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ChrEtien de Troyes or Chrestien de Troyes[both: krAtyaN´ du trwA] Pronunciation Key, fl. 1170, French poet, author of the first great literary treatments of the Arthurian legend. His narrative romances, composed c.1170–c.1185 in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, include Erec et Enide; CligEs; Lancelot, le chevalier de la charette; Yvain, le chevalier au lion; and Perceval, le conte del Graal, unfinished (see Parsifal). ChrEtien drew on popular legend and history, and imbued his romances with the ideals of chivalry current at the 12th-century court of Marie de Champagne, to which he was attached. His other surviving works include imitations of Ovid and Guillaume d'Angleterre, a non-Arthurian narrative. Translations of the Arthurian romances are included in W. W. Comfort's edition (1913) and in R. S. and L. H. Loomis, Medieval Romances (1957).
See L. T. Ropsfield, ChrEtien de Troyes: A Study of the Arthurian Romances (1981); J. Frappier, ChretiEn de Troyes: The Man and His Work (1982); N. J. Lacy et al., ed., The Legacy of ChrEtien de Troyes (2 vol., 1988).
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