The three matters and four cycles
Senão IV ciclos valem o que tu dizes, De Palmeirins, Ordem Cavalar, Abidises, E mais ainda o de romances de coisas de Espanha dos Afonsinhos e de Portugal. [non-literal, metric scheme keeping, English translation: It are but IV cycles whose worth it suffices, Of Palmerins, Knightly Order, Abidises, And even more so of romances out of the things of the Spain that were out of the Ark and of Portugal. non-literal, metric scheme keeping, French translation: Ne sont que IV matières à nul homme atandant, De Palmerins, Ordre de Chevalerie, Abidises, Et plus de romans des choses de l 'Espagne où La chevalerie fleurissaitt et du Portugal. ] [Poem by the author] Starting to formulate my point after my own poem(s), if Jean Bodel stated that the courtly novels and verses from the courts influenced by France in the 12th century were of three "matters" , of France (Charlemagne and the Frankish kings immediately his predecessors and successors), of Britain (of the legendary British Kin...