Reasons for not noticing the bulk of mediaeval Latin literature. Excepted divisions. Comic Latin literature. Examples of its verbal influence. The value of burlesque. Hymns. The _Dies Irae_. The rhythm of Bernard. Literary perfection of the Hymns. Scholastic Philosophy. Its influence on phrase and method. The great Scholastics 1 CHAPTER II. CHANSONS DE GESTE. European literature in 1100. Late discovery of the _chansons_. Their age and history. Their distinguishing character. Mistakes about them. Their isolation and origin. Their metrical form. Their scheme of matter. The character of Charlemagne. Other characters and characteristics. Realist quality. Volume and age of the _chansons_. Twelfth century. Thirteenth century. Fourteenth, and later. _Chansons_ in print. Language: _oc_ and _oil_. Italian. Diffusion of the _chansons_. Their authorship and publication. Their performance. Hearing, not reading, the object. Effect on prosody. The _jongleurs_. _Jongleresses_, &c. Singularity of the _chansons_. Their charm. Peculiarity of the _geste_ system. Instances. Summary of the _geste_ of William of Orange. And first of the _Couronnement Loys_. Comments on the _Couronnement_. William of Orange. The earlier poems of the cycle. The _Charroi de Nimes_. The _Prise d'Orange_. The story of Vivien. _Aliscans._ The end of the story. Renouart. Some other _chansons_. Final remarks on them 22 CHAPTER III. THE MATTER OF BRITAIN. Attractions of the Arthurian Legend. Discussions on their sources. The personality of Arthur. The four witnesses. Their testimony. The version of Geoffrey. Its _lacunae_. How the Legend grew. Wace. Layamon. The Romances proper. Walter Map. Robert de Borron. Chrestien de Troyes. Prose or verse first? A Latin Graal-book. The Mabinogion. The Legend itself. The story of Joseph of Arimathea. Merlin. Lancelot. The Legend becomes dramatic. Stories of Gawain and other knights. Sir Tristram. His story almost certainly Celtic. Sir Lancelot. The minor knights. Arthur. Guinevere. The Graal. How it perfects the story. Nature of this perfection. No sequel possible. Latin episodes. The Legend as a whole. The theories of its origin. Celtic. French. English. Literary. The Celtic theory. The French claims. The theory of general literary growth. The English or Anglo-Norman pretensions. Attempted hypothesis 86 CHAPTER IV. ANTIQUITY IN ROMANCE.