From my understanding, medieval French poets took an interest in the original Arthurian legends and were responsible for crafting the more "modern" stories of King Arthur that we are familiar with today. If I recall correctly, these "French" stories of King Arthur then became very popular in various countries around mainland Europe. My question is how and why the French took such an interest in mythical stories from what would have been a rather remote region of their world at the time. Was there a particular significance or preexisting connection there that attracted the attention of both those early French poets and, later, larger swathes of European society?