One of the finest of the early French Arthur ian romances, 'Tristan' or was adapted by Gottfried of Strassburg, who left his 'Tristan and Isolt' slightly incomplete, about 1210. Other poems belonging to the cycle are the 'Morte d'Arthur,> a fine alliterative work of the 14th century; a Latin 'Life' of Merlin, in 1,529 hexameters, written about 1217; 'Li Biaus Desconneus,' a narrative of the ad ventures of Giglain, son of Gawain, written by Renauld de Beaujeu about 1200, and imitated by Wirnt von Gravenbcrg in his (about 1212). From France the Arthurian ro mance spread also into Provence, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, and was again transplanted into England.
The last of the cycles are the classical, in which the subjects arc Alexander the Great and the Trojan heroes. The materials for the Alex andrine poems were found in an old Greek ro mance, written in Alexandria between 100 and 300 A.D., and known as the nes,' which was long read as authentic history, and of which there is still extant two Latin abridgments belonging to the 9th and 10th cen turies. The most important romance on this subject is 'Le Romans d'Alizandre,' written by Lambert li Tors and Alixandre de Bernay in the 12th century; it contains upward of 20,800 12-syllable lines. This was the chanson that
established the whole sub-cycle, and first brought the Alexandrine line into vogue and gave it its name. It concludes with the testa ment of Alexander and the lamentations of his 12 peers. Many French poets continued the subject. (Sec separate articles on the personages and the works mentioned; also and PROVENcAL LITERATURE.) Consult Billings, A. H., 'Guide to the Middle English Metrical Ro (New York 1901); Courthope, W. J., Connexion between Ancient and Modern Romance) (Oxford 1911) ; Hurd, R., on Chivalry and Romance) (Oxford 1911) ; Ker, W. P., (Epic and Romance) (London 1897) ; id., 'Dark Ages' (London 1904) ;. Mason, E., Romances and Legends of the Twelfth Century' (New York 1911) ; Mor ley, H., and Thomas, W. J., eds. 'Early Prose Romances> (London 1906) ; Paris, G., litterature francaise„ au moven-age' (Paris 1890) ; Rennert, A. H., 'Spanish Pastoral Ro mances' (Philadelphia 1912) ; Saintshury, G. E. B., The Flourishing of Romance' (London 1897); Spence, L., ed., (Dictionary of Mediaeval Romance and Romance \Vriters' (New York 1913) ; Wagner, \V., and Epics of our Northern Ancestors' (London 1906).