Erec and Enide (French: Erec et Enid) is Chrétien de Troyes's first romance, completed around 1170. Consisting of 7000 lines written in Old French, the poem is the earliest known Arthurian romance in any language besides the Welsh Culhwch and Olwen, which likely predates its surviving manuscripts. The work recounts the tale of Erec, one of King Arthur's knights, and the conflict between love and knighthood he experiences in his marriage to Enide. Chrétien de Troyes wrote in Champagne, France, during the last half of the twelfth century. ... Events December 29: Assassination of Thomas Beckett, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury cathedral City of Dublin captured by the Normans According to folklore, the Welsh prince Madoc sailed to North America and founded a colony. ... Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300 A.D. It was known at the time as the langue doïl to distinguish it from the langue... King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Britain. ... As a literary genre, romance or chivalric romance refers to a style of heroic prose and verse narrative current in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Culhwch and Olwen is a Welsh story that survives in only two manuscripts: a complete version in the Red Book of Hergest, ca. ... Sir Erec, the son of King Lac, is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. ... A bronze Arthur in plate armour with visor raised and with jousting shield is one of the chivalrous mourners at the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I (died 1519), in Innsbruck King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Great Britain, where he appears as the ideal of kingship... Enide or Enid is a character from Arthurian legend. ...

The poem begins with an un-armored Erec keeping Guinevere company during a stag-hunt (which he did not participate in). A strange knight and his dwarf approach the Queen and treat her servant roughly. The Queen orders Erec to follow the knight, Yder, to avenge the insult done to her servant. Erec ends up travelling to a far off town where he meets and falls in love with Enide. Erec defeats Yder and marries his love. Queen Guinevere, by William Morris For other uses, see Guinevere (disambiguation). ...

Some time later, however, rumors spread that Erec has gone soft and neglected his knightly duties. He overhears Enide crying over these rumors, and apparently doubts her love and devotion. He orders her to prepare for a journey, and they set off to parts unknown. He commands her to be silent through the whole ordeal, but she disobeys her obstinate husband several times to warn him of danger. The couple face and overcome a number of adventures, and Enide's undying love allows Erec to prove himself capable of handling both his marital and public duties.

Erec and Enide displays the problems of love and chivalry that Chrétien takes up in all his later work. Popular in its own day, the poem was translated into several other languages, notably German in Hartmann von Aue's Erec and Welsh in Geraint and Enid, one of the Three Welsh Romances included in the Mabinogion. Portrait of Hartmann von Aue from the Codex Manesse (folio 184v). ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Geraint and Enid, also known by the title Geraint, son of Erbin, is a one of the Three Welsh Romances typically associated with the Mabinogion. ... The Three Welsh Romances are three tales associated with the Mabinogion. ... The Mabinogion is a collection of prose stories from medieval Welsh manuscripts. ...

References

• Chrétien de Troyes, D.D.R. Owen (translator) (1988) Arthurian Romances, Tuttle Publishing, reprinted by Everyman. ISBN 0-460-87389-X
• Adler, Alfred. Sovereignty as the Principle of Unity in Chrétien's "Erec". PMLA. 1945

External links

• The Charrette Project 2 at Baylor University
• Four Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes, available freely at Project Gutenberg (includes Erec et Enide)