Erec and Enide

Erec and Enide
The White Stag hunt in a medieval manuscript
Original titleFrench: Érec et Énide
Author(s)Chrétien de Troyes
LanguageOld French
Datec. 1170
GenreChivalric romance
Verse formOctosyllable rhyming couplets
Length6,598 lines
SubjectArthurian legend
PersonagesErec, Enide, Yder

Erec and Enide (French: Érec et Énide) is the first of Chrétien de Troyes' five romance poems, completed around 1170. It is one of three completed works by the author. Erec and Enide tells the story of the marriage of the titular characters, as well as the journey they go on to restore Erec's reputation as a knight after he remains inactive for too long. Consisting of about 7000 lines of Old French, the poem is one of the earliest known Arthurian romances in any language, predated only by the Welsh prose narrative Culhwch and Olwen.[1][2]

  1. ^ Koch, J. T., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 861.
  2. ^ Duggan, Joseph J., The Romances of Chrétien de Troyes, Yale University Press, 2001, p. 200