Chrétien de Troyes

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Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes [ kʁetjɛ̃ dətʁwa ] (* around 1140 in Troyes ; † around 1190) was a French author.

Chrétien is considered to be the founder of the genre of courtly novels and its most important representative in old French literature. His verse novels have also had a lasting impact on literature and art across Europe. For example, they were the model for the Middle High German epics Hartmann von Aue and Wolfram von Eschenbach .

Life

Chrétien's specific life dates are not known, except that in his novel Erec et Enide he described himself as coming from Troyes (he wrote in the dialect of Champagne ) and that he must have enjoyed a good education in the manner of a cleric . His creative period apparently extended from around 1160 to the 1180s. According to the dedication, one of his novels, Lancelot , was written on behalf of Countess Marie de Champagne , who received this title through her marriage in 1164; his last and unfinished work, the Conte du Graal , is dedicated to Count Philip of Flanders , who took over this title in 1169 and became regent of France in 1180 (which the dedication apparently does not mention before this date) . Chrétien must have had a temporary relationship with the named princes after 1164 and before or around 1180.

Chrétien's audience were these and other princely patrons including wives, ladies-in-waiting and noble maids, as well as the small and medium-sized military and administrative nobility living or frequenting their courts. His work documents the peak of the power of these territorial princes (dukes, counts, etc.), whose courts rivaled the court of the French kings as centers of power and culture in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Create

Chrétien's works are not completely preserved. Above all, five novels have survived, the material of which comes mainly from the so-called Matière de Bretagne , the Celtic - British saga about King Arthur . This group of legends is probably based on orally spread stories, as they are processed in the Welsh Mabinogion and the Irish Echtrai (stories of adventure travel ). Chrétien enriches this material with invented episodes and relocates the actions in a world that corresponded to the courtly zeitgeist. The ideas of the ministry as developed in the troubadour lyric flow into his epics; mainly love is the content of the numerous dialogues and inner monologues. Chrétien calls his method of creating an artfully structured and meaningful plot from various elements, with self-confidence as a writer, a molt bele conjointure (a “very beautiful connection”).

He introduces his novel Cligès with a catalog raisonné that goes back to around 1170. According to this information he would have written Erec et Enide first , later the transmissions of the Ars amatoria and the Remedia amoris Ovids , then a story of "King Brand and the blond Isolde" and three adaptations of metamorphoses from Ovid's Metamorphoses . The works mentioned have not been preserved , except for the Erec and the metamorphosis of Philomena , the nightingale.

Are of Chrétien's works, in addition to a few poems to courtly love themes, especially novels with pairs rhymed eight Silver posterity been handed down:

Érec et Énide (created after 1160) is the story of the king's son Érec. After the knight distinguished himself early on at Artus Court, he married a young woman named Énide. Out of love he neglects his chivalrous duties. Pointed out by her, he realizes his mistake, but doubts her love and goes on adventures with her. Érec fights numerous fights, in return learns the loyalty of his wife and returns gloriously to Arthur's court. He later succeeds his father Lac as king.

Cligès (written between 1165 and 1170) has 6784 verses and is divided into two parts: a prehistory and the actual narrative plot. The first part tells about the Byzantine emperor's son Alexandre, who travels to Arthur's court, falls in love with the lady-in-waiting Soredamor, marries her and after a long time returns to Byzantium with her and his son Cligès . In the meantime his younger brother Alis has taken the throne. Alexandre dies shortly afterwards and Alis remains emperor because he breaks a promise to leave the throne to his nephew Cligès. Alis breaks her vow to remain unmarried and decides to marry Fenice, the daughter of the German emperor. A Byzantine delegation arrives in Cologne ; Among them is Cligès, who falls in love with Fenice and desires his uncle's bride to be a wife. A nurse who knows magic ensures that Fenice, who has to marry Ali, is only touched by him in his dreams. Cligès, who can't stand the wait, goes on an adventure to see King Arthur. After his return, he succeeds in kidnapping Fenice, apparently dead, and in secret to love for a while. Both are discovered. The couple have to flee until after Ali's death (unlike Tristan the Isolde ) they can marry and ascend the throne. The beginning of the Cligès contains the famous thesis of the "translatio studii", the transmission of learning that passed from the Greeks to the Romans and from these to the French.

Le Chevalier de la charrette (created around 1170) is the colorful story of the adventures that the young knight Lancelot has to find the kidnapped Queen Guenièvre, the wife of King Arthur, and to show her his renunciation and devotional love (which is briefly rewarded once). The last 1000 verses of Lancelot were written by a certain Godefroi de Lagny, apparently with knowledge and according to Chrétien's plans, who in this commissioned work seems somewhat listless from the beginning.

Le Chevalier au lion (created around 1170) is a story of Arthurian knight Yvain, who marries the young widow of a lord of the castle who he killed in a knightly duel, who soon takes her leave of absence and goes on an adventure trip. The knight forgets the set annual date of his return, who can only reconcile his wife after passing many exams in which he is refined to become the ideal knight.

Perceval or Li Contes del Graal (begun around 1180 for Philip of Flanders) is the attempt to penetrate the genre of the courtly novel with Christian elements and the myth of the Holy Grail . The novel tells the story of Perceval, a boy who grew up in a lonely forest and becomes an Arthurian knight and seeker of the Grail. In addition to the Perceval plot, Chrétien tells the story of the knight Gauvain. The work, which Chrétien had visibly planned as the sum and climax of his thought and creativity, initially remained unfinished after around 9,000 verses, apparently due to his death. The fragment was later continued by several unknown continuers and extended to about 32,000 verses.

The adventure novel Guillaume d'Angleterre has long been attributed to Chrétien de Troyes. According to recent research, the story of a fictional English king comes from an unknown author, apart from his name Chrestien.

Afterlife

Chrétien's Erec and Yvain were retouched by Hartmann von Aue in Middle High German verses before or around 1200, and Perceval by Wolfram von Eschenbach soon after 1200 - a sign of how exemplary French literature was overall in France's neighboring countries at that time.

In France in the 13th century, almost all of Chrétien's novels were rewritten in prose for a predominantly urban audience. The extensive prose Lancelot in particular found widespread use and was copied and read well into the 15th century.

In 15th century England, Sir Thomas Malory compiled various strands of the Arthurian sagas. Even Richard Wagner was inspired (mediated by tungsten) of fabrics Chrétien.

List of works

Work editions

  • Les romans de Chrétien de Troyes. Édités d'après la copie de Guiot (Bibl. Nat., Fr. 794). 5 volumes (in 6). H. Champion, Paris (text in old French, introduction and glossary in French);
    • Volume 1: Erec et Enide (= Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge. No. 80, ISSN  0755-1959 ). Publié by Mario Roques . 1952 (reprinted ibid 2009, ISBN 978-2-7453-1955-5 );
    • Volume 2: Cligés. (= Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge. No. 84). Publié by Alexandre Micha. 1957 (reprinted ibid 1982, ISBN 2-85203-045-4 );
    • Volume 3: Le Chevalier de la Charrete (= Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge. No. 86). Publié by Mario Roques. 1958 (reprinted ibid 1997, ISBN 2-85203-807-2 );
    • Volume 4: Le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain) (= Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge. No. 89). Publié by Mario Roques. 1960 (reprinted ibid 1999, ISBN 2-7453-0210-8 );
    • Volume 5 Part volume 1: Le Conte du Graal (Perceval) (= Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge. No. 100). Volume 1: Verses 1-6008. Publié by Félix Lecoy . 1972, (reprinted ibid 1990, ISBN 2-85203-039-X );
    • Volume 5 Part volume 2: Le Conte du Graal (Perceval) (= Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge. No. 103). Volume 2: Verses 6009-8960. Publié by Félix Lecoy. 1975, ISBN (reprinted ibid 1998, ISBN 2-85203-910-9 ).

dictionary

  • Wendelin Foerster : Dictionary for Kristian von Troyes' complete works. Revised and reworked by Hermann Breuer. 5th, unchanged edition. Niemeyer Tübingen 1973, ISBN 3-484-50006-9 .

literature

  • Erich Köhler : Lectures on the history of French literature. Middle Ages. Volume 1. Edited by Henning Krause. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-17-008603-0 , pp. 125-166 ( online edition (PDF; 2.18 MB) ).
  • Larry D. Benson: The Tournament in the Romances of Chrétien de Troyes & L'Histoire de Guillaume Le Maréchal. sn, sln a ( online edition ).
  • Malcolm Godwin: The Holy Grail. Origin, secret and interpretation of a legend. Heyne, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-453-08025-4 .
  • Stefan Hofer : Chrétien de Troyes. Life and works of the old French epic poet. Böhlau, Graz et al. 1954.
  • Martin H. Jones, Roy Wisbey (Ed.): Chrétien de Troyes and the German middle ages (= Arthurian Studies. Vol. 26 = Publications of the Institute of Germanic Studies. Vol. 53). Papers from an international symposium [held at the University of London's Institute of Germanic studies, from 19 to 22 April 1988]. Brewer et al., Cambridge et al. 1993, ISBN 0-85991-356-2 .
  • Charles Potvin: Bibliography de Chrestien de Troyes. Comparaison des manuscrits de Perceval le Gallois. Un manuscrit inconnu, chapitres uniques du manuscrit de Mons, autres fragments inédits. Muquardt et al., Brussels et al. 1863, ( digitized version ).
  • Jing Xuan : subject of rulership and Christian time. The chivalric novels Chrestiens de Troyes , Wilhelm Fink, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-7705-5394-5 .

Web links

Wikisource: Chrétien de Troyes  - Sources and full texts (French)
Wikiquote: Chrétien de Troyes  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Roeck: The morning of the world . 1st edition. CH Beck, 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-74119-7 , pp. 280 .
personal data
SURNAME Chrétien de Troyes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Old French poet
DATE OF BIRTH around 1140
PLACE OF BIRTH Troyes
DATE OF DEATH around 1190