In addition to secular wealthy women, a number of religious women of this period also used their education and pursued writing (Hrotsvitha, Héloïse, Bridget of Sweden, and Hildegard of Bingen, to name a few). Burgess, Glyn S., and Busby, Keith, 1986, p 31. Recently, she has been (tentatively) identified as the author of a saint's life, The Life of Saint Audrey. 658-659. Marie De France, (flourished 12th century), earliest known French woman poet, creator of verse narratives on romantic and magical themes that perhaps inspired the musical lais of the later trouvères, and author of Aesopic and other fables, called Ysopets. 8 February 2015. Vol. Only occasionally did a popular short romance like. In fact, she only mentions her name twice, once in the Fables and once in her most famous work, this collection of lays. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court of King Henry II of England. This has strengthened the contention that Marie de France lived many years in England, where she was at her death the abbess of Shaftesbury. Marie de France is one of those authors whose work is well known but whose life is largely conjectural. Her stories exhibit a form of lyrical poetry that influenced the way that narrative poetry was subsequently composed, adding another dimension to the narration through her prologues and the epilogues, for example. Burgess, Glyn S., and Busby, Keith, 1986, p 11. She is principally known for her authorship of The Lais of Marie de France, a collection of twelve narrative poems, mostly of a few hundred lines each. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... …end of the 12th century, Marie de France made a collection of over 100 tales, mingling beast fables with stories of Greek and Roman worthies. The first line dictates “Whoever has received knowledge/ and eloquence in speech from God/ should not be silent or secretive/ but demonstrate it willingly” [20] Marie de France, in so many words, credits her literary skills to God and is therefore allowed to write the lays without her patron’s permission (her patron likely being Henry II of England). Web. Burgess, Glyn Sheridan, and Keith Busby, 1986. In the late 14th century, at broadly the same time that Geoffrey Chaucer included The Franklin's Tale, itself a Breton lai, in his Canterbury Tales,[38] a poet named Thomas Chestre composed a Middle English romance based directly upon Marie de France's Lanval, which, perhaps predictably, spanned much more now than a few weeks of the hero's life, a knight named Sir Launfal. She is considered by scholars to be the first woman known to write francophone verse.[1]. Vol. Scholars have dated Marie's works to between about 1160 and 1215, the earliest and latest possible dates respectively. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Urban Tigner Holmes, A History of Old French Literature, from the Origins to 1300 (1937; rev. Mickel, Emanuel J. Jr., p 100, citing Professor Schiött, author of. She wrote lais, many of which seemed to endorse sentiments that were contrary to the traditions of the Church, especially the idea of virginal love and marriage. A remarkably complete look into the lives of the courts in various parts of France and England where Eleanor, Henry II, and their sons presided is in Amy R. Kelly, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings (1950), which provides a brilliant introduction to the workings of the Poitevin courts of love. In these Fables, she reveals a generally aristocratic point of view with a concern for justice, a sense of outrage against the mistreatment of the poor, and a respect for the social hierarchy. Copyright 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Marie's contributions to French literature consist of lays, the "Ysopet", and a romance published by Roquefort under the title, "Legend of the Purgatory of Saint Patrick". Another of her works, the Fables, is dedicated to a "Count William", who may have been either William of Mandeville or William Marshall. ", Kibler, William W. and Grover A. Zinn, p 589. Marie de France (fl. She was proficient in Latin, as were most authors and scholars of that era, as well as Middle English and possibly Breton. Marie de France lauds the woman for her crafty ways and faults the peasant husband with idiocy. We don't know much about the actual person writing under the name of Marie de France; that may not even be her real name!