- Contractual Obligation Project: The Knight of the Cart was written in the 12th century under the arts patronage system, where patrons funded artists and thus got some creative control. Chrétien de Troyes was the artist and Countess Marie de Champagne was his patron. The text begins with a preface where Chrétien notes that this project—the matiere e san, generally understood to mean the adulterous love story and its sympathetic framing—was assigned to him by Marie.Preface: Since my lady of Champagne wishes me to undertake to write a romance, I shall very gladly do so, being so devoted to her service as to do anything in the world for her, without any intention of flattery. [...] I will say, however, that her command has more to do with this work than any thought or pains that I may expend upon it. [...] The material and the treatment of it are given and furnished to him by the Countess, and he is simply trying to carry out her concern and intention.
It's thought that Marie (a noblewoman) was into the idea of a noblewoman having an affair with her knight and nobody suffering any consequences from it, while its theorized that Chrétien was uncomfortable with this theme. His other works are pro-marriage. His discomfort might be the reason he had Godefroi finish the story for him. The preface, then, is to clarify this is Marie's doing and not Author Appeal, lest anyone think it was him who was into adultery. This combo of a patron's requirement and an artist discomfort also may go some ways toward explaining the story's baffling silence on adultery, despite its centrality.
- Orphaned Series: Toward the end of The Knight of the Cart, Chrétien de Troyes left his scribe Godefroi de Leigni to finish it for unknown reasons.Postface: My lords, if I should prolong my tale, it would be beside the purpose, and so I will conclude. Godefroi de Leigni, the clerk, has written the conclusion of "the Cart"; but let no one find fault with him for having embroidered on Chretien's theme, for it was done with the consent of Chretien who started it. Godefroi has finished it from the point where Lancelot was imprisoned in the tower. So much he wrote; but he would fain add nothing more, for fear of disfiguring the tale.
Chrétien may have fallen ill and been unable to complete it himself. He may have been uncomfortable with the adulterous subject—something pushed on him by his patron—and was reluctant to write it. He was writing Yvain, the Knight of the Lion at the same time, and it's thought that he liked that project better.
