THE OPENING SEQUENCE OF ARTHURIAN ROMANCES

It is well known that the name of the hero in an Arthurian romance plays a specific and important role, and in many cases is revealed to the audience only towards the end of the narrative. Thus it was not always possible to deduce straightaway when a ‘tale of [name]’ was announced that the romance to be performed would contain Arthurian material. What distinguishes Arthurian romances from other courtly romances of the period? Is it only the particular characters and the enchanted atmosphere, or is it the structure, the sequence of adventures or the presence of a unified theme? What techniques does an author use to signal to his audience that the material will be specifically Arthurian? In order to be able to answer such questions it will be helpful to investigate the beginnings of the romances (lines 1–500, including the general prologues) with this aspect in mind. For the purposes of this survey the romances of Chrétien and those of his successors will be dealt with separately, so that if there is an evolutionary change it can more easily be observed.

To begin, therefore, with the later works, the typical opening for an Arthurian romance after Chrétien is to name Arthur within the first fifty lines, indeed usually within the first ten. This naming is often associated with an Arthurian eulogy, in other words praise of Arthur's courage and generosity and of that era in the distant past when he and his knights held sway.