Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (French: Lancelot, le Chevalier de la Charrette) is an Old French poem by Chrétien de Troyes. Chrétien probably composed the work at the same time as or slightly before writing Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, which refers to the action in Lancelot a number of times. The love affair between Guinevere and Lancelot appears for the first time in this poem as does Arthur's court city of Camelot. 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... Chrétien de Troyes wrote in Champagne, France, during the last half of the twelfth century. ... Yvain rescues the lion Yvain, the Knight of the Lion (French: Yvain, le Chevalier au Lion) is a romance by Chrétien de Troyes. ... Queen Guinevere, by William Morris For other uses, see Guinevere (disambiguation). ... In the Arthurian legend, Sir Lancelot (Lancelot du Lac, or Lancelot of the Lake; also Launcelot) is one of the Knights of the Round Table. ... 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... Tis a silly place Camelot is the name of the stronghold of the legendary King Arthur, from which he fought many of the battles that made up his life. ...

The action centers on Lancelot's rescue of the queen after she has been abducted by Meleagant. The Abduction of Guinevere is one of the oldest motifs in Arthurian legend, appearing also in Caradoc of Llancarfan's Life of Gildas and carved on the archivolt in Modena Cathedral. After Chrétien's version became popular, it was incorporated into the Lancelot-Grail Cycle and eventually Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Maleagant (also spelled Malagant or Meleagant) is a villian from Arthurian legend. ... The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the legends that concern the Celtic and legendary history of the British Isles, centering around King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. ... Gildas (c. ... An archivolt is a group of mouldings (or other elements) surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a rectangular opening. ... Modena (Mòdna in Modenese dialect) is a city and a province on the south side of the Po valley, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. ... The Lancelot-Grail, also known as the prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle, or the Pseudo-Map Cycle, is a major source of Arthurian legend. ... Sir Thomas Malory (c. ... The Last Sleep of Arthur by Edward Burne-Jones Le Morte dArthur (spelt Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions, from the French la mort dArthur, the death of Arthur) is Sir Thomas Malorys compilation of some French and English Arthurian...

Chrétien says he composed the romance at the behest of Marie, countess of Champagne, the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Louis VII of France and apparently his patroness at the time. There is reason to believe the adultery of Lancelot and Guinevere was invented wholecloth by Chrétien for the poem, but it is possible he found the episode already in whatever source material Marie provided him. The poet did not finish the work himself, leaving Godefroi de Leigni to complete the last thousand lines. There has been much speculation about Chrétien's attitude towards the poem; some scholars suggest he abandoned it because he disapproved of its adulterous subject. Additionally, he may have been uninterested by a tale thrust on him by his patroness, preferring to spend more time on Yvain. There is also speculation as to its relationship to the German Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, which features the Queen's abduction but not her affair with Lanzelet, and may derive from a version of the story that predates Knight of the Cart. Marie of France, or Marie Capet, Countess of Champagne (1145 – March 11, 1198), was the elder daughter of Louis VII of France and his first wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. ... The Counts of Champagne ruled the region of Champagne, France from 1022 to 1314. ... Eleanor of Aquitaine For other Eleanors of England, see Eleanor of England (disambiguation) Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122[1] – March 31, 1204) was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the High Middle Ages. ... Louis VII the Younger (French: Louis VII le Jeune) (1120 – September 18, 1180) was King of France from 1137 to 1180. ... Godefroi de Leigni was a clerk and an associate of Chrétien de Troyes during the 12th century, presumably at the court of Marie de Champagne. ... Lanzelet is a medieval romance written by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven sometime after 1194. ... Lanzelet is a medieval romance written by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven sometime after 1194. ...

References

• Chrétien de Troyes, D.D.R. Owen (translator) (1988) Arthurian Romances, Tuttle Publishing, reprinted by Everyman's Library. ISBN 0-460-87389-X

Everymans Library is currently a series of reprinted classic literature published by Alfred A. Knopf (a division of Random House) in the United States, and Weidenfeld and Nicolson in the United Kingdom. ...

External links

• Four Arthurian Romances by Chrétien de Troyes, available freely at Project Gutenberg (includes Lancelot)
• The Charrette Project 2 at Baylor University
• Princeton's Charrette Project