 Many of the names of characters are inspired by the "Roman de Thebes" ("Romance of Thebes"), a medieval retelling of the ancient mythological tales of Thebes composed around 1150 by a French poet in the court of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine.The story of "Ipomedon" cannot be traced to this, or to the romances of Chrétien de Troyes as argued by Kölbing, or to any other single source.It is essentially a new story, in which the knight Ipomedon, in love with a princess, conceals his identity and serves her as cupbearer.