These words of the author of the _Ipomedon_ were, some years ago, commented upon by Mr. Ward in his valuable _Catalogue of Romances in the British Museum_, vol. i. He there remarks that the allusion is especially valuable as being the direct ascription, by a contemporary, of the character of romance-writer to Walter Map, and that in apparent connection with the romance most persistently attributed to him—the _Prose Lancelot_. The suggestive remarks of Mr. Ward do not appear hitherto to have attracted the attention they deserve. Recently, having occasion to write a brief notice of Walter Map, they came, for the first time, under my notice, and, taken in connection with certain points of the _Lancelot_ study in which I had for some time been engaged, assumed an unexpected importance. It became evident to me that the whole question of the connection of the _Ipomedon_ with Arthurian literature, and the light which the words of the author might throw upon the relation to each other of different forms of the same story, was well worth study; and might eventually be of material assistance in determining the much debated question of the position of Chrétien de Troyes in the Arthurian cycle. In the following pages I propose to examine, first, the exact nature and value of the evidence of the _Ipomedon_ as regards Arthurian tradition; second, its bearing upon the versions of a popular incident in romance—the appearance of a knight at a tournament on three consecutive days, in the disguise of three different suits of armour—especially with relation to the versions of the _Prose Lancelot_, the _Lanzelet_ of Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, and the _Cligés_ of Chrétien de Troyes.