An Index of Themes and Motifs in Twelfth-Century French Arthurian Poetry (Arthurian Studies, 25)

There has long been a need for an index of the themes in the French Arthurian verse romances. E.H. Ruck's analysis of themes and motifs is therefore particularly welcome. She includes not only the recognized literary themes - the Unspelling Quest, the Faithless Wife - of the verse romances from Wace's "Brut" to Froissart's "Meliador", but also the other, less motifs of equal significance to the researcher, for example hawthorns and weaponry. Dr Ruck's index encompasses the Arthurian part ot Wace's "Brut";all of the works of Chretien de Troyes; all four Tristan poems together with Marid de France's Chevrefoil and Lanval; the lais of Tyolet, "Melion, Cor and Mantel"; Renaut de Beaujeu's "Le Bel Inconnu"; La Mule sans frein and "Le Chevlier a Pepee". As the index is intended first and foremost for the use of Arthurian scholars, the non-Arthurian parts of the "Brut" and the "Lais" of Marie de France have not been included, although reference is made to them in the notes when they present a point of special interest.