Marie de France

Template:French literature (small) Marie de France ("Mary of France") was a poet born in France but lived in England and Normandy during the late 12th century. Due to the fact that virtually nothing is known of her early life, it is hard to trace exactly when and where she resided. Her manuscipts show that she wrote a form of continental French that was copied by Anglo-Norman scribes, and therefore most of the manuscripts of her work bear Anglo-Norman traits. Her most famous works are fables, which, of the hundreds which she authored, include tweleve Breton lais (or lays), the Ysopet fables, and the Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick. Her works are mostly dedicated to members of the French court at the time, and so, she is believed to have been a member of the court herslef in France as well. It is not known how and when she died.

Life

Although her actual name is now unknown, she is referred to as "Marie de France" after a line in one of her published works: "Marie ai nun, si sui de France," which translates as "My name is Marie, I am from France." Some of the most widely accepted candidates for the poet are Marie, Abbess of Shaftesbury and half-sister to Henry II, King of England; Marie, Abbess of Reading; Marie de Boulogne; and most compelling of all, Marie de Meulan, wife of Hugh Talbot.^{[citation needed]}

Marie de France is a French poet. She is thought to be one of the finest poets of her century. Her actual birth date is not known, but it is known that Marie lived in the 12th century. Marie de France was born in Normandy, France. The exact city of her birth is not known, but the area of Normandy is about 50 miles outside of Paris. Marie de France later moved to England. Marie is supposed to be the half-sister of King Henry II. Information about her parents is not known because no one knows what her last name is. The little information known about her name comes from the epilogue she put in her book of fables. This stated, “Marie is my name, and I am from France”. This was put in so that Marie could claim he own work.

Little information is reported from her childhood, and she never served in the military. She was very well educated. The only information about her occupation is that she was a writer. Many people associate Marie with the court of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine in England. She lived in the late 12th century because Henry II ruled England from 1154-1189. Marie de France is the first known women writer to write in French. Her English connections are suggested because of the Anglo-Norman spellings in her earliest manuscripts. Marie de France is known for having three different types of literature.

The first type of literature is her lais. She has written twelve short narrative tales. They are written in eight-syllable rhyming couplets. The lais range from 118-1184 lines in length. Another type of literature Marie is known for is fables. She has written 103 short fables with a prologue and epilogue. Half of the fables written by Marie are derived from Aesop’s fables. Sixty-three of the fables came originally from Marie herself. Most of Marie’s fables are about beasts. Only one-third of her fables include human characters. Marie de France’s fables tell a moral lesson. Her fables are meant to set examples.

Works

Four works have been attributed to Marie de France, including the 12 The Lais of Marie de France, the "Ysopet" fables, a retelling of the Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick, and, most recently, a saint's life called La Vie seinte Audree or The Life of Saint Audrey. Scholars have dated Marie's works between about 1160 at the earliest, and about 1215 at the latest, though it is probable that they were written between about 1170 and 1205. One of her works, the Lais, is dedicated to a "noble king," another to a "Count William." It is thought that the king referred to is either Henry II of England or his eldest son, "Henry the Young King." The Count William in question is, most likely, either William of Mandeville or William Marshall.

As the wife of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine was well known to be a patron of troubadours and other artists. It has been suggested that Marie de France was a member of their court. The English poet Matilda Betham wrote in 1816 a poem about Marie de France, "The Lay of Marie."

Legacy

Bibliography

• Lais (Lays)
• Lanval
• Laüstic (The Nightingale)
• Eliduc
• Bisclaveret (The Werewolf)
• Chevrefoil (Honeysuckle)
• Chaitivel (The Unfortunate One)
• Milun
• Yonec
• Les Deux Amanz (The Two Lovers)
• Le Fresne (The Ash Tree)
• Equitan
• Guigemar

• Fables
• Ysopets
• St Patrick's Purgatory (Moral tale L'Espurgatoire Seint Patriz)

External links

• International Marie de France Society
• Works by Marie de France. Project Gutenberg
  • French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France, available for free via Project Gutenberg
• Complete bibliography of her works, including secondary literature (Archives de littérature du Moyen Âge, Arlima)

Credits

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