CHRÉTIEN (CHRESTIEN) OF TROYES. - Little biographical information is available about this famous courtly poet, who lived at the court of Champagne and whose greatest literary activity must have taken place between 1160 and 1175. He knew and elaborated classical material (especially Ovidian), as is shown by various titles of works of his that have not come down to us; but he was more deeply immersed in the adventurous world of Arthurian tales, to which he, drawing inspiration from the Historia regum Britanniae versified in the Roman de Brut by Wace, gave new life and new renown.
Of his works, the following are listed: an *Erec et Enide*, a *Lancelot*, an *Yvain*, and a *Perceval*, inspired by the *Arturi regis ambages pulcherrimae*, and a *Cligés* of Greco-Byzantine inspiration, though set in the Arthurian world. Of these poems (all in octosyllabic couplets) that are simply erotic and adventurous, some have been described as thesis novels, while others have seen in them hidden and complex allegorical meanings; certainly Chrétien is not content merely to narrate beautiful tales, but also wishes to pose and discuss delicate psychological problems (the arising of amorous passion, the relationship between love and chivalry, the nature and demands of marital fidelity). And in any case he writes as a great artist, with a rich, easy, colorful language and a sure mastery of his intricate plots.
Although left unfinished at 7,000 verses, the romance *Perceval* deserves special attention, where the adventurous element is mingled with the religious, in a form destined for a long and varied fortune in later literatures. It is the story of a young man, forcibly kept away from the chivalric world, who is finally admitted to it and, through a series of adventures, is led to rediscover the Grail, that is, the sacred vessel in which it was said the blood from Christ’s side had been collected.