Marie de France

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Marie de France

• 12th C Anglo-Norman poet

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On our timeline

• Marie de France is associated with the realm of
  Henry II (1154-1189), so her work is at least two
  centuries before the Gawain-poet or Chaucer.
• Pre-Middle English poet native English speakers
  are speaking a hybrid of Old and Middle English
  (remember Layamon), and the ruling class is
  speaking a hybrid of French and English
  (Anglo-Norman French)
• Earliest courtly love poetry in England
  sometimes credited with invention of courtly love
  motif

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Her genre the Breton Lai

• Lai or lay short narrative poem
• Breton in a Celtic setting, usually Brittany in
  France or Wales or Cornwall
• Always about the adventures of a knight
• Usually contains magical or otherworldly elements
• For the characters in the lai, their love for one
  another provides a haven of bliss in a cold,
  uncaring world
• Lovers not married in keeping with courtly love
  tradition

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Lanval as Arthurian legend

• In the native British rather than continental
  tradition (do not be confused by the de France
  Marie is British in her writing).
• The Queen in Lanval is deeply evil - accusing
  Lanval first of sodomy with boys and then of
  attempted rape against herself.
• Note the degree of chivalry required of knights
  towards the Queen - not even allowed to claim
  that another woman is as or more beautiful than
  she.