Four Arthurian Romances: Lancelot

The action centers on Lancelots rescue of the queen after she has been abducted by Meleagant, the son of Bademagu. The Abduction of Guinevere is one of the oldest motifs in Arthurian legend, appearing also in Caradoc of Llancarfans Life of Gildas and carved on the archivolt in Modena Cathedral. Chretiens works include five major poems in rhyming eight-syllable couplets. Four of these are complete; Erec and Enide (c. 1170); Cliges (c. 1176), and Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, both written simultaneously between 1177 and 1181. Chretiens final romance was Perceval, the Story of the Grail, written between 1181 and 1190, but left unfinished, though some scholars have disputed this. This volume includes a comprehensive set of linked footnotes to deepen the reading experience.