#chretien de troyes

[mortiscausa]

I wish to make brief mention of an acquaintance which was made in private between the moon and the sun. Do you know of whom I mean to speak? He who was lord of the knights, and who was renowned above them all, ought surely to be called the sun. I refer, of course, to my lord Gawain, for chivalry is enhanced by him just as when the morning sun sheds its rays abroad and lights all places where it shines. And I call her the moon, who cannot be otherwise because of her sense and courtesy. However, I call her so not only because of her good repute, but because her name is, in fact, Lunete. Yvain, or the Knight of the Lion | Chrétien de Troyes

for some reason this little friendship/flirtation has always stuck in my mind and I've wanted to draw something for it for ages. i just like the idea of Gawain having lots of gal pals haha

march to camelot #3: kinship

#march to camelot #arthuriana #arthurian legend #knights of the round table #sir gawain #lady lunete #illustration #chretien de troyes #illustrators on tumblr

[queer-ragnelle]

Do you have a guide/a recommended reading list for getting into Arthurian legends? I’ve been really getting into it in the past few months but I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of the foundations of it. (If you don’t and this is too big of an ask totally feel free to ignore this lol)

hello, anon.

i don't currently although i have plans to add another page to my blog listing medieval texts as well as links to download pdfs of them. i have english translations of texts originating in belarussian, dutch, french, german, hebrew, italian, latin, middle english, and last but not least, welsh.

in the mean time, i've collected for you some key texts that are readily available to read for free online!

le morte d'arthur by sir thomas malory [part 1] [part 2]

the history of the britons by nennius [here]

the mabinogion translated by lady charlotte guest [here]

four romances by chrétien de troyes [here]

parzival by wolfram von eschenbach [part 1] [part 2]

the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle translated by thomas hahn [here]

sir gawain and the green knight translated by j. r. r. tolkien [here]

better translations/formatting forthcoming! enjoy. :^)

#arthurian legend #arthurian legends #arthuriana #le morte d'arthur #sir thomas malory #the history of the britons #nennius #the mabinogion #lady charlotte guest #chrétien de troyes #chretien de troyes #parzival #wolfram von eschenbach #the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle #sir gawain and the green knight #ask #answered #book reccs #book reccomendation #sources #my post

[litners-lending-library]

obsessed with chretien's yvain setup. king arthur has a tummyache so he goes to bed early. literally all his knights get worried and set up camp outside his room. they start telling stories to eachother. they're being so loud that guinevere comes out and tells them to quiet down. instead of going back into the room, she joins their storytelling time. perfection, no notes.

#also chretien just fuckin HATES kay #key plot point is that kay's an asshole #chretien de troyes #arthuriana

[nyxshadowhawk]

Chrétian de Troyes is legit the funniest medieval writer i’ve read so far??

Like. percival is all masquerading as a badass knight and then the moment he opens his mouth everyone can immediately tell that he’s an idiot. he won’t stop talking about his mom and it takes his mentor to give it to him straight to get him to stop. he’s called an idiot to his face.

And the whole time arthur is like, Kay i swear to god it’s ok for perceval to act like an idiot because no one knows who he is, but if you act like an idiot you make me look bad, so sit the fuck down.

LIKE??? THIS IS LITERATURE

#i bet you didn't know percival was an idiot #he literally never listens to anything anyone says #except when he does and when he does it's worse #seriously kay what is wrong with you #medieval literature #arthuriana #arthurian legend #arthurian romance #medieval #chretien de troyes #literature #middle ages #arthurian literature #king arthur #sir kay #sir percival

[corvidfeathers]

ever since my knight of the cart reread in November I think of this passage every time someone puts a decision to me and I’m feeling indecisive:

Then the knight, who had been on the cart, says: "Sire, I am ready to share with you without prejudice: take one of these two routes, and leave the other one to me; take whichever you prefer."

“In truth," my lord Gawain replies, "both of them are hard and dangerous: I am not skilled in making such a choice, and hardly know which of them to take; but it is not right for me to hesitate when you have left the choice to me: I will choose the water-bridge."

like damn. It is not right for me to hesitate when you have left the choice to me. this has genuinely helped me become less indecisive

#arthuriana #arthurian literature #chretien de troyes #Gawain my role model in this one thing and this one thing only #corvid rambles

[daliathewitch]

ok, so!

I started reading Chretien de Troyes, I started with his book about Lancelot and WHEN HE SEES GUINEVEVE FOR THE FIRST TIME HE NEARLY JUMPS OUT OF THE WINDOW

Like??? He's so silly??? That's so cute??? He's so stupid and in love god help him

#arthur #arthuriana #arthurian mythology #chretien de troyes #sir lancelot #lancelot du lac #lancelot #guinevere #the poorest little meow meow in whole Camelot

[arthurian-texts]

There’s a scene in Chretien’s Knight of the Cart that’s absolutely crucial for how I see Gawain and Arthur’s relationship, one that probably sticks in my mind more than any other for how subtly and succinctly it captures so many complexities of their dynamic.

For context, this is right after Arthur agrees to let Guinevere go into a quite obvious trap (which ultimately leads to Guinevere’s abduction by Meleagant) with only Kay for protection, simply because he’d promised to grant whatever Kay asked. We’re told that “there was no one who was not upset” at this decision, but no one dares openly stop it or contradict Arthur - who is, after all, the king.

And it’s then that we get this crucial exchange:

No one’s grief was strong enough to prompt him to follow after her until Sir Gawain addressed the king, his uncle, in private. “Lord, you have behaved like a child, and I am astonished,” he said. “But if you heed my counsel, then while they are still near, we shall follow them, you and I, along with any others who wish to come there. As for me, I could not hold back from racing after them. It would be wrong for us not to follow them, at least until we know what will happen to the queen, and how Kay will behave.”

“Let us set off, dear nephew,” the king replied. “You have spoken courteously now. Since you have taken this matter into your hands, have the horses bridled, saddled, and led out that we may mount without delay.”

There’s always a very delicate balance Gawain is walking in how he interacts with Arthur, and you see it even in how the relationship is described here: the king, his uncle. On one hand, Arthur is Gawain’s relative, which gives him a certain leeway to treat him, if not quite as an equal, certainly much closer to it than most people could dare. But on the other hand, Arthur is the king, Gawain’s king, and questioning his authority too strongly would be considered unacceptable.

And I think you see that balance in such a fascinating way here. We’re told that everyone was unhappy with Arthur’s decision, but only Gawain dares to say so. Not only that, he basically tears into Arthur in incredibly strong terms: “You have behaved like a child, and I am astonished.” Clearly, Gawain feels confident that he’s earned the right to speak his mind to Arthur - to give him a piece of his mind, really, in this scene - and he doesn’t seem remotely afraid that there might be consequences for doing so.

But. But. Notice that crucial little detail there: in private. Gawain very pointedly waits to say anything about this until he and Arthur are alone. In public, around the other knights, Gawain doesn’t say a single word to contradict Arthur’s decision. In private, he tells him he’s acted like a child.

I’m reminded of a post I wrote a while ago about Game of Thrones, pointing out that Jon and Daenerys both make a distinction between being criticized in public and in private. Daenerys tells Jorah and Ser Barristan: “You’re both here to advise me. I value your advice. But if you ever question me in front of strangers again, you’ll be advising someone else.” And similarly after being crowned King in the North, Jon tells Sansa: “You are my sister, but I am king now. When you question my decisions in front of the other lords and ladies, you undermine me.” (Emphasis mine.) In both cases, I think the point was pretty clearly not ‘You cannot criticize me’, but rather ‘You cannot publicly undermine my authority’.

Arthur doesn’t need to tell Gawain this. Gawain knows. And I think you get a powerful sense of the trust between them from this short moment: Gawain trusts that he can speak his mind freely to Arthur without consequences, but he waits to do so until it’s just the two of them. In return, Arthur doesn’t stand on his ego but listens humbly and accepts Gawain’s criticism. I think it’s particularly fascinating that he tells Gawain he’s spoken courteously. On the face of it, “You have behaved like a child, and I am astonished” doesn’t sound remotely courteous - it sounds downright rude, in fact. And yet Arthur clearly doesn’t think so. He not only admits that Gawain is right, he endorses the way he said it as correct and praiseworthy.

I think that’s a great demonstration of how Gawain’s courtesy isn’t just a synonym for “polite”: it’s about his ability to follow social codes for correct behavior. Here, the measure of his courtesy isn’t that he always minces words, but that he understands when it is and isn’t acceptable to speak bluntly.

And I think it’s telling, too, that even when he’s basically telling Arthur off, he still addresses him formally as “Lord”. That might seem like a meaningless formality when the rest of what he’s saying seems anything but respectful, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s a constant reminder that Gawain never forgets Arthur is his king, or the respect that’s due to him, even when he’s openly questioning his decisions. He might seem harsh, but yet it's always tempered by a fundamental deference and he's careful never to overstep those lines.

He knows his place, not in the sense of being a doormat, but in the most literal sense of understanding the multiple - in some ways conflicting - roles he occupies and the expectations thereof: As Arthur's nephew, his knight, his subject, his advisor and right-hand man, arguably his friend and/or surrogate son (or brother, depending on your interpretation) as well. The fact that he manages to thread that needle so well is a testament to just how intelligent and socially adept he is, and the fact that Arthur gives him leave to speak his mind so bluntly to him in private is a huge testament to the mutual trust and respect between them.

#king arthur #sir gawain #arthuriana #round table #chretien de troyes #analysis #the knight of the cart #this blog is not in fact dead #watch this space

[gringolet]

chretien de troyes introducing lancelot to the arthurian canon:

#arthuriana #arthurian legend #lancelot #chretien de troyes

[gawrkin]

I had a realization the other day:

Gawain was supposed to be the narrator of the Grail Quest.

Before Vulgate cycle and Sir Bors, the only other participant of the Grail Quest was Gawain. Gawain was used as a foil for Percival's story - a counterpart for Percival's character arc.

When reading Chretien's (unfinished) Grail story, it was always funny how Gawain takes up a significant chunk of the tale, but looking back at every version of the Grail cycle, there's this general trend that Percival was never going to return to Camelot to report the entire adventure to Arthur.

Percival's story is meant to end with him staying in the Grail Kingdom. So, someone else had to tell the story so it could be "passed down" and preserved as "history".

And that someone, had to be Gawain, the then-premier hero of the romances and Chretien's favorite.

Gawain isn't just the deuteragonist in Percival's story, he's also the one lives to tell the tale of Sir Percival.

Of Course, Robert de Boron comes along, and suddenly, the Grail Quest is everyone's adventure, but that's a different story...

#sir gawain #sir pecrival #conte du graal #chretien de troyes #arthuriana #arthurian legend #arthurian mythology #arthurian legends

[tiodolma]

legit i love the callout to Chretien de Troyes' Yvain: Knight of the Lion

#arthuriana #chretien de troyes #kaamelott #kaamelott lady seli #kaamelott arthur pendragon #kaamelott leodagan #kaamelott yvain #yvain knight with the lion #this was a jampacked skit btw #importante #lookat me mom I KNOW THINGS

[laurellerual]

Sir Gawain defends himself with a chessboard 

... this has happened 

Le Roman de Perceval ou le conte du Graal di Chrétien de Troyes

#arthuriana #sir gawain #gawain #parsifal #Chretien de Troyes #chess #knight #medieval literature

[gaheriskinnie]

Chretien continues to be my favorite medieval guy hes just so endearingly weird about things

#chretien de troyes

[queer-ragnelle]

Hi! Your flowchart is amazing, and I'm so excited by the literature list you made. However, I was wondering if you know which book is best to start reading more about Arthurian legend? I have only collected knowledge through osmosis, so I have no clue where or how to start learning more. Thank you for your time and have a nice day!

hello!

thank you, i'm glad they're helpful for you! i did answer a similar ask about what medieval texts to begin with here and link to free resources, but the formatting is hard on the eyes, and now that my own collection is available, i'll reiterate. all suggested translations are available on my blog.

le morte d'arthur by sir thomas malory: you'll get the most mileage out of this book as malory sourced a broad spectrum of stories to incorporate them into a single text, which includes arthur's conception, pulling the sword from the stone, receiving excalibur from the lady of the lake, marrying to guinevere, young gawain's knighting and first quest, tristan and isolde's romance, the grail quest, final battle at camlann etc. plus malory himself invented some of the most iconic stories, such as gareth's time as the kitchen boy, beaumains. with this book alone, the majority of retellings will make sense to you. but be warned it can be extremely dry (and confusing timeline wise, calogrenant dies twice bc malory couldn't keep his own story straight!), i recommend the keith baines translation as it's rewritten into prose like a novel.

the vulgate cycle: it's 10 books. i know it's 10 books. but it's simply the best. the truncated nature of malory's le morte d'arthur leaves the majority of characters reduced to singular traits (orkney bros the mindless killers, priggish grail knights etc.) which has negatively influenced many retellings since imo. this is not an issue with the vulgate where everyone has a little more nuance and depth, even the bad guys, but especially the characters we're supposed to root for like lancelot and gawain. many fun characters who were cut from le morte d'arthur are fully developed here like half-giant galehaut and gawain's baby mama the lady of lys. i'm putting it high on the list bc i simply think more people should try it. i recommend the translation edited by norris j. lacy. he's incredible and i love all of his translation work. footnotes right in the margin will remind the reader of past references and explain language subtleties lost in translation (like puns) or indicate what was changed for ease of understanding (sometimes the scribes made mistakes and named the wrong character, which lacy will fix and then note he fixed). so if one can get past the sheer volume of text, it's a wonderful read, and i even have specific stories within it i could recommend. but i digress...

sir gawain and the green knight: it goes without saying this poem is iconic. the pearl poet (as the anonymous author is called) wrote beautifully and the version of gawain here is a much kinder portrayal than what he appears in the post vulgate, which was a major source for malory's le morte d'arthur. the beheading exchange/game is the focus here, although this motif will appear in many other texts, such as perlesvaus, and the sgatgk story appears in the majority of retellings that include gawain, so it's a must read. i recommend the j. r. r. tolkien translation (the audiobook version of this translation is phenomenal, like music).

four arthurian romances + the story of the grail by chrétien de troyes: except you can skip cligés bc its mediocre at best. really what you'll need from this is knight of the cart (the first ever story in which lancelot appears and he's very pathetic and weepy and insane and lovable haters dni), knight with the lion (gawain's cousin yvain gets a pet lion, fights a dragon, gets married, gets divorced, goes mad, recovers, gets married again...), erec and enide (worst husband in the universe), and the story of the grail (perceval and gawain adventures). a version of these stories were adapted into le morte d'arthur and the vulgate (except for yvain's lion which is a bummer!). i recommend the nigel bryant translation of perceval and william kibler translations for the rest. when you reach the end of the story of the grail and it cuts mid-sentence...well, sadly we don't know what happened to poor chrétien that kept him from completing his story. but there are four continuations written by other people, plus the german parzival is great as well (and has one of my favorite of gawain's wives, the haughty maiden of logres, orgeluse).

the mabinogion: some of the same stories as chrétien but of welsh origin plus extras. haters will try to pit two bad bitches against each other, but these texts go hand in hand. i like the whimsical vibes of this version and the magical powers given to the characters, such as kay's ability to grow to the size of a tree and set things on fire with his hands or bedwyr's ability to strike faster than all other knights despite having only one hand. it also gives owain (welsh version of yvain) an army of ravens that kill people in addition to his lion, arthur has an invisibility mantle (also referenced in the welsh triads), and the whole gang fights the demon boar twrch trwyth to steal the golden comb off his head. good stuff. i recommend the translation by lady charlotte guest.

the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle: obviously this has to be included. i'm biased but at the same time, it is supposed that sir thomas malory actually wrote this poem! which i think is pretty neat. additionally, 99% of retellings include ragnelle as gawain's wife. in fact, excluding the ones in which he doesn't have a partner at all, i can only think of one in which he marries someone else. dame ragnelle is the people's darling, all of us arthurian authors agreed that in spite of our differing opinions about everything else in the stories, she is the wife of all time. and we're right. a thing of beauty. this text does not have a translation, it's just in middle english, which can be challenging to read. this version edited by thomas hahn has footnotes to help or otherwise i recommend the version retold by selina hastings and illustrated by juan wijngaard, it's gorgeous, and includes all the fun supporting cast like kay and guinevere.

this was a long list with probably more explanation than necessary but it can be difficult to narrow down a single place to begin with arthuriana as each story builds on the literary tradition that came before. everyone is sharing and influencing one another so stories and motifs are repeated, each author writes for their time, slightly altering the technology and culture to reflect their own lived experience, so the narrative evolved as the centuries passed into what we have today. thanks for this ask and hope you enjoy reading!

#arthurian legend #arthurian legends #arthuriana #king arthur #queen guinevere #merlin #sir lancelot #sir gawain #le morte d'arthur #sir thomas malory #the vulgate cycle #the post vulgate #vulgate #post vulgate #sir gawain and the green knight #sgatgk #chretien de troyes #chrétien de troyes #the mabinogion #the wedding of sir gawain and dame ragnelle #reading recommendations #book reccomendations #book reccs #ask #ooutruneverything #arthurian preservation project #my post

[talesfromtheenchantedforest]

if I had a shot at time travel I would have one (1) priority and it would be to get wine drunk with Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, and get her to tell me all about where she got the idea for Lancelot and how exactly she bullied Chrétien into writing about him

#marie of france #chretien de troyes #medieval literature #arthuriana #lancelot

[ladyminaofcamelot]

Marie of France: Wouldn't it be lovely and romantic if Guinevere had a knight who she was totally in love with and he was utterly besotted with her and would give his life for her and- Chretien De Troyes:...That sounds stupid. Marie, smiling politely: I SAID don't you think it would be romantic if Guinevere was in love with a knight who was utterly besotted with her and would give his life for her? Chretien, remembering he has to pay rent this month: ... (Proceeds to write Lancelot being obssesed with Guinevere and also dumb as rocks.)

#arthuriana #chretien de troyes #lancelot #guinevere #you can tell this man HATED Lancelot #and it's hilarious

[kingparsifal]

#ludwig ii #richard wagner #parsifal #opera #wonderful #german music #german opera #king ludwig ii #wolfram von eschenbach #chretien de troyes #Youtube