Chrétien de Troyes leaves the damsel nameless who thrice served as Guenevere’s messenger to Lancelot during the Noauz tournament.
Phyllis Ann Karr chose the name “Elinor” for her because, like Jane Austen’s Elinor of ‘Sense and Sensibility’, she was prudent and sensible, both of which qualities she must have needed to seek out one particular knight and give him private messages in the middle of a tournament.
It is tempting to wonder if the “Shrewd Damsel at the Window” might have accompanied Guenevere from Gore to turn up a second time at Noauz.