TROILUS, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, was one of the chief warriors in the Trojan War. Dares mentions him as a brave warrior, De excidio Troiae historia, 12, but there is no love affair between him and Briseis. Benoît de Sainte-Maure invents the love affair about Briseida's betrayal of Troilus in Roman de Troie, 13261-13865, composed in the second half of the twelfth century. Guido delle Colonne uses Benoît in his Historia destructionis Troiae VIII, XVIIII-XXI (1287); although he does not mention Benoît's name, he uses his portrait of a faithless Briseida. Boccaccio changed the heroine's name to Criseida in his Il Filostrato (c. 1338) and invented the whole process of Troilo's falling in love and his wooing, as well as developed the consummation and faithlessness he found in his sources--Dares, Guido, and Benoît. He created Pandaro, a young cousin of Criseida, to act as friend and go-between.

Chaucer's contribution to Boccaccio's story is the psychological development of the characters, which propels the plot as the story unfolds. The end is in the beginning, the inevitable result of psychological traits. He makes Pandarus, Criseyde's uncle, slightly older than the lovers; he creates the details of Troilus's wooing, the scene in Deiphebus's house (Tr II.1394-III.231) and the supper at Pandarus's house, which leads to the lovers' union (Tr III.509-1309). In addition to Benoît, Guido, Boccaccio, and perhaps Dares, Chaucer uses Le Roman de Troyle et de Criseide, a French translation done in the early 1380s by Jean de Beauveau, Seneschal of Anjou. [Calcas: Creseyde: Diomede: Pandar]

Troilus means "little Troy." Of its two hundred and fifty-three times of occurrence, it never appears initially. It occurs two hundred and fifty times in Troilus and Criseyde, two hundred and seven times in medial positions, Tr I.1, 30, 35, 55, 183, 215, 268, 288, 309, 396, 498, 519, 568, 621, 624, 722, 737, 749, 776, 834, 866, 871, 936, 1009, 1014, 1056, 1072, 1086; Tr II.6, 32, 73, 181, 184, 196, 319, 624, 683, 685, 687, 693, 701, 933, 942, 950, 972, 1058, 1248, 1305, 1312, 1322, 1339, 1394, 1404, 1411, 1494, 1527, 1537, 1548, 1572, 1629, 1666, 1684, 1692, 1752; Tr III.48, 65, 78, 128, 194, 201, 219, 228, 230, 238, 345, 425, 488, 693, 515, 533, 569, 577, 600, 700, 706, 713, 742, 781, 786, 839, 920, 953, 981, 1054, 1065, 1101, 1127, 1170, 1184, 1202, 1205, 1245, 1352, 1421, 1443, 1498, 1521, 1529, 1549, 1588, 1590, 1639, 1669, 1702, 1717, 1815, 1819; Tr IV.8, 15, 28, 148, 219, 228, 270, 350, 360, 365, 432, 519, 540, 610, 631, 674, 676, 699, 714, 778, 854, 875, 880, 896, 946, 1088, 1121, 1148, 1150, 1156, 1213, 1227, 1253, 1373, 1422, 1476, 1537, 1552, 1653, 1690; Tr V.6, 22, 27, 64, 74, 91, 196, 280, 282, 287, 289, 293, 295, 330, 414, 433, 502, 508, 513, 520, 529, 621, 627, 697, 715, 734, 753, 768, 827, 835, 865, 1041, 1046, 1072, 1100, 1111, 1120, 1121, 1135, 1143, 1182, 1312, 1432, 1437, 1566, 1632, 1642, 1647, 1747, 1752, 1801, 1828; and forty-one times in final rhyming position, Tr I.309, 396. 621, 657, 773, 820; Tr II.157, 171, 192, 198, 612, 668, 1014, 1317, 1457, 1627, 1639; Tr III.50, 206, 507, 806, 1583, 1660; Tr IV.372, 766, 806, 1200, 1597; Tr V.197, 323, 407, 428, 449, 953, 1039, 1053, 1163, 1289, 1564, 1655, 1744. Troilus also occurs in medial positions, Adam 2; LGW G 265, and in final rhyming position, PF 291.