The Romance of Tristan and Isolde was a major influence for the romance between Lancelot and Guinevere, Romeo and Juliet, and pretty much every other passionate love story after the 12th century.

A rich mosaic of the human experience, embroidered with colorful gothic elements like spell-weaving dwarves, love potions, magical bells and even a particularly monstrous dragon, Tristan and Isolde is the tale of a heroic knight from fabled Lyonesse who falls madly in love with his King's betrothed through sorcery.

Neither Tristan nor his Queen-to-be can resist the magic that possesses them both, and they cannot help but fling themselves headlong into an affair that shakes the very foundations of the Arthurian world.

A tale of chivalry and doomed, transcendent love, it one of the most illustrious works of Western literature, as well as the basis for our enduring idea of romance.

Joseph Bédier (1864-1938) was a French historian and writer.