Robert Biket

Author of the 580-line Lai du cor ('The Lai of the Horn'), composed during the second half of the twelfth century. The lai is an early setting of the Arthurian chastity test, involving a drinking horn, made by a fay, which will spill its contents on cuckolds. Arthur tries to drink from it and is thoroughly soaked, after which Guinevere explains that she is guilty of having once given a ring to a young man. Arthur forgives her, especially when the horn also empties its content on all the other men at court except Caradoc.

The Lai du cor is notable for its unusual (and archaic) six-syllable line and for Robert's humorous irreverence toward Arthur. Variants of the test are found in The Boy and the Mantle, Caradoc, Ain Hupsches Vasnachtspill von Künig Arthus, Dis Ist Frauw Tristerat Horn von Saphoien, and The Romance of Sir Corneus.