Yvain, or the Knight With the Lion

Yvain and his lion spend the night in a strange and eerie castle, where the occupants greet visitors with “Ill-come!” instead of “Welcome” in an attempt to warn them off. Inside, 300 maidens sew and knit without pay; others care for horses they only think they own; the rest behave as if all is well but betray sadness, as if someone evil watches them. Yvain discovers that the castle is ruled over, not by its baron, but by two demon brothers. In many epics, the hero must descend into Hell as part of his quest; in Yvain, the Castle of Ill Adventure, which resembles a medieval vision of Hell, symbolizes Hell and thus fulfills this part of the story. Yvain prevails: He fights the demons and, with the lion’s help, defeats them. This victory frees the castle, and the 300 maidens are liberated. 

De Troyes makes use of jousting as a kind of manhood test between his characters. Invented early in the 1100s, some decades before Yvain was composed, jousting caught on as the sport of knights, who would wear heavy armor and, mounted on horseback, charge at one another and try to knock each other off their horses by striking them with long lances.