Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the translation
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE The response to Chrétien: tradition and innovation in Arthurian romance
- PART TWO A historical survey of the impact of Arthurian verse romances
- 7 The popularity of Arthurian verse romances
- 8 The audience
- 9 Arthurian literature in French and its significance for England
- Bibliography
- Supplement to the bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
8 - The audience
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface to the translation
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE The response to Chrétien: tradition and innovation in Arthurian romance
- PART TWO A historical survey of the impact of Arthurian verse romances
- 7 The popularity of Arthurian verse romances
- 8 The audience
- 9 Arthurian literature in French and its significance for England
- Bibliography
- Supplement to the bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
Summary
Sachiez que deus Bretaignes sont,
Et genz diverses i estont.
Li Englois sont en le grigneur,
Mais li Normant en sont signeur
En le meneur sont li Breton.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AUDIENCE
On the basis of the considerations that have been assembled so far, we are looking for readers distinguished by the following characteristics: a knowledge of literature, a strong interest in Arthurian material and conservative tendencies. There is evidence for the proposal that such a section of the public is to be found within the territories not of the French kings but of the Angevin kings of England. This suggestion is supported by the dominant role of Anglo-Norman literature in the twelfth century, continuing into the thirteenth, as well as by the political significance of the Arthurian material for the Anglo-Norman aristocracy's claims to legitimacy and sovereignty, and by the social and psychological position of the French-speaking stratum of the population in England, especially after the loss of their hereditary fiefs on the Continent at the beginning of the thirteenth century.
It is not possible at this point to go into detail about the significance and development of those works of French literature which were produced within the social circles of Henry II and his family.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Evolution of Arthurian RomanceThe Verse Tradition from Chrétien to Froissart, pp. 225 - 281Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998