Rusticiano’s was divided and published as two distinct romances, Guiron le Courtois and
Meliadus.
Norris J.Lacy
[See also: PROPHÉCIES DE MERLIN; PROSE ROMANCE]
Pickford, Cedric E. “Miscellaneous French Prose Romances.” In Arthurian Literature of the Middle
Ages: A Collaborative History, ed. Roger Sherman Loomis. Oxford: Clarendon, 1959, pp. 348–
57.
ARTHURIAN VERSE ROMANCE
. The history of Arthurian romance from the end of the 12th century through most of the
13th is dominated by Chrétien de Troyes. When Chrétien died, probably in the 1180s, he
left behind four complete romances of about 6,000 lines each (Erec et Enide, Cligés,
Lancelot, and Yvain), and a fifth, unfinished at 9,234 lines (Perceval). The renown of
these poems was unparalleled in French literature, their popularity being attested by
reference, allusion, quotation, translation, and adaptation. Verse romance after Chrétien
may be seen as a response or reaction to the works of the master.
The two or three decades following Chrétien’s death are peculiarly wanting in
Arthurian verse romance. This may be historical accident, of course, in that little has
survived, but it does look as if authors at the end of the 12th and very beginning of the
13th century had difficulty coping with the overwhelming reputation of Chrétien. Only
Renaut de Beaujeu’s Bel Inconnu and a number of shorter poems can be assigned with
any probability to this period. Renaut’s full-length romance is at once clearly different
from Chrétien’s and yet owes a good deal to him. Two short so-called lais, Cor and
Mantel, not actual lais bretons as written by Marie de France, are variations on a chastity-
test theme in which many of the ladies of Arthur’s court prove to have been unfaithful to
their partners. The poems are humorous and border occasionally on the obscene, perhaps
surprising for such early texts. Two anonymous lais bretons, Tyolet and Melion, are
Arthurian in their setting rather than in their essence, although Tyolet is quite clearly
derived from Chrétien’s Perceval. The Gawain romances, Mule sans frein and Chevalier
a l’épée also date from ca. 1200. Finally, the first two continuations of Chrétien’s
Perceval may have been composed in their first versions about the turn of the century.
The 13th century saw the composition of Meraugis de Portlesguez by Raoul de
Houdenc, Gliglois, Durmart le Gallois, Yder(all probably before 1220), the Occitan
jaufre (ca. 1230), Fergus by Guillaume le Clerc, the Chevalier aux deux épées or
Meriadeuc (before 1250), Floriant et Florete, the Merveilles de Rigomer (before 1268),
Claris et Laris, and Escanor by Girart d’Amiens (before 1282). These po ems have many
features in common with the Gawain romances. The only Arthurian verse romance
written in the 14th century is Froissart’s Méliador, which can better be seen as an
anachronism than the last example of the genre.
Raoul de Houdenc’s Meraugis de Portlesguez, of 5,938 lines, is notable for its
discussion of courtly virtues articulated through the rivalry of two friends, Meraugis and
Gorvain Cadrut, for the love of Lidoine. Raoul, perhaps the most talented of those writing
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