Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot, The Knight of the Cart
Writing not much more than 100 years after The Song of Roland, Chrétien de Troyes’s corpus of work shows how much courtly tastes had changed over the course of a century. Chrétien wrote Arthurian romances, and whilst he was not the inventor of the genre, he is certainly the most important figure in the elevation of the form to the popularity it enjoyed. Chrétien also set out the structure, expectations, and ideals which suffuse all subsequent romances. Staggeringly little is known of his life, however, despite the great esteem in which his contemporaries and successors held him.
Chrétien was also instrumental in defining the characteristics of the individual knights of Camelot, copied by almost all subsequent romance writers. His most famous character is Lancelot du Lac, whose first literary appearance in Arthurian literature is The Knight of the Cart. The story begins with the abduction of Queen Guinevere by the villainous Meleagant. Lancelot appears initially unnamed in the romance, and to rescue Guinevere agrees a strange deal with a dwarf who knows where she is imprisoned. The dwarf will only show Lancelot the way if he agrees to demean himself by riding in a cart.
Chrétien explains that this was at the cost of Lancelot’s honour, and he is openly derided by commoners. After a series of adventures in the company of Sir Gawain, escaping traps set for them and slaying foes, the two knights go their separate ways, with Gawain getting stuck at a magical underwater bridge and Lancelot finding Guinevere after crossing a bridge made out of a giant sword. Eventually, he rescues Guinevere after more adventures and challenges, and defeats Meleagant in a pre-arranged duel at the end of the poem, proving himself over the adventure to be a truly remarkable knight.
Chrétien’s most important invention in The Knight of the Cart is courtly love, a concept which necessitated chivalrous conduct and the performance of great deeds for a lover: ‘whatever one may do for one’s mistress is itself an act of love and courtliness’, Lancelot observes. Lancelot performs great deeds out of love for Guinevere, and even breaks through iron bars to be with her, lacerating his hands in the process: ‘with his mind on another matter, he feels neither the wounds nor the blood that drips down from them’. In later Arthurian romances, their relationship causes the downfall of Camelot.