of the world" by delivering a besieged damsel. The Loathly Damsel departs and Sir Gawain and fellow knights vow that they will do anything in their power to rescue the lady.
But Perceval spoke otherwise, and vowed that henceforth he would not lie two nights in the same lodging, nor avoid any strange passage of which he might hear, nor fail to engage in combat with any knight who claimed to be superior to every other, or even two other knights, until he could learn whom one served with the grail, and until he had found the lance that bleeds, and had heard the true reason why it bled. He would not give up the quest for any suffering. Thus as many as fifty arose and swore, one to another, that they would not fail to pursue any adventure or seek any marvel of which they heard, even though it were in the most perilous land."
As the years pass Perceval "had so lost his memory that he had forgotten God", but continues his chivalrous quest and sends "sixty knights of fame to Arthur's court as prisoners." Percival learns of the saving grace of Christ and seeks out a holy hermit to confess his sins. When he finds him, the hermit reveals that the Fisher King is actually Perceval's uncle.
The hermit then explains the cause of Perceval's failure to ask about the miracles at the castle, "Brother, a sin of which you know nothing has wrought this harm. It was the sorrow you caused your mother when you left her, for she fell swooning to the earth at the end of the bridge before her gate, and died of that grief."
It was her prayers, the hermit explains, that has preserved Perceval "from death and from prison." Perceval stays two days with the hermit and the two men pray together as Perceval rediscovers his Christian faith. This is the last mention of either Perceval or the Grail by Chrétien in his unfinished poem
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