293:. However, he is subsequently driven away by her coldness, which is later revealed to be caused by his initial hesitation to enter the cart. Lancelot leaves to find Gawain but is drawn back through his misadventures, and Guinevere apologizes for turning him away. Lancelot breaks into her tower and they spend a passionate night together. He injures his hand during his break-in, and blood from this injury stains Guinevere's sheets. Lancelot sneaks out of the tower before sunrise, and Meleagant accuses Guinevere of committing adultery with Kay, who is the only wounded knight known of nearby. Lancelot challenges Meleagant to a fight to defend Guinevere’s honor. After Meleagant’s father interferes, Meleagant and Lancelot agree to fight in a year's time. During this year, Lancelot is tricked by another dwarf and forced into imprisonment while Guinevere is allowed to return home. When it comes time to duel, Lancelot bargains with his captors to let him go and fight, and he promises to return. When Lancelot fights in the tournament, Guinevere asks him to lose in order to prove his love. He obliges, but when he begins to intentionally throw the battle, Guinevere changes her mind, now instructing him to win instead. Lancelot complies and beats the other tournament competitors, returning to his captors following the battle. Meleagant finds out from the captor's husband that the captor's wife was the one who agreed to release Lancelot temporarily (to fight at the tournament). Meleagant orders Lancelot to be locked away in a master craftsman's castle and Lancelot is imprisoned.
478:. Alexander J. Denomy describes courtly love as, "… a type of sensual love and what distinguishes it from other forms of sexual love, from mere passion… is its purpose or motive, its formal object, namely, the lover's progress and growth in natural goodness, merit, and worth." In the Knight of the Cart, Lancelot has become entranced by Guinevere and in more ways than one, is ruled by her. As the queen, Guinevere maintains power over the kingdom as well as Lancelot. When Meleagant questions their love and her adultery to the king, Lancelot challenges Meleagant to a battle to protect Guinevere’s honor. Lancelot has no shame in showing his affair with the queen: "Lancelot’s love explodes into romance without any beginning revealed or end foretold, fully formed and symbolized by the extraordinary fullness of his heart." This introduction of the love affair between Guinevere and Lancelot appears in many other stories after this poem was written.
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When Gawain catches up to him, Lancelot has worn out his new horse to death just as he did his previous one. Lancelot encounters a cart-driving dwarf, who says he will tell
Lancelot where Guinevere and her captor went if Lancelot agrees to ride in his cart. Lancelot boards the cart reluctantly as this is a dishonorable form of transport for a knight. Gawain, unwilling to demean himself in this manner, chooses to follow on horseback. Along this journey they encounter many obstacles. Lancelot is regularly derided by locals along his journey for having reduced himself to such a lowly stature by riding in the aforementioned cart. His first trial comes when a maiden offers a bed for the knights, but refuses to let Lancelot lie on it. It is then revealed to be a trap to kill the knights, but it does not faze Lancelot, as after escaping the trap, he returns to sleep in the very bed in which the trap was set.
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and sends up the axe instead. Lancelot chops his way out and escapes with her to a secluded home that she owns. Meanwhile, Gawain prepares to battle
Meleagant, since Lancelot is missing (a one-year rematch after the second duel was established). Lancelot arrives on time and, at last, fights Meleagant, who loses his temper and his arm (to Lancelot's sword), and is subsequently beheaded by Lancelot. Guinevere tepidly embraces Lancelot (they are in public) in the end.
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In a continuation, we learn that the woman whom
Lancelot had much earlier saved from kidnapping (she ordered Lancelot to sever her stalker's head) was actually Meleagant's sister. She searches for Lancelot in order to return his favor. She finds an axe, and the rope used by Lancelot to pull up food,
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protests Arthur’s decision to let them go, Arthur allows Gawain to pursue them. While Gawain is searching for the pair, he runs into the (then unnamed) Lancelot who, after riding his horse to death, convinces Gawain to lend him a horse in pursuit of the queen. Lancelot then speeds after
Guinevere.
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After many more encounters with beautiful women and rude knights, Lancelot and Gawain decide to part ways so that they may cover more ground. Lancelot endures many trials, including battling three axe-bearing men, lifting a heavy slab of stone from a mysterious tomb, battling a foreign army from
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240:
Chrétien's writings impacted the
Arthurian canon, establishing Lancelot’s subsequent prominence in English literature. He was the first writer to deal with the Arthurian themes of the lineage of Lancelot, his relationship to Guinevere, secret love and infidelity, and the idea of
289:, settling a dispute among those loyal to him over who may host him for the night, fighting against an overly prideful knight, and crossing an extremely sharp "sword-bridge". Lancelot finds Guinevere in the castle of Gorre, and rescues her from
265:, the malevolent son of King Bademagu, the righteous ruler of the nearby Kingdom of Gorre. It deals with Lancelot's trials rescuing Guinevere, and his struggle to balance his duties as a warrior and as a lover bound by societal conventions.
319:), the two serving as companion pieces with overlapping narratives. While little is known definitively about the life of Chrétien, many speculative theories exist based on his work. He was employed as a writer by aristocrats of
330:
No recorded mention of an
Arthurian knight named Lancelot precedes Chrétien, but he is believed to be derived from a Celtic myth. Chrétien first mentions a character named "Lanceloz del Lac" in
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It is unknown exactly when the poem was composed, only that it would have been between 1175 and 1181 (most likely 1177), and before or at the same time as
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is a cognate of the
English word "matter". It has been translated as meaning the well-known story (in this case, the story of Lancelot).
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is harder to translate. It's generally agreed to refer to the twist, the addition, or derivation (in this case, the affair).
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It has been suggested that Chrétien did not finish the story himself because he did not support the adulterous themes.
30:
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225:, although it is believed that Chrétien did not complete the text himself. It is one of the first stories of the
456:. A 12th-century French writer usually functioned as a part of a team, or a workshop attached to the court.
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dialect detected in his work, and he usually crafted stories based on material that was presented to him.
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Burns, E. Jane. "Courtly Love: Who Needs It? Recent
Feminist Work in the Medieval French Tradition."
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Grant, Edward. "Reason
Asserts Itself: The Challenge to Authority in the Early Middle Ages to 1200."
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where he is defeated by Cligès in a joust. An abduction of the queen is one of the oldest motifs in
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Noble, Peter. "The
Character of Guinevere in the Arthurian Romances of Chretien de Troyes"
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811:. Trans. William W. Kibler and Carleton W. Carroll. New York: Penguin Books, 2004.
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in 1883 to help understand the relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere in
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and is believed to have suggested the inclusion of this theme into the story.
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Lancelot crossing the sword bridge (illumination in a manuscript produced for
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explaining that the story was completed not by Chrétien himself, but by the
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as a prominent character. The narrative tells about the abduction of
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400:. Marie de Champagne was well known for her interest in affairs of
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Denomy, Alexander (January 1953). "Courtly Love and Courtliness".
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Stokstad, Marilyn (1991), "Modena Archivolt", in Lacy, Norris J.,
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39:, Duke of Nemours, in the workshop of Evrard d'Espinques, c. 1475)
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Lacy, Norris J. (1991). "Chrétien de Troyes". In Norris J. Lacy,
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Four Arthurian Romances by active 12th century de Troyes Chrétien
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The Book of Courtly Love: The Passionate Code of the Troubadours
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Colman, Rebecca V. "Reason and Unreason in Early Medieval Law."
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Paris, Gaston. "Lancelot du Lac, II:Conte de la charrette."
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Condren, Edward I. "The Paradox of Chrétien's Lancelot."
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Chrétien de Troyes; Owen, D. D. R. (translator) (1988).
245:. The text also deals with the Christian theme of sin.
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Chrétien de Troyes, D.D.R. Owen (translator) (1988)
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396:explaining how the story was assigned to him by
732:. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
872:JSTOR access to Burns article previously cited
494:Gerritsen, Willem P. and Anthony G van Melle.
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854:The Charrette Project 2 at Baylor University
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407:Chrétien credits Marie with providing the
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1076:Unfinished literature completed by others
539:. New York, New York: Twayne Publishers.
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867:in a freely-distributable PDF document
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215:Lancelot, le Chevalier de la charrette
53:Lancelot, le Chevalier de la charrette
746:, pp. 88–91. New York: Garland.
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723:Journal of Interdisciplinary History
883:Lancelot, or The Knight of the Cart
605:, Tuttle Publishing, reprinted by
276:into allowing him to do so. After
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730:God and Reason in the Middle Ages
675:A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes
1066:French novels adapted into films
975:Perceval, the Story of the Grail
968:Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
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865:Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
592:, New York: Garland, pp. 324–326
476:Lancelot, The Knight of the Cart
206:Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
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24:Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart
775:. San Francisco: Harper, 1994.
261:after she has been abducted by
1046:Arthurian literature in French
744:The New Arthurian Encyclopedia
590:The New Arthurian Encyclopedia
470:was coined by the medievalist
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961:Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
859:Princeton's Charrette Project
496:Dictionary of Medieval Heroes
312:Yvain, the Knight of the Lion
535:Chrétien de Troyes Revisited
1056:Works by Chrétien de Troyes
886:public domain audiobook at
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816:The Modern Language Review
725:4 (Spring, 1974): 571–591.
498:. NY: BOYE6, 1998, p. 161.
28:
1051:Medieval French romances
831:Four Arthurian Romances
759:Les cathares et le Graal
672:Lacy, Norris J. (2005).
531:Uitti, Karl D. (1995).
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982:Guillaume d'Angleterre
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442:The Knight of the Cart
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348:Caradoc of Llancarfan
253:The story centers on
217:), is a 12th-century
96:between 1177 and 1181
807:Chretien de Troyes.
790:(May, 1970): 434–453
561:"The Life of Gildas"
369:and eventually into
367:Lancelot-Grail Cycle
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346:, appearing also in
317:Le Chevalier au Lion
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757:Roquebert, Michel.
419:in Modern French).
105:County of Champagne
1015:Godefroi de Leigni
990:La Mule sans frein
925:Chrétien de Troyes
818:July 1972: 524–535
809:Arthurian Romances
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708:Everyman's Library
704:Arthurian Romances
607:Everyman's Library
603:Arthurian Romances
454:Godefroi de Leigni
436:Godefroi de Leigni
398:Marie de Champagne
384:Marie de Champagne
307:Chrétien de Troyes
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223:Chrétien de Troyes
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67:Godefroi de Leigni
63:Chrétien de Troyes
37:Jacques d'Armagnac
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685:978-1-84384-050-3
376:Le Morte d'Arthur
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143:Octosyllable
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1041:1170s books
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392:contains a
301:Development
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155:7,134 lines
1035:Categories
845:(includes
697:References
575:2017-01-31
325:champenois
219:Old French
181:Personages
139:Verse form
101:Provenance
87:Old French
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923:Works by
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463:Influence
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359:archivolt
321:Champagne
291:Meleagant
270:Meleagant
263:Meleagant
259:Guinevere
193:Guinevere
189:Maleagant
176:and Gorre
59:Author(s)
1020:Lancelot
888:LibriVox
847:Lancelot
628:Speculum
446:postface
352:Life of
255:Lancelot
231:Lancelot
221:poem by
185:Lancelot
83:Language
1001:Related
795:Romania
648:2847180
422:Matiere
394:preface
170:Setting
160:Subject
954:Cligès
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354:Gildas
339:Cligès
309:' own
287:Logres
278:Gawain
274:Arthur
211:French
197:Gawain
174:Logres
152:Length
73:Patron
49:French
932:Works
802:Signs
652:S2CID
644:JSTOR
630:. 1.
482:Notes
450:clerk
129:Genre
777:ISBN
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541:ISBN
249:Plot
93:Date
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