Chrétien de Troyes

(flourished 1165–80) French poet. Little is known of his life. He is the author of the five Arthurian romances Erec, Cligès, Lancelot, Yvain, and Perceval and possibly also of a non-Arthurian tale. Written in the vernacular, his romances were derived from the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth and combine separate adventures into well-knit stories. They were imitated almost immediately by other French poets and were translated and adapted frequently as the romance continued to develop as a narrative form. See also Arthurian legend.