Marie De France

Who is Marie de France?

Little is known but there are many suggestions. Many place her as an illegitimate

daughter. She is placed as Geoffrey of Anjou, William Manerill Earl of Sussex,

or Waleran de Beumont’s; along with having relations back to Eleanor of

Aquitane(Chance ). Weather she was an illegitimate daughter of a king or related

to Henry the second what we do know about her is through her writing.

Marie de France composed between 1160c.e. and 1215c.e. (Ferrante ). Thought,

there is some discrepancy of this saying that her last piece was written about

1190c.e. (Krueger181). Marie de France writes within three different genres in

her time: The British tale, Animal Fables, and Spiritual voyage (Krueger). She

wrote in French vernacular (Krueger 181). Marie’s works have been translated

into Old Norse, Middle English, Middle high German, Italian, and Latin; Marie’s

own education can be seen through her act of translating one of her own works

into Latin( Ferranate).

Marie de Frances’ Lais demonstrate men and women suffering in love and are

cause the reader to critique courtly values ( Ferrante).  Within the Lais a woman

starts the stories progression and inj the end resolves the conflict (Ferrante ) These stories have helped to bring Marie de France into the 21^st century 

(Ferrante)

What helped Marie de France become popular within her own time was her

fables (Ferrante). Though they were brought to a larger audience the fables drew

the appeal of many women (Ferrante).  Marie drew her authority as a teacher

through these stories and held a female voice (ferranate).  With 102 stories in all

they break down their origins into Romulus and others (ferranate) within the

other category Marie had translated Aribic stories and had been the first to do so.

(ferranate) Unlike her lais, which have no deffinate meaning, Maries fables

offton have a moral but are not meant to be a formula for living ( ferranate).