 His 40,000 line poem "Le Roman de Troie" ("The Romance of Troy"), written between 1155 and 1160, was a medieval retelling on the epic theme of the Trojan War which inspired a body of literature in the genre called the "roman antique", loosely assembled by the poet Jean Bodel as the Matter of Rome.The Trojan subject itself, for which de Sainte-Maure provided an impetus, is referred to as the Matter of Troy.Another major work, by a Benoît, probably Benoît de Sainte-Maure, is a lengthy verse "Chronique des ducs de Normandie".