The medieval French chivalric romance, which narrates the adventurous life of Messire Charles de Hongrie, that is, Lord Charles of Hungary, and was written for being read aloud, presents through the figure of its hero the ideal knight to the presumed audience, the inhabitants of the French noble manors. The author of the romance as well as the place and time of its birth are unknown; it has survived in a single manuscript, presumably from the 16th century.