(''The Romance of Troy'') by

Benoît de Sainte-Maure Benoît de Sainte-Maure (; died 1173) was a 12th-century French poet, most probably from Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine near Tours, France. The Plantagenets' administrative center was located in Chinon, west of Tours. ''Le Roman de Troie'' His 40,00 ...

, probably written between 1155 and 1160,Roberto Antonelli "The Birth of Criseyde - An Exemplary Triangle: 'Classical' Troilus and the Question of Love at the Anglo-Norman Court" in Boitani, P. (ed) ''The European Tragedy of Troilus'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press) 1989 pp.21-48. is a 30,000 line

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

, a medieval retelling of the theme of the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...

. It inspired a body of literature in the genre called the , loosely assembled by the poet

Jean Bodel Jean Bodel (c. 1165 – c. 1210), was an Old French poet who wrote a number of ''chansons de geste'' as well as many fabliaux. He lived in Arras. Writings Bodel wrote ("Song of the Saxons") about the war of King Charlemagne with the Saxons and ...

as the

Matter of Rome According to the medieval poet Jean Bodel, the Matter of Rome is the literary cycle of Greek and Roman mythology, together with episodes from the history of classical antiquity, focusing on military heroes like Alexander the Great and Julius C ...

. The Trojan subject itself, for which de Sainte-Maure provided an impetus, is referred to as the Matter of Troy. ''Le Roman de Troie'' influenced the works of many in the West, including

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. In the East it was translated into Greek as ''The War of Troy'' (Ο Πόλεμος της Τρωάδος), by far the longest medieval Greek romance. Of medieval works on this subject, only

Guido delle Colonne Guido delle Colonne (in Latin Guido de Columnis or de Columna) was a 13th-century Italian judge and writer, who lived in Messina. He is the author of a prose narrative of the Trojan War entitled ''Historia destructionis Troiae'' ("History of the d ...

's ''Historia destructionis Troiae'' was adapted as frequently. Benoît's sources for the narrative were the Latin recensions of

Dictys Dictys ( grc, Δίκτυς, ''Díktus'') was a name attributed to four men in Greek mythology. * Dictys, a fisherman and brother of King Polydectes of Seriphos, both being the sons of Magnes and a Naiad, or of Peristhenes and Androthoe, Sch ...

and

Dares Dares Phrygius ( grc, Δάρης), according to Homer, was a Trojan priest of Hephaestus. He was supposed to have been the author of an account of the destruction of Troy, and to have lived before Homer. A work in Latin, purporting to be a trans ...

, and some material from the all-but-lost Latin recension that is represented now only in part, in a single, fragmentary manuscript, the Rawlinson in the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. The audience for Benoît's famous poem consisted of aristocrats for whom this retelling (and the ''romans antiques'' in general) served a moral purpose: it was a "

mirror for princes Mirrors for princes ( la, specula principum) or mirrors of princes, are an educational literary genre, in a loose sense of the word, of political writings during the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, the late middle ages and the Renaissance. ...

" within the larger didactic genre of

mirror literature The medieval genre of speculum literature, popular from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries, was inspired by the urge to encompass encyclopedic knowledge within a single work. However, some of these works have a restricted scope and funct ...

. To fulfil this audience's expectation that heroic characters should be lovers in accordance with the principles of

courtly love Courtly love ( oc, fin'amor ; french: amour courtois ) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing var ...

, Benoît invented the story of the young Trojan prince

Troilus Troilus ( or ; grc, Τρωΐλος, Troïlos; la, Troilus) is a legendary character associated with the story of the Trojan War. The first surviving reference to him is in Homer's ''Iliad,'' composed in the late 8th century BCE. In Greek myth ...

's love for the daughter of

Calchas Calchas (; grc, Κάλχας, ''Kalkhas'') is an Argive mantis, or " seer," dated to the Age of Legend, which is an aspect of Greek mythology. Calchas appears in the opening scenes of the ''Iliad'', which is believed to have been based on a wa ...

, the priestly defector to the Greeks. After she is handed over to her father during a hostage exchange, she is successfully wooed by the Greek warrior

Diomedes Diomedes (Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter, James Hartman and Jane Setter, eds. ''Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary''. 17th edition. Cambridge UP, 2006.) or Diomede (; grc-gre, Διομήδης, Diomēdēs, "god-like cunning" or "advised by ...

. This

love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with ...

would be the central subject of a number of later works. In the ''Roman'', the daughter of Calchas is called Briseida, but she is better known under a different name, becoming Criseida in

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was some ...

's , Criseyde in Chaucer, Cresseid in

Robert Henryson Robert Henryson (Middle Scots: Robert Henrysoun) was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the Scots ''makars'', he lived in the royal burgh of Dunfermline and is a distinctive voice in the Northern Renai ...

's ''

The Testament of Cresseid ''The Testament of Cresseid'' is a narrative poem of 616 lines in Middle Scots, written by the 15th-century Scottish makar Robert Henryson. It is his best known poem. It imagines a tragic fate for Cressida in the medieval story of '' Troil ...

'', and ultimately

Cressida Cressida (; also Criseida, Cresseid or Criseyde) is a character who appears in many Medieval and Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Calchas, a Greek seer. She falls in love with Troilus, ...

in Shakespeare's ''

Troilus and Cressida ''Troilus and Cressida'' ( or ) is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602. At Troy during the Trojan War, Troilus and Cressida begin a love affair. Cressida is forced to leave Troy to join her father in the Greek camp. Me ...

''. The dedication of the poem, to a "riche dame de riche rei", generally believed to be

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of Henry II of England, King Henry I ...

, consort of Henry II,The other possibility, a woman associated with

Louis VII of France Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...

, has been questioned because he was notoriously impoverished. On the dedication, see further: Tamara F. O'Callaghan, “Tempering Scandal: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Benoît de Sainte-More's ''Roman de Troie''”, in ''Eleanor of Aquitaine: Lord and Lady'', edited by Bonnie Wheeler and John Carmi Parsons (New York: Palgrave, 2003), pp. 301–317. is buried deep within it, interpolated in the narrative. It serves to date the poem to the years before Eleanor's imprisonment by Henry in 1173.

References

{{Authority control Medieval French romances Works based on classical literature Trojan War literature