Clergie , Clerkly Studium , and the Medieval Literary History of Chréétien De Troyes\u27s Romances

This article traces the development of medieval literary history across the thirteenth century through manuscript readings of Chréétien de Troyes\u27s romances. Redefining clergie as the clerkly pursuit of learning, the author argues that scribes played an important role in shaping Chréétien\u27s romances and establishing their place in medieval literary history. Examining manuscript collections centred on Cligéés, the author delineates synchronic and diachronic shifts in the organization and presentation of Chréétien\u27s manuscripts, evaluating the roles that different scribes and compilers played in the formation of a Chréétien corpus and the development of a romance genre