THE QUEEN OF TROUBADOURS GOES TO ENGLAND (II):

ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE AND CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES

Eugenio Manuel Olivares Merino

Universidad de Jaén

ABSTRACT
This paper is concerned with the discussion of three related issues: first,
Chrétien’s possible visit to England; second, if any of his romances was written
in the British Isles; and, finally, whether or not queen Eleanor might have
patronised any of these “English” romances. The first two aspects have been
analysed before; what I will try to do here is to revise them from the
perspective of the third one.

1. INTRODUCTION: DID CHRÉTIEN DE TROYES GO TO ENGLAND?

Chrétien de Troyes (fl. 1165-80), the creator of the roman courtois, is likely to have

spent some time in England. His knowledge of places in south-eastern England made Gaston

Paris affirm that he must have crossed the Channel (Shirt 1973:178).1 Ever since this

statement was made, there has been much discussion about it. In 1915 C. Appel went as far as

locating that visit to 1154, a year in which Chrétien might also have met Bernart de Ventadorn

(1915:lvii, n. 1).2 The coronation of Henry and Eleanor was certainly an event that attracted

poets and troubadours to England, both Bernart and Chrétien being probably invited by the

future king and queen. The hypothesis of the poet’s visit to England was retaken in 1931 by G.

Cohen3 and later on by R.S. Loomis, who stated that Chrétien’s “poem Cligés shows such an

accurate knowledge of the positions of Southampton, Winchester, Wallingford, Windsor, etc.,

as only a visit to southern England can account for” (1963: 44).4 This view is not universally

1
See: G. Paris. Mélanges de littérature française du moyen âge. Ed. M. Roques, 2 vols. Paris, 1912. 229-327,
esp. 259-60. Paris’ article had first been published in the Journal des Savants (1902).
2
Such is also the opinion of H.J. Chaytor (1973:36).
3
See: G. Cohen. Chrétien de Troyes et son oeuvre. Paris: Boivin, 1931. 89; and La Vie littéraire en France
au moyen âge. Paris, 1953. 98.
4
For other scholars who also accounted for this supposed visit to England, see: R. Bezzola. Les Origines el la
formation de la littérature courtoise en Occident (500-1200). Paris, 1963. Vol. 3.

1
held, there being some scholars who deny a direct contact of the poet with that country5 and

others who attribute Chrétien’s knowledge of southern England to intermediaries.6

2. ENGLAND IN CHRÉTIEN’S ARTHURIAN ROMANCES

No extant document or report has proved so far that Chrétien visited England. Besides,

very little is known about the life of this poet. Some degree of speculation is, therefore, taken

for granted. The obvious and necessary place to start our research is those romances in which

scholars have traced references to England.7

2.1. Erec et Enide (E): This romance was probably written around 1170 (Frappier

1982:6). The first thing that should be pointed out is that some places mentioned in this

romance might well be identified as English, Welsh or Irish locations, as G. Paris noticed:8

Caradigan (Cardigan), Colescestre (Gloucester), Evroic (York), Corques (Cork),… (Shirt

1973:180). Apart from this, one episode in Chrétien’s first romance has been traditionally

claimed to provide a clear connection with Henry II’s court: the coronation of Erec in

Arthur’s court at Nantes on Christmas Day (ll. 6581-595).9 In 1169, December 25, Henry

5
See: W. Foerster. Kristian von Troyes: Wörterbuch zu seinen sämtlichen Werken. Halle, 1914. 40; W.A.
Nitze. Perceval and the Holy Grail. California, 1949. 283.
6
See: E.K. Chambers. Arthur of Britain. London, 1927. 136; J.D. Bruce. The Evolution of Arthurian Romance
from the beginnings down to the year 1300. 2 vols. Baltimore, 1928. Vol. 1. 100, n. 2; P. Rickard. Britain in
Medieval french Literature 1100-1500. Cambridge, 1956. 107-113.
7
For Chrétien de Troyes’s romances to which I will make no reference in the present paper, see: Le
Chevalier au Lion (Yvain). Les Classiques Français du Moyen Âge 89. Ed. M. Roques. Paris: Libraire
Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1960; Li Contes del Graal[Perceval]. Ed. Martín de Riquer. Barcelona:
Biblioteca Filológica, 1985.
8
See G. Paris, Op. Cit. 259.
9
“Ne ja n’an voel ore plus dire,/ Car vers la gent li cuers me tire/ Qui la estoit tote assemblee/ De mainte
diverse contree./ Assez i ot contes et rois,/ Normanz, Bretons, Escoz, Einglois,/ D’Eingleterre et de Cornaille;/
I ot molt riche baronaille,/ Car des Gales jusqu’a Anjo,/ N’an Alemaigne, n’an Peito,/ N’ot chevalier de grant
afeire/ Ne gentil dame de bon eire,/ Don les meillors et les plus gentes/ Ne fussent a la cort de Nentes,/Que li
rois les ot toz mandez”. Translation: “But I wish to say no more of this, for inclination draws me towards the
people who were all assembled there from many diverse lands. There were many counts and kings, Normans,
Bretons, Scotsmen, Irish. From England and from Cornwall there was a rich gathering of barons, for from
Wales all the wat to Anjou, in Maine or in Poitou, no important knight or noble lady of fine lineage was left;

2
II held a plenary court at Nantes and Eleanor was with him (Lejeune 1954:29, 54). The

purpose of this glamorous event was to betroth his eleven-year-old son, Geoffrey, to

Constance (8 years old), Conan IV of Brittany’s daughter: the Plantagenet was in this way

officially proclaimed the next Duke of Brittany. The possibility of Chrétien having attended

Geoffrey’s investiture at Nantes and depicting the scene of Erec’s coronation with the

former in mind is far from remote: both the historical and fictional events present the same

date and a similar purpose. Apart from this, the list of guests at the coronation of Erec

includes barons from England, Cornwall, Wales, Anjou, Maine and Poitou, that is, all

corners of Henry II’s domains. Finally, a third similitude needs to be accounted for. The

thrones on which Arthur and Erec were seated, both gifts from Bruianz des Illes, had

leopards sculptured on their arms. Leopards were the heraldic animals in Henry II’s royal

coat of arms and Bruianz des Illes has been identified as Brian of Wallingford, the King’s

best friend and a loyal servant of the royal couple (Schmolke-Hasselmann 1981:245-46).

Gathering all this textual evidence, it is reasonable to suggest that E was written for

the court of Henry II (Schmolke-Hasselmann 1981:243), very probably in England (Kibler

1991:5) and sometime around 1170. Leaving aside earlier stays of Chrétien in the island

(1154 and 1155), the poet might have visited that country again at this date. The author of the

romance addressed it to the court of Henry II and his family (Lejeune 1963:74) and, primarily,

to Henry II’s son, Geoffrey. The popularity and success of Wace’s Brut in legitimating

Henry Plantagenet’s claim to the throne of England would very much favour a text which

indirectly supported Geoffrey’s claim to the throne of Brittany, by stressing the “link”

the best and the most noble of all were at the court of Nantes, for the king had summoned them all” (Kibler
1991:118).

3
between the latter and King Arthur (Schmolke-Hasselmann 1981:243).

2.2. Cligés (C): Chrétien’s second romance also seems to imply the possibility of

Chrétien’s stay in Henry and Eleanor’s English court, but this time at an earlier date.

References to English topography, England itself and its well known cities (Southampton,

Winchester, Dover, Canterbury, Windsor, Oxford, London and Shoreham) are especially

relevant in this sense (Kibler 1991:5)10. One of them needs further comment, Wallingford

(Galinguefort), for it takes us back to what might well be the dates of the poet’s first visit to

England, that is, 1155. I am referring to lines 4629 to 4639. 11Cligés crosses the Channel and

eventually gets to know that Arthur and his knights have organized a tournament to be held in

the plains outside Oxford. Meanwhile, the knight stays in Wallingford. The reference to this

city might well have been omitted -Oxford and Cligés’ success being the centre of the

episode- if it were not because the poet had a particular interest in mentioning it.12 On April

10, 1155, Henry II gathered all his barons at Wallingford and there they granted him their

loyalty. According to Appel, Chrétien might well have attended the meeting, later on making

a reference to it in his romance (Appel 1915: lviii).13 The connection between C and England

is not, therefore, that the poet wrote his second Arthurian romance there. Rather, C might

indirectly refer to the poet’s stay in England. If Chrétien attended (with other troubadours

and poets) the coronation of Henry and Eleanor on December 8, 1154, he might have stayed

10
For other scholars who have pointed out Chrétien de Troyes’ links with the court of Henry II, see: G. Cohen.
Op. Cit. 82, 89; U.T. Holmes, Jr. A History of Old French Literature from the Origins to 1300. Chapel Hill:
Linker, 1937. 164.
11
“Au jor qui fu nomez et pris/ Assamblet li baron de pris./ Li rois Artus a toz les suens,/ Qu’esl”euz ot antre les
buens,/ Devers Ossenefort se tint./ Devers Galinguefort s’an vint/ Li plus de la chevalerie./ Ne cuidiez pas que je
vos die,/ Per feire demorer mon conte:/ Cil roi i furent et cil conte/ Et cil et cil et cil i furent”. Translation: “On
the appointed day the worthy barons gathered. King Arthur, with a company selected from among the very
best, took up his position near Oxford, while the majority of the knights ranged themselves near Wallingford.
Don’t think I am going to draw out my story by telling you that such and such kings and counts were there,
and that this one and that one and another came” (Kibler 1991:179).
12
See also lines 4579 and 4592.

4
in England to see the reported event at Wallingford, four months later. But it might also have

been otherwise. Henry of Blois, abbot of Glastonbury (1126-71) and bishop of Winchester

(1129-71) is himself another link between Chrétien and England: this prelate was the uncle

of Henri the Liberal of Champagne, at whose court the poet of Troyes is known to have

been patronised by Marie, Henri’s wife and daughter of Eleanor. U.T. Holmes14 suggested

that Chrétien made a second visit to England in 1155, as a member of Henry the Blois’

retinue (Shirt 1973:179).

2.3. Guillaume d’Anglaterre and Lancelot (L): If Guillaume d’Anglaterre was,

after all, a romance by Chrétien de Troyes, the details provided about the English court

would certainly show the author’s familiarity with it. Nevertheless, Frappier concluded that

this romance was “the work of a rather gifted imitator [of Chrétien], who lacked the

master’s clever ability” (Frappier 1982:62). Leaving this possibility aside, textual evidence

might still come from Chrétien’s third Arthurian romance, Lancelot, a text the poet wrote

for Marie, Countess of Champagne. Commenting on the famous episode in which Lancelot

was forced to mount on a cart (ll. 314-444), Shirt concluded that the poet wanted the

charrete to remind his audience, not only of the typical cart used in France to transport

those heading for the gallows, but also of the tumbril, or vehicle of dishonour used uniquely

in England (1973: 194). Whether Chrétien knew of this last custom thanks to a visit to

England or through someone familiar with English traditions, Shirt deemed it secondary for

his purpose (1973:195).

13
See also Chaytor (1974: 36)
14
See: U.T. Holmes. Chrétien de Troyes. New York, 1970.. 24-25.

5
 3. CONCLUSION: THE QUEEN AND THE POET

Gathering now all the information I have presented here, Chrétien’s visit (or visits)

to England is more than probable. As I have shown, these visits might have taken place in

the following dates and for the specified purposes: a) in 1154 to attend Henry II and

Eleanor’s coronation; b) in 1155, in Henry of Blois’ retinue; c) about 1170, for no known

reason. However, it does not follow from Chrétien’s probable stays at Henry II’s English

court, that he was patronised by the queen. Be it as it may, Chrétien’s suggested journey to

England in December 1154 was not probably the first time that he met Eleanor. It would

not be too daring to assume that the author of Perceval was among the many artists around

Eleanor in Angers from 1152 to 1154, before her departure to England. Later on, when

Eleanor maintained her independent court in Poitiers from 1170 to 1174 in the interest of

Richard Coeur de Lion, Chrétien de Troyes (as many others) would witness the joy and

artistic splendour of the queen’s court. All these poets shared with the queen a passion for

the Tristan story and Ovid, and they all were under her guidance: Chrétien de Troyes also

wrote a corpus of now lost ovidiana (around 1165) and a Tristan (before 1170), this one

also having been lost (Lejeune 1954:22, 30). Eleanor’s patronage of Chrétien at the time

that both were in Poitiers can be easily inferred; not so much in England. Of all the

romances written by Chrétien, only E might be reasonably argued to have been written on

English soil, the other two (C and L) being out of the question. The possibility of Eleanor’s

patronage of Chrétien’s first romance is a tempting one. A queen close to her 50s, she still

cherished the hope of ruling with her husband their kingdom and securing them for their

sons: in the light of the queen’s literary tastes, some degree of patronage is very probable.

Apart from this, the marital harmony between Erec and Enide seems to imply Eleanor’s

6
wish to live with her husband a sensitive and calm life, far from the intrigues and

complicacies of an adulterous affair, so pleasant according to the ethics of fin’amors. In this

sense, Schmolke-Hasselmann wondered if the perfect relationship between Erec and Enide

(ll. 1487-93) could not in fact be Chrétien’s tribute to his “couple royal mécéne”, Henry and

Eleanor (1981:246). The queen herself, either in Poitiers or in London, might have suggested

to Chrétien the possibility of writing a love story in which both knight and lady (Henry and

herself) strove for a common purpose: the joy of the court (the glory of the Anglo-Angevin

empire); this the poet did in Erec et Enide (Pernoud 1995:152).

The fact remains that Chrétien did not explicitely dedicate E to anybody, as he did in

the very first line of his Lancelot, a romance that he composed to fulfil, not the queen’s, but

her daughter’s wish: in it he reflected the most accomplished type of a fin’amors relationship,

the adulterous love between Arthur’s wife, Guinevere, and Lancelot, the best and most loyal

of his knights.15 Maybe the poet did not feel himself so attached to the queen or, simply, she

was the obvious addressee and there was no need to mention her name. More probably, her

degree of involvement in the redaction of E was not so important or compelling (as in the case

of her daughter, Marie, and L). With the exception of the Nantes episode, the poet would have

been completely free to write his romance, with no other indication of Eleanor. I am

convinced that her role in E is not so much that of a patron but the source of inspiration for the

shaping of Enide, a lady that, as the queen, was the embodiment of all courtly virtues and

beauty. Nevertheless, the literary character failed in reflecting the excellence of her model.

15
Marie’s court was the principal literary court of XIIth century France, one that was only rivalled by her
mother’s English court Eleanor’s daughters, Marie of Champagne and Alix, were equally (if not more)
influential (Parry 1941:13).

7
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Chaytor, H.J. The Troubadours and England. Geneve: Slatkine Reprints, 1974.

Frappier, J. Chrétien de Troyes. The Man and His Work. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University

Press, 1982.

Guillaume d'Angleterre. Les Classiques Français du Moyen Age. Ed. M. Wilmotte. Paris:

Libraire Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1927.

Kelly, A. Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U.P., 1950.

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Parry, J.J. “Introduction”. Andreas Capellanus’ The Art of Courtly Love. Ed. J.J. Parry. New

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