principal claim to a place among memorable satirists is as
one of the authors of the _Satyre Menippee_, the famous pasquinade in
the interest of his old pupil, Henry IV., in which the harangue put into
the mouth of cardinal de Pelve is usually attributed to him. He died on
the 3rd of October 1596 at Vendome.

CHRETIEN, or CRESTIEN, DE TROYES, a native of Champagne, and the most
famous of French medieval poets. Unfortunately we have few exact details
as to his life, and opinion differs as to the precise dates to be
assigned to his poems. We know that he wrote the _Chevalier de la
Charrette_ at the command of Marie, countess of Champagne (the daughter
of Louis VII. and Eleanor, who married the count of Champagne in 1164),
and _Le Conte del Graal_ or _Perceval_ for Philip, count of Flanders,
who died of the plague before Acre in 1191. This prince was guardian to
the young king, Philip Augustus, and held the regency from 1180 to 1182.
As Chretien refers to the story of the Grail as the best tale told _au
cort roial_, it seems very probable that it was composed during the
period of the count's regency. It was left unfinished, and added to at
divers times by at least three writers, Wauchier de Denain, Gerbert de
Montreuil and Manessier. The second of these states definitely that
Chretien died before he could finish his poem. Probably the period of
his literary activity lies between the dates 1150 and 1182, when his
patron, Count Philip, fell into disgrace at court. The extant poems of
Chrtien de Troyes, in their chronological order are, _Erec et Enide,
Cliges, Le Chevalier de la Charrette_ (or _Lancelot_), _Le Chevalier au
Lion_ (or _Yvain_), and _Le Conte del Graal_ (_Perceval_), all dealing
with Arthurian legend. Besides these he states in the opening lines of
_Cliges_ that he had composed a _Tristan_ (of which so far no trace has
been found), and had made certain translations from Ovid's _Ars
Amatoria_ and _Metamorphoses_. A portion of the last has been found by
Gaston Paris included in the translation of Ovid made by Chretien
Legouais. There exists also a poem, _Guillaume d' Angleterre_,
purporting to be by Chretien, but the authorship is a matter of debate.
Professor Foerster claims it as genuine, and includes it in his edition
of the poems, but Gaston Paris never accepted it.

Chretien's poems enjoyed widespread favour, and of the three most
popular (_Erec_, _Yvain_ and _Perceval_) there exist old Norse
translat