Medieval French Literature - The Roman

The Roman

Jean Bodel's other two categories—the "Matter of Rome" and the "Matter of Britain"—concern the French romance or "roman". The term "roman" signifies, roughly, "vernacular" (i.e. not Latin), but it is used to designate narrative poetry ("romance") usually written in octosyllabic rhymed couplets and telling stories of chivalry and love.

The most famous "romans" are those of the "Matter of Britain" dealing with Arthurian romance, the stories of Tristan and Iseult, the heroic legend of the doomed utopia of Camelot and the Holy Grail. Much of this material derives from Breton (Celtic) legends. The most important of these writers was Chrétien de Troyes (twelfth century).

The "Matter of Rome" concerns romances that take place in the ancient world, such as romances dealing with Alexander the Great, Troy, the Aeneid and Oedipus. Yet Bodel's category leaves little place for another important group of romances: those adventurous romances which are often set in Byzantium.

Sometimes linked with the "roman" are the Breton lais, narrative ballads of Britain by Marie de France, many of which have Celtic themes and origins.

Around a hundred verse romances survive from the period 1150-1220. From around 1200 on, the tendency was increasingly to write the romances in prose (many of the earlier verse romances were adapted into prose versions), although new verse romances continued to be written to the end of the 14th century., and it was chiefly in their prose form that many romances were read from the 14th to the 16th century.

The success of the early Arthurian romances also led, from around 1200 on, to a restructuring and compiling of the material into vast prose cycles.

Important "Matter of Rome" romances of the 12th century

• Roman de Thèbes
• Roman d'Enéas (1160)
• Roman de Troie (1154–1173) - Benoît de Sainte-Maure
• Roman d'Alexandre (1177) - this romance uses a twelve-syllable verse and is the reason why this verse length is termed alexandrine

Important Byzantine and adventure romances of the 12th century

• Flore and Blanchefleur
• Florimont - Aimon de Varenne (1188)
• Guillaume d'Angleterre - sometimes ascribed to Chrétien de Troyes
• Robert le Diable

Important romances of Britain of the 12th and 13th centuries

• Brut - Wace
• Erec and Enide - Chrétien de Troyes
• Cligès - Chrétien de Troyes (1162)
• Lancelot" or "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart - Chrétien de Troyes (1164)
• Yvain, the Knight of the Lion - Chrétien de Troyes (1180)
• Perceval or the Story of the Grail - Chrétien de Troyes (1185)
• Romance of the Grail - Robert de Boron (1191–1201)
• Tristan - Thomas of Britain (1155–1178)
• Tristan - Béroul (c.1190)
• Roman de Fergus - William the Clerk (late 12th century/early 13th century)

Important romances of the 13th and 14th centuries:

• Chastelaine de Vergy
• The "Lancelot-Grail" or "Vulgate Cycle" and its sections - a prose reworking of the Lancelot and Grail stories (1205)
• The "Post-Vulgate Cycle" - another prose reworking of the Lancelot and Grail stories
• Perceforest
• Gui de Warewic (1232–1242)
• Roman de la Rose ("Romance of the Rose") - Guillaume de Lorris (around 1225-1237) and Jean de Meun (1266–1277)

The most important romance of the 13th century is the Romance of the Rose which breaks considerably from the conventions of the chivalric adventure story: in a dream a lover comes upon a garden and meets various allegorical figures. The second part of the work (written by Jean de Meun) expands on the initial material with scientific and mythological discussions. The novel would have an enormous impact on French literature up to the Renaissance.

Related to the previous romance is the medieval narrative poem called "dit" (literally "spoken", i.e. a poem not meant to be sung) which follows the poetic form of the "roman" (octosyllabic rhymed couplets). These first-person narrative works (which sometimes include inserted lyric poems) often use allegorical dreams (songes), allegorical characters, and the situation of the narrator-lover attempting to return toward or satisfy his lady. The 14th century poet Guillaume de Machaut is the most famous writers of "dits"; another notable author of "dits" is Gautier le Leu. King René I of Naples's allegorical romance Cœur d'amour épris (celebrated for its illustrations) is also a work in the same tradition.