133 ([return])
[ There follows and excellent example of an old French lament for the dead. Such a wail was known in old French as a "regret", a word which has lost its specific meaning in English.]
134 ([return])
[ Many examples will be met of women skilled in the practice of medicine and surgery. On the subject, cf. A. Hertel, "Versauberte Oertlichkeiten und Gegenstande in der altfranzosschen Dichtung" (Hanover, 1908); Georg Manheimer, "Etwas liber die Aerzte im alten Frankreich" in "Romanische Forschungen", vi. 581-614.]
135 ([return])
[ The reference here and in v.5891 is probably suggested by the "Roman d'Eneas", which tells the same story as Virgil's "Aeneid", in old French eight-syllable rhymed couplets, and which is dated by the most recent scholarship 1160 circ. Cf. F.M. Warren in "Modern Philology", iii. 179-209; iii. 513-539; iv. 655-675. Also M. Wilmotte, "L'Evolution du roman francais aux environs de 1150" (Paris, 1903). Scenes from classical and medieval romance were for a long time favourite subject of portrayal upon cloths and tapestries, as well as of illuminations for manuscripts.]
136 ([return])
[ Various conjectures have been advanced concerning the significance of this strange adventure and its mysterious name "La Joie de la cour". It is a quite extraneous episode, and Tennyson in his artistic use of our hero and heroine in the Idyl of "Geraint and Enid" did well to omit it. Chrétien's explanation, a little farther on, of "La Joie de la cour" is lame and unsatisfactory, as if he himself did not understand the significance of the matter upon which he was working. Cf. E. Philipot in "Romania", xxv. 258-294; K. Othmer, "Ueber das Verhaltnis Chrestiens Erec und Enide zu dem Mabinogion des rothen Buch von Hergest" (Bonn, 1889); G. Paris in "Romania", xx. 152 f.]
137 ([return])
[ The following description of Erec's reception is repeated with variations at the time of Yvain's entrance in the "Chastel de Pesme Avanture" ("Yvain", 5107 f.) (F.).]