The romance of Tristan, developed by Beroul in the twelfth century, is an epic poem that has helped historians receive a further understanding of life in the 11th and 12th centuries. The poem explores many of the relationships that were prevalent in this time period. One relationship that is dealt with in this story is the bond between a lord and his vassal. This can be seen through the interactions of King Mark and Tristan. The Romance of Tristan shows that the bond between lord and vassal was very complicated, and it was a relationship formed out of trust and admiration, as well as self-interest. In this paper I will explore the common roles in society for a knight and a king, and I will show how Tristan and King Mark show similarities to what many believe is a normal lord-vassal relationship. I will make detail on how this single relationship would effect society as a whole, and note how this bond influences other people. Finally, I will explain how this traditional story is very helpful for historians to paint a picture on how life really was in the 11th and 12th centuries, and share my views on interpreting this poem.

"On the social and political levels, medieval men

This relationship that is established between the king and his vassal also affects other members in this society. As seen in the story the king is quick to prosecute anyone who means ill for Tristan when the king is close with him. The kings own barons are directly affected by this relationship. The way the barons are affected by this relationship helps illustrate the way of thinking for this time period. The barons are referred to countless times as being "wicked" and "evil." A reader can see that on some occasions the barons were being helpful to the king. Even though Tristan was being adulterous, the barons are still looked at as the evil ones. This showed me that the 11th and 12th centuries were finally starting to get an understanding of true or "courtly" love. Since the reader believed that god was on Tristan's side, they looked at all his oppressors as being wicked. This helps make assumptions on how these relationships were looked at by people of these centuries.

Another conclusions I established while analyzing this story was one that deals with what happens when you find a new lord. It seems that Tristan still holds King Mark in thought while he is no longer his knight and he has moved on. This suggests that maybe the transition from one lord to another was not as easy as many historians believed. Even though Tristan constantly says that he can just move on quickly and go to a different place where there is war, the reader gets the feeling that he does not want to leave his current situation. One might think it is just based on his love for the King's wife, but I believe that his and the kings relationships play a roll in this matter.

The Romance of Tristan is an excellent source to be used when analyzing relationships in the 11th and 12th centuries. It helps describe how knights and their lords interacted. It helps show what would happen when bonds of trust were broken. It makes a reader think about why knights were close to their lords, and why lords didn't treat them poorly. Although this story gives us many great examples of how relationships were in this time period, it also leaves much room for the reader to come up with their own inferences o

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Approximate Word count = 1481
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)