this material when
rationalised to suit the taste of French readers; his is further the
credit of having given to somewhat crude folk-lore that polish and
elegance which is peculiarly French, and which is inseparably associated
with the Arthurian legends in all modern literature. Though Beroul, and
perhaps other poets, had previously based romantic poems upon individual
Celtic heroes like Tristan, nevertheless to Chretien, so far as we can
see, is due the considerable honour of having constituted Arthur's court
as a literary centre and rallying-point for an innumerable company
of knights and ladies engaged in a never-ending series of amorous
adventures and dangerous quests. Rather than unqualifiedly attribute
to Chretien this important literary convention, one should bear in mind
that all his poems imply familiarity on the part of his readers with
the heroes of the court of which he speaks. One would suppose that other
stories, told before his versions, were current. Some critics would go
so far as to maintain that Chretien came toward the close, rather than
at the beginning, of a school of French writers of Arthurian romances.
But, if so, we do not possess these earlier versions, and for lack of
rivals Chretien may be hailed as an innovator in the current schools of
poetry.

And now let us consider the faults which a modern reader will not be
slow to detect in Chretien's style. Most of his salient faults are
common to all mediaeval narrative literature. They may be ascribed to
the extraordinary leisure of the class for whom it was composed--a class
which was always ready to read an old story told again, and which would
tolerate any description, however detailed. The pastimes of this
class of readers were jousting, hunting, and making love. Hence the
preponderance of these matters in the literature of its leisure hours.
No detail of the joust or hunt was unfamiliar or unwelcome to these
readers; no subtle arguments concerning the art of love were too
abstruse to delight a generation steeped in amorous casuistry and
allegories. And if some scenes seem to us indelicate, yet after
comparison with other authors of his times, Chretien must be let off
with a light sentence. It is certain he intended to avoid what was
indecent, as did the writers of narrative poetry in general. To
appreciate fully the chaste treatment of Chretien one must know some
other forms of mediaeval literature, such as the fabliaux, farces, and
morali