ABSTRACT
The popularity of visions of heaven and hell in the Middle Ages is evident not only from the voluminousness of Latin and vernacular vision literature but also from the influence of that literature on apparently unrelated genres.1 In this chapter I shall discuss this influence by means of some revealing examples from medieval romances in various languages from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. I hope to show that the poets of these romances made intelligent use of vision literature. I begin by looking briefly at some romances that make brief comparisons with heaven or show a precise recollection of apocalyptic visions. The second section is devoted to the pioneer of Arthurian romance, Chrétien de Troyes, who playfully draws on vision literature in his Chevalier de la Charrete (Lancelot) and Cligés.
