Chant royal is
a French verse form normally consisting of five stanzas of eleven
10-syllable lines rhyming ababccddede, followed by an envoi (or half-stanza) rhyming ddede.
The last line of the first stanza is repeated as a refrain at the end of
the succeeding stanzas and of the envoi. The pattern is similar to that of the ballade,
but even more demanding. Most chants royaux were allegories on dignified
subjects. They appeared in France from the time of Eustache Deschamps (late
14th century) to that of Clement Marot (early 16th century), but very rarely in
English.