Chrétien de Troyes () was a late
12th century French poet and
trouvère known for his work on
Arthurian subjects, and for originating the character
Lancelot. This work represents some of the best-regarded of
medieval literature. His use of structure, particularly in
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, has been seen as a step towards the modern
novel. Little is known of his life, but he seems to have been from
Troyes, or at least intimately connected with it, and between 1160 and 1172 he served at the court of his patroness
Marie of France, Countess of Champagne, daughter of
Eleanor of Aquitaine, perhaps as herald-at-arms (as
Gaston Paris speculated).