Medieval Romance: The Knight with the Lion

In this episode my guest host Professor Larissa 'Kat" Tracy and I discuss my favorite medieval romance, Chrétien de Troyes' late twelfth century poem, "Yvain, the Knight with the Lion."   We place the poem within its historical context--the first European industrial and commercial revolution, and the emergence of a courtly society and culture--and analyze what it reveals about aristocratic values and conceptions of love, gender relations, and chivalry in the late twelfth century.

The translation I used for the quotations is by Carleton W. Carroll (Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances. Penguin Classics. Penguin Books, 1991).

This episode includes a musical snippet from Andrei Krylov's "Noble medieval knight song" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imdIX--ZYJo

Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com

Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com