| CHRETIEN DE TROYES: | | | | known trouvère with work closely related |
| | | | to that of the Old Provençal troubadours). |
| Academics will freely admit that this man was | | | | {The region is also known as Langue d'Oc or |
| a troubadour. But what is a Troubadour? They | | | | Languedoc. Occamy is 'alchemy' in one |
| were important to the genesis of the Cathar | | | | translation so we can see the importance of |
| mystique for a certainty and the Princeton | | | | the Troubadour to Bairdic or Peryllat |
| people I will shortly quote will say that | | | | spiritual quest is the tongue or language and |
| Chrétien was one of the first Troubadours | | | | codes of alchemy.} |
| in this region. Surely they do not think it | | | | |
| would be one of the first involved in these | | | | Certain works said by him to belong to his |
| arts. In point of fact they are very very | | | | oeuvre--they are listed in the opening verses |
| ancient arts in the training of a Druid, who | | | | to Cligés--have not survived; these |
| would become a minstrel and jester before | | | | include, especially, a romance entitled Du |
| taking up the involved study to be a Bard or | | | | roi Marc et d'Iseut la Blonde. One of the |
| Baird. Druids, Bairds and Ovates are the best | | | | Ovidian poems given in the Cligés list |
| known appellations for those who completed | | | | appears as part of an early 14th-century |
| these long and arduous studies which were | | | | compilation called the Ovide moralisé. |
| already suffering and shortening by the time | | | | |
| of Pythagoras who was part of the last known | | | | Of the above-mentioned titles two were left |
| Dean of Studies in the Mediterranean region. | | | | incomplete by Chrétien: the Charrette was |
| Abaris (Rabbi) the Druid was that Dean and | | | | brought to a close by Godefroi de Leigni, |
| his name gives us a clue as to one of the | | | | under Chrétien's supervision (according to |
| branches or systems which took over some of | | | | Godefroi); the Graal was (almost certainly) |
| their training. | | | | interrupted by the poet's death. |
| | | | |
| The Cathars were very Gnostic and open to the | | | | Not only did each of our poet's works undergo |
| Pharisaic Rabbinical message. In Caesar's | | | | copying throughout the 13th century (all |
| Journals we are told the period of study was | | | | eight manuscripts of the Charrette were |
| 20 years but it was 25 a millennium earlier | | | | produced in that century), they were each |
| and there were still other specialties one | | | | subject to myriad reworkings, in verse and, |
| could study throughout their lives. One of | | | | especially, in prose. Perceval underwent a |
| those might lead to being called a Peryllat | | | | number of "continuations" and inspired many |
| or 'alchemist'. Many members of the family of | | | | textual "spin-offs" before the Grail story it |
| Jesus were alchemists and it is quite likely | | | | told came to be incorporated into the vast |
| that Yeshua bar Joseph studied with Comarius | | | | Prose Lancelot (along with the Charrette, |
| who also tutored Cleopatra. Apollonius of | | | | which constitutes the midpoint text of this |
| Tyana is part of the Jesus amalgam and the | | | | great compilation). Post-World War II |
| Cathars kept most of the Gaedhil/Gnostic | | | | scholarship has demonstrated that |
| learning alive. One of the charges that the | | | | Chrétien's oeuvre was fully integrated |
| Inquisition leveled against the Cathars had | | | | into the system of textual references and |
| to do with Dianistic or Tantric sexual | | | | allusions underlying many important |
| practices and I believe the sexual or Bhakti | | | | 13th-century texts--a series of "epigonal |
| 'union' (Yoga) was part of their training and | | | | romances" (e.g., Fergus, Le Bel Inconnu) and |
| system which highly valued women including | | | | a work like the Roman de la Rose (Guillaume |
| giving them high priestly functions and | | | | de Lorris's Narcissus episode, as M.A. |
| leadership roles including Esclarmonde de | | | | Freeman has shown, "re-reads/re-writes" Ovid |
| Foix who is reminiscent of Hypatia of | | | | through a process of refraction involving |
| Alexandria, who both should be studied as a | | | | Chrétien's Blood Drops on the Snow scene |
| great heroine for all time. | | | | in Perceval [Freeman 1976-77]). A romance |
| | | | composed as late as Froissart's 14th-century |
| The Bairdic Educational system had included a | | | | Méliador "revives" Chrétien de Troyes's |
| seven year specialty in developing languages | | | | Arthurian manner and matter, as P.F. |
| for their far flung colonies in the second | | | | Dembowski has demonstrated (1983). |
| millennium BCE and they developed such codes | | | | |
| and Gematria as you see in Hebrew and the | | | | Chrétien himself utilized a similar |
| Aymará of Peru. I have delved into these | | | | network of textual allusion in his own |
| Oghamic studies in many other books including | | | | romances. Scholars interested in sources have |
| one with the title From OM to Ogham. Plato | | | | for generations pointed to such |
| observed that knowledge was declining due to | | | | "first-generation" romances as the romans |
| the written word after the Phoenicians gave | | | | antiques (Énéas, Troie, and Thèbes) |
| them their refined alphabet. Some scholars | | | | and Wace's Brut and Rou, not to mention the |
| think a few of the poems attributed to | | | | Tristan corpus (especially Thomas), as |
| Orpheus (a lesser Bard or Troubadour) are in | | | | constituting a kind of quarry from which |
| fact the writing of Pythagoras. The Grail | | | | Chrétien extracted materials which he |
| myths are rich repositories of the | | | | utilized in his own constructions. |
| pre-Christian traditions. | | | | Chrétien's bookish learning--he was |
| | | | clearly a clerc fully trained in the arts |
| "Little concerning the person we call | | | | curriculum of his day--is evident in his love |
| "Chrétien de Troyes" (fl. ca. 1160-1191) | | | | of such figures of ornamentation as |
| can be affirmed with certainty. What we know | | | | adnominatio, rich rhyme, and chiasmus, and, |
| must largely be inferred from the writings | | | | as well, in the particularly fertile manner |
| attributed to him. These include five romance | | | | in which he refracted the Arthurian materials |
| narratives written in rhyming octosyllabic | | | | he borrowed from Geoffrey of Monmouth and |
| couplets during the final third of the 12th | | | | Wace through the lens of such works of late |
| century (Érec et Énide [ca. 1165], | | | | Antiquity as Martianus Capella's De Nuptiis |
| Cligés [ca. 1176], Le Chevalier de la | | | | Mercurii et Philologiae (in Érec et |
| Charrette (Lancelot), Le Chevalier au Lion | | | | Énide) or the writings of Macrobius. As |
| (Yvain) [ca. 1177? 1179-80?], and Le Conte du | | | | he states in the Prologue to Érec et |
| Graal (Perceval) [ca. 1190]); a sixth | | | | Énide, he--and he proudly names |
| narrative, Guillaume d'Angleterre, has been | | | | himself--and his work must be distinguished |
| attributed to him by some, although many | | | | from the fragmented and vulgar tales hawked |
| scholars find this doubtful. At least two | | | | before kings and counts by uneducated |
| surviving lyric songs are said to have been | | | | minstrels. |
| composed by him (if so, he is the oldest | | | | |