‘Que nus contes de ce n’amende’: Chrétien de Troyes and the assertion of copyright

Abstract

Abstract This study explores a statement made by the twelfth-century poet Chrétien de Troyes in his Conte du Graal (c. 1181–90), which includes the line ‘Que nus contes de ce n’amende’ [because no tale improves on the retelling], under the light of a possible relationship with the notion of pre-print publishing. In the context of the current scholarly upsurge of interest in ‘medieval publishing’, and through an analysis of similar phrases found both in other medieval romances and in other of Chrétien’s works, this article proposes we should understand this phrase in a dual sense: on the one hand, as an internal narrative device to avoid repetition, and – importantly on the other – as an outward-facing warning against the alteration of his work in its retelling, functioning in some ways akin to a modern declaration of copyright.