Chrétien’s Literary Background
Laurence Harf-Lancner
In 1170, the date commonly accepted for composition of Erec et Enide (the first Arthurian romance), French literature began to rival from Latin tradition. The defining cultural trait Middle Ages was, in fact, bilingualism, coexistence and vernacular languages. But until end eleventh century, only written language was Latin. It privilege clerics have access learned culture, essentially represented by apologetics Antiquity. And let us not forget that, during Carolingian renaissance, growth eighth ninth centuries limited texts.