This 300-line verse narrative in Medieval French (its title means in effect ‘the song of the jolting horse’) probably dates from the late thirteenth century. Its theme, the punishment in the after-life of those who disdain to love while they are alive, was taken up and developed across Europe throughout the late Middle Ages. There are variations on the theme in Latin, Italian and English literature, and such works reveal the formative influence of a twelfth-century treatise on courtly love written by Andreas Capellanus, which he called De Arte Honeste Amandi (‘The Art of Respectful Love’). In this treatise, the God of Love is depicted as a demanding deity with palaces and temples who requires all mortals to serve him; as the elaborate codes of courtly love developed still further, the convention was established that Love would take supernatural revenge upon those who refused to give their lives over to amatory pursuit. What is perhaps most striking about the Lay du Trot and its account of the two groups of loving and lovelorn ghosts is the narrative similarity to earlier medieval accounts of ghostly processions purporting to show conditions in the afterlife. The poem opens with the knight Lorois who, like the priest Walchelin in the account of ‘Hellequin's Hunt’ by Orderic Vitalis, is to be the witness of the procession, setting off on a springtime quest.

The Vision of the Knight Lorois

The knight mounted his horse and on his feet the squire placed spurs of gold. He took up his sword with its golden hilt, and then, in solitary state, Lorois left his home and cantered towards the forest. Along the river-bank, through the meadows that were filled with many flowers, cream-coloured, vermilion and blue, he rode fast without stopping. He had resolved that he would not return before he had heard the nightingale for the first time in an entire year.

As he neared the forest, he saw in front of him some eighty women in stately procession emerging from the trees. They were of noble appearance, well-dressed and lovely. They were without capes and headgear, but wore flowered posies of roses and eglantine upon their heads to give off the sweetest perfume. Each of them wore a light gown, which was uncovered because of the warm weather.