EREC amd EMODE ARTHUR AND HIS COURT HUNTING THE WHITE STAG. (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds français 1376, fol. 107.) EREC and EDIDE Chretien de Troyes T R A N S L A T ED WITH AN I N T R O D U C T I ON AND NOTES BY DOROTHY GILBERT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY LOS ANGELE S LONDON University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 1992 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chrétien, de Troyes, 12th cent. [Erec et Enide. English] Erec and Enide / translated with an introduction and notes by Dorothy Gilbert, p. cm. Translated from the Old French. Translation of: Erec et Enide / Chrétien de Troyes. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-520-07345-2 (alk. paper). — ISBN 0-520-07346-0 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Erec (Legendary character)― Romances. 2. Arthurian romances. I. Gilbert, Dorothy, 1936- . II. Title. PQ1445.E6A34 1992 841'. 1 — dc20 91-43103 CIP Printed in the United States of America This book is a print-on-demand volume. It is manufactured using toner is place of ink. Type and images may be less sharp than the same material seen in traditionally printed University of California Press editions. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992(R 1997)(Permanence of Paper) In memory of Genevieve H. Gilbert This page intentionally left blank C O N T E N TS Acknowledgments ix Introduction I Suggestions for Further Reading 33 EREC AND ENIDE 39 Notes to the Poem 253 Glossary of Names and Places 265 This page intentionally left blank A C K N O W L E D G M E N TS IT is A GREAT SATISFACTION to express my thanks to the many people who have helped me with this book. First, the curators and staff of the Salle des Manuscrits at the Bibliotheque Nationale made it possible for me to examine the six more or less complete manuscripts of the original that are part of their collection and also granted permission to use the photograph of an illuminated page of MS 1376 (f. 107). The Musee Conde at Chantilly allowed me to examine the seventh manuscript (MS 472). Doe Library of the University of California at Berkeley also provided much essential material. The National Endowment for the Humanities offered invaluable material and moral support in granting me a year's stipend to do research at Doe Library and write a large portion of the translation. I am particularly grateful for the warm personal enthusiasm shown by Susan A. Mango, formerly of the NEH, and by Mary T. Chunko, whose article describing my project, "Quest for le mot juste," appeared in the NEH journal Humanities (7, no. 3 [June 1986}). A later award enabled me to spend the summer of 1988 at the NEH Literary Translation Institute at the University of California at Santa Cruz. This was a rare and delightful opportunity for uninterrupted work and for congenial association with other translators. Gabriel Berns and Joanna Bankier, who ran the Institute, gave me much support and specific criticism; Maggie Collins saw most capably to my material needs. The enthusiasm, faith, patience, and practical counsel of my editor at the University of California Press, Doris Kretschmer, have ix