Chretien de Troyes, Cligès

Levilson C. Reis (Independent Scholar - North America)

Ed. by Matthew Siôn Lampitt, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.01: French Writing and Culture: Old French to the Middle Ages , 500-1400.
Vol. editors: Marianne Ailes (University of Bristol), Matthew Siôn Lampitt (University of Bristol), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1176 - c. 1176

Places

France (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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Cliges

(spelt

Cligés

in Old French,

Cligès

in modern French) is a medieval romance composed in Old French totaling 6,700 lines arranged in octosyllabic rhyming couplets. It is signed by Chrétien de Troyes, a “shadowy figure”, as Sarah Kay puts it (25), about whom all we know is that he was an author of several works as stated in the romance’s prologue. As Chrétien’s second attempt to tell the story of another knight’s adventures at Arthur’s court, scholars generally agree that

Cliges

falls below the horizon of expectation of the prototypical Arthurian romance due to its partly Byzantine, partly Arthurian setting and bipartite genealogical structure. The first part (44–2369; lines refer to Raffel’s rhymed translation) tells the story of the Greek imperial family,…

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3189 words

Citation: Reis, Levilson C.. "Cligès". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 September 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41176, accessed 09 May 2024.]

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