Love and war: Chivalry and courtly love in the lays of Marie de France and the romances of Chretien de Troyes

The works of the 12th century French writers Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France had a great impact on English Literature. Although they wrote in french the subject matter and ideas Chretien and Marie addressed would helped create the standards for "Romance" Literature. These two authors chose to adapt the French troubadour tradition to the English Arthurian legend. Their treatment of chivalry became the accepted pattern for future writers. Since Chretien and Marie helped create the Arthurian tradition their treatment of chivalry has been taken for granted and rarely investigated. This thesis will first examine the role of chivalry and how chivalric conventions were used in the works of Chretien de Troyes and Marie de France. The thesis will than attempt to explain how the ideas of chivalry developed by these two authors came to influence later writers. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).