Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart
Chrétien de Troyes
Ca. 1175-1181 C.E.
France
The French writer Wace translated Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, one of the most popular sources for Arthurian stories, into French in 1155 C.E. (and added the idea of the Round Table, not found in previous works on King Arthur). Not long after that, Chrétien de Troyes began writing his five Arthurian stories: Erec and Enide, Cligès, Lancelot, Yvain, and Perceval. His importance in the history of Arthurian literature is considerable, since he introduces a French knight who is the best knight of King Arthur’s court: Lancelot. Previously, British knights had been the greatest knight of the court, and other authors would follow Chrétien’s lead: the German Parzival in Wolfram von Eschenbach’s work, for example, becomes the best knight, while the anonymous author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight restores a British knight to the honored spot, and Thomas Malory in his Le Morte d’Arthur creates a British/French hybrid by making Galahad (the son of Lancelot and the British Elaine) the best knight. It was also Chrétien who made Lancelot the lover of Queen Guinevere. Prior to Chrétien, other knights had been Guinevere’s lover, but after Chrétien, the story was altered permanently. Many other writers before Chrétien had written about the Arthurian legends, but his version was considered the best (just as Homer’s versions of Greek legends surpassed previous versions). All of his stories examine the difficulty of following multiple codes at once: the knight with his liege lord; the knightly lover with his lady; and the knight with his religion. To be loyal to one’s lady can mean prioritizing her over one’s liege lord, or even over one’s religious and moral code. It is precisely this problem that Lancelot faces in Chrétien’s story.
Written by Laura J. Getty
Lancelot Knight of the Cart
Chrétien de Troyes, translated by W. W. Comfort
License: Public Domain
Part I: Vv. 1 Vv. 1840
Since my lady of Champagne wishes me to undertake to write a romance I shall very gladly do so, being so devoted to her service as to do anything in the world for her, without any intention of flattery. But if one were to introduce any flattery upon such an occasion, he might say, and I would subscribe to it, that this lady surpasses all others who are alive, just as the south wind which blows in May or April is more lovely than any other wind. But upon my word, I am not one to wish to flatter my lady. I will simply say: “The Countess is worth as many queens as a gem is worth of pearls and sards.” Nay I shall make no comparison, and yet it is true in spite of me; I will say, however, that her command has more to do with this work than any thought or pains that I may expend upon it. Here Chretien begins his book about the Knight of the Cart. The material and the treatment of it are given and furnished to him by the Countess, and he is simply trying to carry out her concern and intention