(16) Chretien in his later romances will avoid compiling such a
prosaic blue-book as is found in this passage, though
similar lists of knights occur in the old English romances
as late as Malory, though of some of them but little is
known. Unfortunately, we have for the old French romances
no such complete work as that furnished for the epic poems
by E. Langois, "Table des noms propres de toute nature
compris dans les chansons de geste" (Paris, 1904).
(17) The only mention by Chretien of this son of Arthur, whose
role is absolutely insignificant in the Arthurian romances.
(18) What was this drinking-cup, and who sent it to Arthur? We
have "Le Lai du cor" (ed. Wulff, Lund, 1888), which tells
how a certain King Mangount of Moraine sent a magic
drinking-cup to Arthur. No one could drink of this cup
without spilling the contents if he were a cuckold.
Drinking from this cup was, then, one of the many current
tests of chastity. Further light may be thrown on the
passage in our text by the English poem "The Cokwold's
Daunce" (in C.H. Hartshorne's "Ancient Metrical Ballads",
London, 1829), where Arthur is described as a cuckold
himself and as having always by him a horn (cup) which he
delights in trying on his knights as a test of their ladies'
chastity.
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