He was often heard to say, "I saw the Louvre emerge from its rubbish; I saw the birth of the place du Chatelet, the quai aux Fleurs and the Markets." He and his brother, both born at
Troyes, were sent in youth to serve their apprenticeship in a government office.
Other poets followed, chief among them the delightful Chretien of
Troyes, all writing mostly of the exploits of single knights at Arthur's court, which they made over, probably, from scattering tales of Welsh and Breton mythology.
What put the "whole population of Paris in commotion," as Jehan de
Troyes expresses it, on the sixth of January, was the double solemnity, united from time immemorial, of the Epiphany and the Feast of Fools.
From Plato to Lancelot; a preface to Chretien de
Troyes.
ANYONE who witnessed Leeds' complacent approach to their last European away trip could forgivably want to steer clear of odds of 11-8 about David O'Leary's men in
Troyes tonight.