Yvain, the Knight with the Lion is a romance

Romance (genre)

As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...

 by Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes

Chrétien de Troyes was a French poet and trouvère who flourished in the late 12th century. Perhaps he named himself Christian of Troyes in contrast to the illustrious Rashi, also of Troyes...

. It was probably written in the 1170s simultaneously with Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart

Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart

Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart is an Old French poem by Chrétien de Troyes. Chrétien probably composed the work at the same time as or slightly before writing Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, which refers to the action in Lancelot a number of times...

, and includes several references to the action in that poem. The main character, Yvain

Ywain

Sir Ywain is a Knight of the Round Table and the son of King Urien in Arthurian legend...

, is derived from the historical Owain mab Urien

Owain mab Urien

Owain mab Urien was the son of Urien, king of Rheged c. 590, and fought with his father against the Angles of Bernicia. The historical figure of Owain became incorporated into the Arthurian cycle of legends where he is also known as Ywain, Yvain, Ewain or Uwain...

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In the poem, Yvain seeks to avenge his cousin Calogrenant

Calogrenant

Sir Calogrenant, sometimes known in English as Colgrevance, or, in ancient Welsh, Cynan ap Clydno, is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend. He is a cousin to Sir Ywain, and his courtesy and eloquence were known throughout the kingdom....

 who had been defeated by an otherworldly knight Esclados

Esclados

In Arthurian Legend, Esclados was a knight who defended a magical fountain in the forest of Brocéliande. Esclados was subsequently slain by Ywain who then married his widow, Laudine. In Chretien's The Knight with the Lion, Esclados is referred to as "Esclados the Red"....

 beside a magical storm-making stone in the forest of Brocéliande

Brocéliande

Brocéliande is the name of a legendary forest that first appears in literature in 1160, in the Roman de Rou, a verse chronicle written by Wace....

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