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The Lais of Marie de France
This is a prose translation of the lais or poems attributed to Marie de France. Little is known of her but she was probably the Abbess of the abbey at Shaftesbury in the late 12th century, illegitimate daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet and hence the half-sister of Henry II of England. It was to a king, and probably Henry II, that she dedicated these poems of adventure and love which were retellings of stories which she had heard from Breton minstrels. She is regarded as the most talented French poet of the medieval period.
originally published circa 1160
originally published circa 1160
164 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1160
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About the author
Marie de France
114 books74 followersMarie de France ("Mary of France", around 1135-1200) was a poet evidently born in France and living in England during the late 12th century. Virtually nothing is known of her early life, though she wrote a form of continental French[citation needed:] that was copied by Anglo-Norman scribes. Therefore, most of the manuscripts of her work bear Anglo-Norman traits. She also translated some Latin literature and produced an influential version of Aesop's Fables.
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July 20, 2016
Marie de France was an aristocratic twelfth-century poet, from whose name we conclude that she was apparently living somewhere other than France when she wrote her most famous works. Probably England: she writes in Anglo-Norman, which is an important language for anyone interested in the history of English because it's the source of so many borrowings. Marie was probably attached to the court of Henry II (who, I need scarcely remind you, was himself French and spoke no English), but apart from that we really know nothing about her except what can be gleaned from her poetry.
Now, I really like Old French and Anglo-Norman poetry, but some of the classics are so long that reading them seems pretty daunting. The big Arthurian cycles and the long poems of people like Wace or Chrétien de Troyes – I can only deal with them in small doses. That's why forms like lais and fabliaux are so appealing: short, narrative works, with lots of dirty jokes and direct explanations. These are poems about illegitimate births, exiled knights, chivalrous deeds and hidden love-affairs – and yet despite all these plot devices, they have very little in common with the kind of adventure romances that would develop later. Here everything is much more direct, and there is a charmingly ingenuous approach to sex and desire in general. This is compounded by the fact that Marie, being female, gives many details about the women involved that male poets so often didn't bother with.
My favourite lai is ‘Bisclavret’, one of the oldest werewolf stories out there. It starts with the sort of attention to linguistic detail that is always guaranteed to win me over:
The word she uses, garwaf, is the source of modern French garou, and in fact it's cognate with English "werewolf" although it doesn't look it at first glance. Anyway. I could go on and on about every piece of vocabulary in here, which is sometimes what I do when I read stuff like this. But beside the strong linguistic interest I have for this period, there is also heaps of literary charm and atmosphere.
This is one of the few werewolf tales to be told from the point of view of the werewolf, and it's weirdly intriguing to compare it to Norse versions, or indeed to modern treatments like An American Werewolf in London, Angela Carter, Season 3 of Buffy, or whatever you're thinking of. The poetic techniques are of a very high quality and can be analysed and probed to your heart's content, if you like that sort of thing.
This particular edition has modern French prose on facing pages, but there are lots of English translations out there too including a good-looking one from the ever-reliable Penguin Classics. Well worth your time if you're in the mood to get your medieval on.
Now, I really like Old French and Anglo-Norman poetry, but some of the classics are so long that reading them seems pretty daunting. The big Arthurian cycles and the long poems of people like Wace or Chrétien de Troyes – I can only deal with them in small doses. That's why forms like lais and fabliaux are so appealing: short, narrative works, with lots of dirty jokes and direct explanations. These are poems about illegitimate births, exiled knights, chivalrous deeds and hidden love-affairs – and yet despite all these plot devices, they have very little in common with the kind of adventure romances that would develop later. Here everything is much more direct, and there is a charmingly ingenuous approach to sex and desire in general. This is compounded by the fact that Marie, being female, gives many details about the women involved that male poets so often didn't bother with.
My favourite lai is ‘Bisclavret’, one of the oldest werewolf stories out there. It starts with the sort of attention to linguistic detail that is always guaranteed to win me over:
Bisclavret ad nun en bretan,
Garwaf l'apelent li Norman.
‘Bisclavret’ is the Breton name,
The Normans call it ‘werewolf’.
The word she uses, garwaf, is the source of modern French garou, and in fact it's cognate with English "werewolf" although it doesn't look it at first glance. Anyway. I could go on and on about every piece of vocabulary in here, which is sometimes what I do when I read stuff like this. But beside the strong linguistic interest I have for this period, there is also heaps of literary charm and atmosphere.
Garvalf, ceo est beste salvage;
Tant cum il est en cele rage,
Hummes devure, grant mal fait,
Es granz forest converse e vait...
The werewolf is a savage beast;
When that rage comes over him,
He devours men, does great evil,
Roaming and prowling through the mighty forests....
This is one of the few werewolf tales to be told from the point of view of the werewolf, and it's weirdly intriguing to compare it to Norse versions, or indeed to modern treatments like An American Werewolf in London, Angela Carter, Season 3 of Buffy, or whatever you're thinking of. The poetic techniques are of a very high quality and can be analysed and probed to your heart's content, if you like that sort of thing.
This particular edition has modern French prose on facing pages, but there are lots of English translations out there too including a good-looking one from the ever-reliable Penguin Classics. Well worth your time if you're in the mood to get your medieval on.
May 13, 2022
This book contains the 12 poems by Marie de France, an introduction by Glyn Burgess, a translator's note from Keith Busby: a bibliography, an Index of Proper Names, and three of Marie's poems in the original Old French which allows the reader to see that the original poems consisted of short lines, of about 7 or 8 syllables arranged in continuous rhyming couplets.
Burgess and Busby have offered a prose translation, which focuses on being as close to the original meaning as possible, and they considered that this makes a more easy reading as Marie's original short sentences are quite staccato.
I disagree of course, because I was taught that much of the sense of a poem comes from the structure which adds to the simple word meaning in a multitude of additional ways, for example rhyming couplets in English are often used for comedic effect, or possibly curtness. And line length is also highly relevant in indicating the speed of diction so that certain effects are transmitted by requiring the speaker/presenter to slow or speed up their performance. Nevermind: it would certainly take a very skilled translator to re-create the Old French into a similar poem with the continuous rhyme scheme and tight syllabic structure that Marie has created. You start to appreciate her skill, when you consider this.
I did enjoy Professor Burgess's introduction. He covers all the salient points reference the various manuscripts that are in existence today; the difficulties of accurately pinpointing the exact date for the production of Marie's work (last quarter of the 12th century) and of course the difficulty of identifying Marie herself, although he does confirm in his opinion that the writer is indeed a woman.
Burgess offers no less than four possible candidates for Marie's real-life personage, and confirms that she must have been a lady of high-birth because of her facility with languages (Latin, Anglo-Norman and Old French) and her knowledge of contemporary and ancient literary texts and styles, as well as her familiarity with courtly life. He concludes that she was probably born in France, but moved to England as a result of marriage or the need to expand her literary fame.
The central theme of all the poems or lais is love, and specifically erotic or passionate love between a man and a woman; usually the love takes place between a couple who must break the vows of wedlock; so the two must be resourceful and fight to establish or to continue their love, most often in secret; and it is not simply courtly love, but physical love, as in the union of the two. In some of the lais, for example Yonec and Milun there are offspring.
I think the modern reader will be surprised to find that the problems of the lovers are still very much what lovers today find themselves dealing with. Here is an example from Milun, which is the ninth lais:
The damsel was full of joy because of the love thus granted to her. Milun and she frequently arranged a meeting in a garden in which she took her ease, close to her bedchamber. Milun visited the damsel so often and loved her so much that she became pregnant. When she realized this, she summoned Milun and bemoaned her fate. She told him what had happened: she had forfeited her honour and good name by allowing such a thing to befall her.
It is such an old tale. And what I find interesting is that in most of Marie's lais, often the action is instigated by the woman, and when problems befall the couple, it is often the woman who comes up with a plan, or compromise or some kind of resolution. Marie's women prove to be intelligent, and independent thinkers.
The lai of Milun continues with the damsel making plans to conceal the baby with her married sister, and her partner carries out her requirements to the letter.
Let us go back to the beginning, the twelve lais are prefaced by a Prologue in which Marie presents the source of her lais and her reasons for writing. She explains that she took the material from the touring Breton musicians, who had turned adventures into songs. Marie says that she chose this material because - and here I present my own interpretation - that is was contemporary and spoke to her. She also reveals a reason which I think explains her focus on love:
Anyone wishing to guard against vice should study intently and undertake a demanding task, whereby one can ward off and rid oneself of great suffering. For this reason I began to think of working on some good story and translating a Latin text into French, but this would scarcely have been worthwhile, for others have undertaken a similar task. So I thought of lays which I had heard and did not doubt, for I knew it full well, that they were composed, by those who first began them and put them into circulation, to perpetuate the memory of adventures they had heard. I myself have heard a number of them and do not wish to overlook or neglect them. I have put them into verse, made poems from them and worked on them late into the night.
I think this part of the Prologue is very revealing about Marie, and certainly I am not a scholar and no doubt scholars would decrie my womanly intuition but I think it is quite clear that Marie has suffered from a broken heart. It is framed - in the general, but... "Anyone wishing to guard against vice..." sounds like a secret affair "...can ward off and rid oneself of great suffering." Her second reason: the minstrels songs appeal, is because they are about adventures - of love. She says "I thought of lays I did not doubt, for I knew it full well..." (my emphasis).
Or perhaps the significance of a line break? Medieval writing is renowned for its play with words, the use of double negatives, puns, innuendo, some effects that are easily lost if you translate or change the structure. The Breton love-tales or songs appealed to Marie because she heard them herself and they spoke directly of people the musicians knew about and, quite possibly reminded Marie of her own adventures.
Personal speculation aside, however, it does not do to make make light of Marie's subject. She would have been familiar with the troubadour love poems composed at that time in the south of France, Provence, and of the development of Romances. Burgess suggests that Marie's lais fall between them stylistically. Marie was drawn to this material from a personal perspective I suspect, but more importantly, her interest in the genre of Courtly Love, was primarily to do with the fact that it represented an important intellectual development, and quite possibly its very real effect on the re-structuring of society at that time.
The social structure was the feudal system, and depending on the region, it covered a period of approximately 500 years between 1000 and 1500 A.D. The feudal system was a power structure with Lords in allegiance to a regional king. The lords governed large areas, and every single person within (the serfs) were owned and in life-servitude to the lord. This power structure was controlled by force - the knights, and through allegiances by marriage, - sanctioned by the Church. In fact marriage was the primary tool by which noble families retained power, formed alliances, and established heirs.
Courtly Love reflected a strata of this society, - the Knights, who were essentially second, third, fourth sons etc, who did not have the right to marry, or receive lands through inheritance. These young men of noble birth were trained to fight, but were also educated and looked to ladies of similar status with which to interact. The social dynamics of this situation were directed into formal fighting at jousting tournaments - for the "favours" of the lady; and the energy of these relations was captured in a new literary development, as already stated, in the love-poems of the troubadours, and Romances, by writers such as Chretien de Troyes, Guillaume de Lorris, and others. Marie's choice of subject, therefore strongly suggests her desire to participate in this dialogue of social re-definement.
It is difficult to say whether Literary Works reflect or direct social dynamics but Marie, and her lais were part of an important evolvement of social behaviour which eventually usurped the power structures of the Lords, and their feudal system. In her lais Marie examines a situation or dilemma involving individuals - What do you do for instance, if you love a lady, but have no land, castle, or right to claim land of your own? What if you are a lord married to an upright lady, but are struck by love for another? What if you are a dutiful daughter but do not love the husband chosen for you by family allegiances?
Marie questions the traditional values of marriage in relation to love arrangements. In every lai the right of the lovers to seek fulfilment in whatever way they can is supported by Marie. Sometimes, as in Eliduc there is a happy resolution: the wife requests an annulment so that her husband Eliduc can marry his true love. Sometimes the lovers are discovered and die together at the hands of the cuckolded husband, as in Equitan. In another, the lovers are tested to ascertain the loyalty of one for the other as in Milun, but in each lai the poem revolves around the central pair and their ability to sustain or achieve their love.
I don't think Marie's lais are significant for their strong narrative style (perhaps the longer ones such as Eliduc, Guigemar, and Lanval), but are instead of significance for the fact that they question the traditional roles offered to men, and women and how they suggest the possibility of an alternative, using the concept of Love.
Here is a short extract from Equitan who in this case is a king. He falls in love with his seneschal's wife. The seneschal is a high-ranking retainer, responsible for the administration of the king's lands. Equitan contrives to meet with the wife and confesses his love for her - here is her cautious and diplomatic answer:
'My lord,' said the lady, 'I must have time to reflect on this. ... You are a king of great nobility; I am not wealthy enough to be the object of your love or passion. If you had your way with me, I know well and am in no doubt that you would soon abandon me and I should be very much worse off. If it should come about that I loved you and granted your request, our love would not be shared equally. Because you are a powerful king and my husband is your vassal(servant), you would expect, as I see it, to be the lord and master in love as well. [101-36]
Anyone in doubt that Marie is a woman? The Lady continues in this way for another 20 odd lines, courteous but firm, and concludes that a man who steals away the wife of another does so only because of his high status. Equitan replies:
My lady, I beg you. Do not say such things! Such men are not truly courtly (realises he is speaking about himself!)
This is the sort of deal struck between merchants who, to acquire wealth or a large fief, expend much effort for some unseemly purpose.
(manages to save the situation through flattery, with caveat) Any wise and courtly lady of noble disposition, who sets a high price on her love and is not fickle, deserves to be sought after by a rich prince in his castle, and loved well and loyally, even if her only possession is her mantle. (Suggests - correctly she has nothing to lose except her good name)
(... and wins the argument by convincing her -if they are loyal and treat each other as equals then much is possible... which was her suggestion in the first place!)
'Do not regard me as your king, but as your vassal and lover. I swear to you in all honesty that I shall do your bidding. Do not let me die because of you. You can be the mistress and I the servant; you the haughty one and I the suppliant.' (I think this is where the lady gives in.)
It concludes thus:
So long did the king speak with her and so ardently did he beg for mercy that she promised him her love and gave him her body. By an exchange of rings they took possession of each other and pledged their faith. They kept this faith well and loved each other dearly. It was later to be the cause of their death. [137-84]
Take note here that Marie intends both or more meanings of the word "possession" and of course "faith", used twice is intended to vye with the more usual, as in religious faith, faith in God, which bespokes a challenge to the authority of the Church.
The romance literature, along with Marie, and the troubadour love poems, reflect or possibly have contributed to the massive social evolvement that took place throughout the Middle Ages.
Burgess and Busby have offered a prose translation, which focuses on being as close to the original meaning as possible, and they considered that this makes a more easy reading as Marie's original short sentences are quite staccato.
I disagree of course, because I was taught that much of the sense of a poem comes from the structure which adds to the simple word meaning in a multitude of additional ways, for example rhyming couplets in English are often used for comedic effect, or possibly curtness. And line length is also highly relevant in indicating the speed of diction so that certain effects are transmitted by requiring the speaker/presenter to slow or speed up their performance. Nevermind: it would certainly take a very skilled translator to re-create the Old French into a similar poem with the continuous rhyme scheme and tight syllabic structure that Marie has created. You start to appreciate her skill, when you consider this.
I did enjoy Professor Burgess's introduction. He covers all the salient points reference the various manuscripts that are in existence today; the difficulties of accurately pinpointing the exact date for the production of Marie's work (last quarter of the 12th century) and of course the difficulty of identifying Marie herself, although he does confirm in his opinion that the writer is indeed a woman.
Burgess offers no less than four possible candidates for Marie's real-life personage, and confirms that she must have been a lady of high-birth because of her facility with languages (Latin, Anglo-Norman and Old French) and her knowledge of contemporary and ancient literary texts and styles, as well as her familiarity with courtly life. He concludes that she was probably born in France, but moved to England as a result of marriage or the need to expand her literary fame.
The central theme of all the poems or lais is love, and specifically erotic or passionate love between a man and a woman; usually the love takes place between a couple who must break the vows of wedlock; so the two must be resourceful and fight to establish or to continue their love, most often in secret; and it is not simply courtly love, but physical love, as in the union of the two. In some of the lais, for example Yonec and Milun there are offspring.
I think the modern reader will be surprised to find that the problems of the lovers are still very much what lovers today find themselves dealing with. Here is an example from Milun, which is the ninth lais:
The damsel was full of joy because of the love thus granted to her. Milun and she frequently arranged a meeting in a garden in which she took her ease, close to her bedchamber. Milun visited the damsel so often and loved her so much that she became pregnant. When she realized this, she summoned Milun and bemoaned her fate. She told him what had happened: she had forfeited her honour and good name by allowing such a thing to befall her.
It is such an old tale. And what I find interesting is that in most of Marie's lais, often the action is instigated by the woman, and when problems befall the couple, it is often the woman who comes up with a plan, or compromise or some kind of resolution. Marie's women prove to be intelligent, and independent thinkers.
The lai of Milun continues with the damsel making plans to conceal the baby with her married sister, and her partner carries out her requirements to the letter.
Let us go back to the beginning, the twelve lais are prefaced by a Prologue in which Marie presents the source of her lais and her reasons for writing. She explains that she took the material from the touring Breton musicians, who had turned adventures into songs. Marie says that she chose this material because - and here I present my own interpretation - that is was contemporary and spoke to her. She also reveals a reason which I think explains her focus on love:
Anyone wishing to guard against vice should study intently and undertake a demanding task, whereby one can ward off and rid oneself of great suffering. For this reason I began to think of working on some good story and translating a Latin text into French, but this would scarcely have been worthwhile, for others have undertaken a similar task. So I thought of lays which I had heard and did not doubt, for I knew it full well, that they were composed, by those who first began them and put them into circulation, to perpetuate the memory of adventures they had heard. I myself have heard a number of them and do not wish to overlook or neglect them. I have put them into verse, made poems from them and worked on them late into the night.
I think this part of the Prologue is very revealing about Marie, and certainly I am not a scholar and no doubt scholars would decrie my womanly intuition but I think it is quite clear that Marie has suffered from a broken heart. It is framed - in the general, but... "Anyone wishing to guard against vice..." sounds like a secret affair "...can ward off and rid oneself of great suffering." Her second reason: the minstrels songs appeal, is because they are about adventures - of love. She says "I thought of lays I did not doubt, for I knew it full well..." (my emphasis).
Or perhaps the significance of a line break? Medieval writing is renowned for its play with words, the use of double negatives, puns, innuendo, some effects that are easily lost if you translate or change the structure. The Breton love-tales or songs appealed to Marie because she heard them herself and they spoke directly of people the musicians knew about and, quite possibly reminded Marie of her own adventures.
Personal speculation aside, however, it does not do to make make light of Marie's subject. She would have been familiar with the troubadour love poems composed at that time in the south of France, Provence, and of the development of Romances. Burgess suggests that Marie's lais fall between them stylistically. Marie was drawn to this material from a personal perspective I suspect, but more importantly, her interest in the genre of Courtly Love, was primarily to do with the fact that it represented an important intellectual development, and quite possibly its very real effect on the re-structuring of society at that time.
The social structure was the feudal system, and depending on the region, it covered a period of approximately 500 years between 1000 and 1500 A.D. The feudal system was a power structure with Lords in allegiance to a regional king. The lords governed large areas, and every single person within (the serfs) were owned and in life-servitude to the lord. This power structure was controlled by force - the knights, and through allegiances by marriage, - sanctioned by the Church. In fact marriage was the primary tool by which noble families retained power, formed alliances, and established heirs.
Courtly Love reflected a strata of this society, - the Knights, who were essentially second, third, fourth sons etc, who did not have the right to marry, or receive lands through inheritance. These young men of noble birth were trained to fight, but were also educated and looked to ladies of similar status with which to interact. The social dynamics of this situation were directed into formal fighting at jousting tournaments - for the "favours" of the lady; and the energy of these relations was captured in a new literary development, as already stated, in the love-poems of the troubadours, and Romances, by writers such as Chretien de Troyes, Guillaume de Lorris, and others. Marie's choice of subject, therefore strongly suggests her desire to participate in this dialogue of social re-definement.
It is difficult to say whether Literary Works reflect or direct social dynamics but Marie, and her lais were part of an important evolvement of social behaviour which eventually usurped the power structures of the Lords, and their feudal system. In her lais Marie examines a situation or dilemma involving individuals - What do you do for instance, if you love a lady, but have no land, castle, or right to claim land of your own? What if you are a lord married to an upright lady, but are struck by love for another? What if you are a dutiful daughter but do not love the husband chosen for you by family allegiances?
Marie questions the traditional values of marriage in relation to love arrangements. In every lai the right of the lovers to seek fulfilment in whatever way they can is supported by Marie. Sometimes, as in Eliduc there is a happy resolution: the wife requests an annulment so that her husband Eliduc can marry his true love. Sometimes the lovers are discovered and die together at the hands of the cuckolded husband, as in Equitan. In another, the lovers are tested to ascertain the loyalty of one for the other as in Milun, but in each lai the poem revolves around the central pair and their ability to sustain or achieve their love.
I don't think Marie's lais are significant for their strong narrative style (perhaps the longer ones such as Eliduc, Guigemar, and Lanval), but are instead of significance for the fact that they question the traditional roles offered to men, and women and how they suggest the possibility of an alternative, using the concept of Love.
Here is a short extract from Equitan who in this case is a king. He falls in love with his seneschal's wife. The seneschal is a high-ranking retainer, responsible for the administration of the king's lands. Equitan contrives to meet with the wife and confesses his love for her - here is her cautious and diplomatic answer:
'My lord,' said the lady, 'I must have time to reflect on this. ... You are a king of great nobility; I am not wealthy enough to be the object of your love or passion. If you had your way with me, I know well and am in no doubt that you would soon abandon me and I should be very much worse off. If it should come about that I loved you and granted your request, our love would not be shared equally. Because you are a powerful king and my husband is your vassal(servant), you would expect, as I see it, to be the lord and master in love as well. [101-36]
Anyone in doubt that Marie is a woman? The Lady continues in this way for another 20 odd lines, courteous but firm, and concludes that a man who steals away the wife of another does so only because of his high status. Equitan replies:
My lady, I beg you. Do not say such things! Such men are not truly courtly (realises he is speaking about himself!)
This is the sort of deal struck between merchants who, to acquire wealth or a large fief, expend much effort for some unseemly purpose.
(manages to save the situation through flattery, with caveat) Any wise and courtly lady of noble disposition, who sets a high price on her love and is not fickle, deserves to be sought after by a rich prince in his castle, and loved well and loyally, even if her only possession is her mantle. (Suggests - correctly she has nothing to lose except her good name)
(... and wins the argument by convincing her -if they are loyal and treat each other as equals then much is possible... which was her suggestion in the first place!)
'Do not regard me as your king, but as your vassal and lover. I swear to you in all honesty that I shall do your bidding. Do not let me die because of you. You can be the mistress and I the servant; you the haughty one and I the suppliant.' (I think this is where the lady gives in.)
It concludes thus:
So long did the king speak with her and so ardently did he beg for mercy that she promised him her love and gave him her body. By an exchange of rings they took possession of each other and pledged their faith. They kept this faith well and loved each other dearly. It was later to be the cause of their death. [137-84]
Take note here that Marie intends both or more meanings of the word "possession" and of course "faith", used twice is intended to vye with the more usual, as in religious faith, faith in God, which bespokes a challenge to the authority of the Church.
The romance literature, along with Marie, and the troubadour love poems, reflect or possibly have contributed to the massive social evolvement that took place throughout the Middle Ages.
January 21, 2019
о, я стільки можу вам розповісти.
базове правило: якщо в середньовічній оповідці ви чуєте про жінку й чоловіка, достойніших, прекрасніших і куртуазніших за яких світ не бачив, можете бути певні, що вже через кілька речень вони вломають одне одного на секс.
наприклад, «ґвіґемар»: лицар довго не любив жодної дами, і за його плечима вже й перешіптуватися почали, але якогось дня зненацька він заснув на незнайомому кораблі, який доправив його до незнайомого берега, де в полоні у свого вкрай ревнивого чоловіка була прекрасна дама, і ця дама взяла до себе лицаря й усіляко полюбила його на другу добу знайомства, а через півтора року вкрай ревнивий чоловік запідозрив, що у спальні в його дружини хтось живе.
або «ле фресне»: у монастирі жила дівчина, яку абатиса прихистила й виховала як свою племінницю, і цю дівчину помітив тамтешній володар, а за сумісництвом прекрасний лицар, і він аж подарував монастирю земель, щоб частіше цю дівчину бачити, і якось каже їй: абатиса засмутиться, якщо раптом ти виявишся вагітна, то їдьмо просто до мене в замок, – а дівчина така: ну ок.
або «мілун»: дівчина почула в розмові ім'я лицаря й закохалася в нього, тому написала йому листа з пропозицією любові й усякого такого, він же за цю пропозицію подякував і погодився бути їй довічно вірним, а потім вони побачилися і, цитую, він приходив до неї так часто і любив її так сильно, що вона завагітніла; і вона йому каже: о горе, це ж може попсувати мою честь, – а він: я зроблю все, про що ти попросиш, – а вона: о, придумала, у мене десь далеко живе сестра, то пошлемо дитину їй, дуже вдобно; а потім дівчину видали заміж, і вона двадцять років листувалася з лицарем за допомогою поштового лебедя.
цікаво розбирати дрібнички: як мились, у що вдягалися, як спали (король і його лицарі – покотом в одній кімнаті замку), як розважалися (шахами і кровопусканням), що вважали розкошами.
базове правило: якщо в середньовічній оповідці ви чуєте про жінку й чоловіка, достойніших, прекрасніших і куртуазніших за яких світ не бачив, можете бути певні, що вже через кілька речень вони вломають одне одного на секс.
наприклад, «ґвіґемар»: лицар довго не любив жодної дами, і за його плечима вже й перешіптуватися почали, але якогось дня зненацька він заснув на незнайомому кораблі, який доправив його до незнайомого берега, де в полоні у свого вкрай ревнивого чоловіка була прекрасна дама, і ця дама взяла до себе лицаря й усіляко полюбила його на другу добу знайомства, а через півтора року вкрай ревнивий чоловік запідозрив, що у спальні в його дружини хтось живе.
або «ле фресне»: у монастирі жила дівчина, яку абатиса прихистила й виховала як свою племінницю, і цю дівчину помітив тамтешній володар, а за сумісництвом прекрасний лицар, і він аж подарував монастирю земель, щоб частіше цю дівчину бачити, і якось каже їй: абатиса засмутиться, якщо раптом ти виявишся вагітна, то їдьмо просто до мене в замок, – а дівчина така: ну ок.
або «мілун»: дівчина почула в розмові ім'я лицаря й закохалася в нього, тому написала йому листа з пропозицією любові й усякого такого, він же за цю пропозицію подякував і погодився бути їй довічно вірним, а потім вони побачилися і, цитую, він приходив до неї так часто і любив її так сильно, що вона завагітніла; і вона йому каже: о горе, це ж може попсувати мою честь, – а він: я зроблю все, про що ти попросиш, – а вона: о, придумала, у мене десь далеко живе сестра, то пошлемо дитину їй, дуже вдобно; а потім дівчину видали заміж, і вона двадцять років листувалася з лицарем за допомогою поштового лебедя.
цікаво розбирати дрібнички: як мились, у що вдягалися, як спали (король і його лицарі – покотом в одній кімнаті замку), як розважалися (шахами і кровопусканням), що вважали розкошами.
January 17, 2025
➥ 4 Stars *:･ﾟ✧
I read Bisclavret last year and found it interesting (love a little something Frankenstein adjacent and extremely homo). Just revisited the lais to complete a piece on Milun. I found the social context interesting, especially the culture around chivalry and knighthood. However, I fear its charm is lost through English translation. Even with my limited French, I enjoyed reading it in its original verse and language far more. The english paragraphed version is less compelling and magical. Even then, I find it difficult to connect with a text that doesn't hone in on intimate character dialogue (...most Old language texts don't). But, in a way, that is culturally the way of courtly love. A distant and noble match. (Yawn.)
I would love to watch/read a modern day adaptation of some sort. Rather than making so many sequel films and live actions (ahem Disney), let's revive some medieval lore 😋! Or develop the plot further. Reimagine an ending where the mysterious unnamed woman's name is revealed (something badass) where she unhorses both her son and her...babydaddy (iykyk). Ou maybe even make this story a little homo too, how come only the male pairings get to go gay in these? 💔
"After a while he returned, taking two barons with him. All three entered the room. They found the knight sleeping on the king's own bed. The king ran forward to embrace him, and kissed him many times. It was not long before he restored his land to him; he gave him more than I can tell and banished the woman from the country, exiling her from the region."
— Bisclavret
━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
I read Bisclavret last year and found it interesting (love a little something Frankenstein adjacent and extremely homo). Just revisited the lais to complete a piece on Milun. I found the social context interesting, especially the culture around chivalry and knighthood. However, I fear its charm is lost through English translation. Even with my limited French, I enjoyed reading it in its original verse and language far more. The english paragraphed version is less compelling and magical. Even then, I find it difficult to connect with a text that doesn't hone in on intimate character dialogue (...most Old language texts don't). But, in a way, that is culturally the way of courtly love. A distant and noble match. (Yawn.)
I would love to watch/read a modern day adaptation of some sort. Rather than making so many sequel films and live actions (ahem Disney), let's revive some medieval lore 😋! Or develop the plot further. Reimagine an ending where the mysterious unnamed woman's name is revealed (something badass) where she unhorses both her son and her...babydaddy (iykyk). Ou maybe even make this story a little homo too, how come only the male pairings get to go gay in these? 💔
━━━━━━━━━━━ ♡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
April 22, 2020
Esta es la mejor edición de los Lais de María de Francia en castellano. Es una excelente traducción del profesor Carlos Alvar, cuenta con multitud de notas que ayudan al estudio de la obra, además de un estudio crítico sencillo y completo. Asequible para cualquier público, cuenta con numerosa y extensa bibliografía para ampliar los diversos temas tratados.
En referencia al contenido de la obra, los Lais son narraciones cortas de tema Bretón y ambiente cortés, ambientados en el mundo fantástico de Bretaña. Su lectura es amena y agradable, para nada repetitivos.
Desde mi punto de vista el mejor de todos es Bisclavret.
En referencia al contenido de la obra, los Lais son narraciones cortas de tema Bretón y ambiente cortés, ambientados en el mundo fantástico de Bretaña. Su lectura es amena y agradable, para nada repetitivos.
Desde mi punto de vista el mejor de todos es Bisclavret.
December 9, 2014
These stories by a 12th Century abbess have everything! Love and treason and a noble betrayed werewolf ... Stephenie Meyer eat your decadent, twinkling little heart out.
The English is a little stiff, because it sets out to be very close to the mediaeval French poetry, but the power comes through. Amazing these lais are not more famous.
I can't resist one extended quote:
'Lord,' she said, 'please come hunting in the forest in the region where I live. Stay in my husband's castle, be bled there and take a bath on the third day. My husband will be bled and take a bath with you. Make sure you tell him to keep you company. I shall have the bath heated and the two tubs brought in. The water in his bath will be so boiling hot that no mortal man could escape scalding or destruction, before he has settled down in it. When he has been scalded to death, summon your vassals and his. Show them how he suddenly died in the bath.'
She is not given a name, so I think of her as Lady Macbath.
The English is a little stiff, because it sets out to be very close to the mediaeval French poetry, but the power comes through. Amazing these lais are not more famous.
I can't resist one extended quote:
'Lord,' she said, 'please come hunting in the forest in the region where I live. Stay in my husband's castle, be bled there and take a bath on the third day. My husband will be bled and take a bath with you. Make sure you tell him to keep you company. I shall have the bath heated and the two tubs brought in. The water in his bath will be so boiling hot that no mortal man could escape scalding or destruction, before he has settled down in it. When he has been scalded to death, summon your vassals and his. Show them how he suddenly died in the bath.'
She is not given a name, so I think of her as Lady Macbath.
March 6, 2017
There's so much that we don't know about the lais in this volume which we have from the Harley manuscript in the BL: we don't know exactly when they were composed (though sometime in the later 12th century), or in what order, who 'Marie de France' was, and who the king to whom she dedicated them (Henry II?) - we don't even know for sure that she was a woman (though, like other scholars, I'm fairly confident that she was from the content of her poems). What we have are these twelve short tales, originally written in Old French in rhyming couplets, here translated into English prose.
All of the stories are of love, but a specific historicised love whose codes are courtly and which revel in the suffering of lovers. Young wives with older, jealous husbands take handsome young knights as lovers; beautiful virginal girls get pregnant by their secret lovers, and adultery is venerated rather than condemned. Some of the most interesting stories feature gender inversions where women take up quests to win passive men (modelled on Cupid and Psyche?) and there are overt intertexts with Ovid's poems where the Remedia Amoris gets name-checked, and where Laustic intersects with Ovid's Philomela.
The prose translations are useful but do inevitably disrupt the relationship between form and content: three tales are included in their original Old French and feel different immediately, not least due to the driving rhyming scheme. All the same, this is a helpful introduction to the lais which circulated in both England and France and offer provocative comparisons with the Arthurian romances as well as Chaucer and later Renaissance women writers such as Marguerite de Navarre.
All of the stories are of love, but a specific historicised love whose codes are courtly and which revel in the suffering of lovers. Young wives with older, jealous husbands take handsome young knights as lovers; beautiful virginal girls get pregnant by their secret lovers, and adultery is venerated rather than condemned. Some of the most interesting stories feature gender inversions where women take up quests to win passive men (modelled on Cupid and Psyche?) and there are overt intertexts with Ovid's poems where the Remedia Amoris gets name-checked, and where Laustic intersects with Ovid's Philomela.
The prose translations are useful but do inevitably disrupt the relationship between form and content: three tales are included in their original Old French and feel different immediately, not least due to the driving rhyming scheme. All the same, this is a helpful introduction to the lais which circulated in both England and France and offer provocative comparisons with the Arthurian romances as well as Chaucer and later Renaissance women writers such as Marguerite de Navarre.
August 24, 2019
"Amor es llaga dentro del cuerpo que nunca asoma a superficie. Largo tiempo hace que este mal nos posee, pues Naturaleza nos lo ha legado. Muchos no lo toman en serio: esos groseros cortesanos que van por el mundo cortejando a las damas y jactándose de lo que hacen. No es eso Amor, sino locura, perversión y libertinaje. Quien encuentra un amor leal debe servirlo, amarlo y obedecer en todo sus órdenes."
Siempre he dicho que las mujeres con gran talento han sobresalido a lo largo de la historia, aunque de distintas formas, y este caso es muy ejemplar: María de Francia escribió estos Lais probablemente alrededor de 1165, en plena edad media cuando en el Perú ni siquiera existía el Imperio Inca. Producto de una fusión entre la europa del "amor cortés" y las leyendas celtas con sus personajes fantásticos de hadas, magos y encantos nacen estos lais que vienen a ser una especie de cuentos cortos en los cuales María de manera simple, elegante y aleccionadora nos transmite leyendas que ella ha oído o se ha enterado, que considera no deben quedar en el olvido y por tanto ella nos lo muestra.
El tema es unánime el amor, pero el amor cortés como mencioné, y realmente este libro es un gran ejemplo de toda una cultura y época en la europa medieval. Cuando los aristócratas, los caballeros, barones y un largo etcétera cortejaban a las doncellas de alcurnia de la época. Los lais en realidad a pesar de su gran fantasía nos pintan (y eso me encantó) de manera muy fiel los valores, costumbres y la forma de amar de aquella época. Desde luego la alcurnia era algo muy importante, la belleza externa ocupaba un primer lugar y la virginidad y pureza de las mujeres también. Claro debo decir son prácticamente cuentos de hadas pero en ellos lo principal es el amor.
Todos los lais nos hablan de historias de romance pero entrabadas siempre por situaciones peligrosas y hasta pecaminosas, los personajes sufren en su mayor parte por la persona deseada (por el "amigo" o "amiga" como los llama María), las doncellas envían a su paje para que su amado sepa que puede venir a ofrecerle su amor y ella se entregará sin condiciones, hay bastante infidelidad y en realidad parte de eso es el amor cortés, el amor que hacían los hombres con mujeres casi siempre casadas, que tenían marido, pero que podrían bien disfrutar de su amor tan sólo con entrevistas muy cortas o meses sin hablarse. De estos ejemplos está lleno esta obra.
Hay muchas peculiaridades que son propias del momento histórico pero que aún así me simpatizaron: las descripciones grandilocuentes siempre presentes (como "caballero más valiente no existió ni existirá nunca" o "era una hermosa doncella de la cual no existía hombre que no quería tenerla"), las promesas de amor y fidelidad, las maniobras para poder escapar siempre del marido o esposa, entre otras. También me gustó mucho conocer algunas tradiciones medievales propias de la época en la cual vivía la autora: El vasallaje, los torneos de caballeros, el homenaje, lo que se consideraba adecuado para un hombre en esa época; creo que todo esto te puede ilustrar de muchas cosas que los libros de historia a veces pasa por alto.
Cada lais es un cuento aparte y desde luego puede tomarse de forma lúdica y fantasiosa, algunos de mis favoritos fueron: "Eliduc", "Lanval" y "Fresno". Cada aventura vale la pena y hablar de cada una de ellas sería demasiado. Hay hombres lobo (una de las descripciones más antiguas), caballeros del rey Arturo, hadas que conducen a Avalon, traiciones, infidelidades y desde luego amor, amor de aquellos que los caballeros concebían como lo único importante en su vida.
Por último y no menos importante se oye muy bien decir: He leído los Lais de María de Francia, jeje.
Siempre he dicho que las mujeres con gran talento han sobresalido a lo largo de la historia, aunque de distintas formas, y este caso es muy ejemplar: María de Francia escribió estos Lais probablemente alrededor de 1165, en plena edad media cuando en el Perú ni siquiera existía el Imperio Inca. Producto de una fusión entre la europa del "amor cortés" y las leyendas celtas con sus personajes fantásticos de hadas, magos y encantos nacen estos lais que vienen a ser una especie de cuentos cortos en los cuales María de manera simple, elegante y aleccionadora nos transmite leyendas que ella ha oído o se ha enterado, que considera no deben quedar en el olvido y por tanto ella nos lo muestra.
El tema es unánime el amor, pero el amor cortés como mencioné, y realmente este libro es un gran ejemplo de toda una cultura y época en la europa medieval. Cuando los aristócratas, los caballeros, barones y un largo etcétera cortejaban a las doncellas de alcurnia de la época. Los lais en realidad a pesar de su gran fantasía nos pintan (y eso me encantó) de manera muy fiel los valores, costumbres y la forma de amar de aquella época. Desde luego la alcurnia era algo muy importante, la belleza externa ocupaba un primer lugar y la virginidad y pureza de las mujeres también. Claro debo decir son prácticamente cuentos de hadas pero en ellos lo principal es el amor.
Todos los lais nos hablan de historias de romance pero entrabadas siempre por situaciones peligrosas y hasta pecaminosas, los personajes sufren en su mayor parte por la persona deseada (por el "amigo" o "amiga" como los llama María), las doncellas envían a su paje para que su amado sepa que puede venir a ofrecerle su amor y ella se entregará sin condiciones, hay bastante infidelidad y en realidad parte de eso es el amor cortés, el amor que hacían los hombres con mujeres casi siempre casadas, que tenían marido, pero que podrían bien disfrutar de su amor tan sólo con entrevistas muy cortas o meses sin hablarse. De estos ejemplos está lleno esta obra.
Hay muchas peculiaridades que son propias del momento histórico pero que aún así me simpatizaron: las descripciones grandilocuentes siempre presentes (como "caballero más valiente no existió ni existirá nunca" o "era una hermosa doncella de la cual no existía hombre que no quería tenerla"), las promesas de amor y fidelidad, las maniobras para poder escapar siempre del marido o esposa, entre otras. También me gustó mucho conocer algunas tradiciones medievales propias de la época en la cual vivía la autora: El vasallaje, los torneos de caballeros, el homenaje, lo que se consideraba adecuado para un hombre en esa época; creo que todo esto te puede ilustrar de muchas cosas que los libros de historia a veces pasa por alto.
Cada lais es un cuento aparte y desde luego puede tomarse de forma lúdica y fantasiosa, algunos de mis favoritos fueron: "Eliduc", "Lanval" y "Fresno". Cada aventura vale la pena y hablar de cada una de ellas sería demasiado. Hay hombres lobo (una de las descripciones más antiguas), caballeros del rey Arturo, hadas que conducen a Avalon, traiciones, infidelidades y desde luego amor, amor de aquellos que los caballeros concebían como lo único importante en su vida.
Por último y no menos importante se oye muy bien decir: He leído los Lais de María de Francia, jeje.
January 3, 2009
I studied Guigemar and Bisclavret, and I ended up wanting to read the rest of Marie de France's lais. Bisclavret is one of my favourites, really, possibly due to reading William Burgwinkle's criticism of it and being amused to see it as a gay love story. Most of the lais are short and very easy to read, dwelling on knights and their lovers. I quite liked Lanval, as well, the Arthurian lai. Some of them have little morals in them, some of them are just sweet little stories (or sometimes rather bitter little stories, like Yonec, in which the lady's beloved dies!). I like the translation, even if it's put into prose instead of the original verse: it's easy to read and captures the air of storytelling.
May 4, 2022
Compilation of 15 “Lays” by Marie de France and two stories of mediaeval romance. Lays are short poems, narrative or lyrical pertaining to adventure, romance, and chivalry. While there are still debates on the dating and location of Marie, there is some general consensus that she was a English subject residing in Pitre, a town in the Duchy of Normandy. The date is of the work is placed somewhere between the second half of the twelfth century or thirteenth century.
Lay of Eliduc reminds me of Heloise and Abelard but with the melodrama turned down from 11 to 6.5
Lady of Avalon, Werewolf Knight, Tristan and Isolde was too short seems incomplete, mysterious adversarial knight jousting, Romeo/Juliet tragedy, and one Crusader and Saracen theme. There’s a lot of interesting material that one sees expanded in later literary works and why I found it as interesting as I did.
Skippable for all but the most interested readers.
Lay of Eliduc reminds me of Heloise and Abelard but with the melodrama turned down from 11 to 6.5
Lady of Avalon, Werewolf Knight, Tristan and Isolde was too short seems incomplete, mysterious adversarial knight jousting, Romeo/Juliet tragedy, and one Crusader and Saracen theme. There’s a lot of interesting material that one sees expanded in later literary works and why I found it as interesting as I did.
Skippable for all but the most interested readers.
March 24, 2023
Anyone who intends to present a new story must approach the problem in a new way and speak so persuasively that the tale brings pleasure to people.Marie de France heard, internalized, and recorded her own poetic narrative versions of stories of Breton minstrels. Being a member of the English court, Marie de France wrote the French of that court, a language transitioning into what we know as Norman French.
Marie chose to write lais that appealed particularly to women's sensibilities about love and romance. The lais were set to music to be played on a lute or other stringed instrument and were spoken/played in pairs. While there might be a variety of reasons to have two spoken/played together, I can see how a comparison of two lais might add meaning or enjoyment.
Here is my understanding of the significance of a couple of selections of paired lais.
Guigemar and Equitan.
Guigemar is a fairytale while Equitan is a moral tale. In this fairytale intention is spoken and comes true while in this moral tale intention is disrespected. The power of word must be used carefully and then heeded or the consequences may be great.
Lanval and Le Duex Amanz.
In both these stories the lady loves tell their knight to kept their love secret. The men reveal their love and their ladies to other A-Rod good reason. The ladies can chose to forgive and continue their romances or they can not forgive and end their romances.
These lais instruct men and women in how the new style of love and romance works and does not work. The intent seems to instruct while entertaining.
October 3, 2022
12 средновековни поеми доста ми харесаха ,хвърлят светлина върху литературата по онова време радостното е че са достигнати до наши дни .
June 2, 2018
I've finished the "Lays" and have the two stories that were not by Marie de France to read, but thought I would get some impressions down before I finish them.
The Lays were originally folk-songs which Marie heard from Breton minstrels, and she frequently praises the music to which they were set, which is obviously lost to us. Her source material is therefore similar to that of the more well-known Chrétien de Troyes,and many of his themes of courtly love and questing are dealt with here, although in a less literary style. This is actually quite charming: there is a sweet naïveté about the Lays that would be lost under a more polished hand.
Set mainly in northern France, but with forays into the England and Wales of King Arthur, there are a lot of folklore motifs: the fair maiden sequestered in a tower, to be freed by her gallant lover; mistaken identities; the fairy lady whose love will be lost if she is spoken of; noble children abandoned at birth, fostered by peasants, who inevitably return to claim their inheritance, and so on. There are also Arthurian motifs: the Ship of Solomon; the knight wounded in the "thigh"; swords of destiny; beautiful fairy ladies visiting the court. Much that is familiar now to us later readers, but this is one of the earliest tellings that has come down to us.
I particularly enjoyed The Lay of the Were-Wolf, which if it did not influence later French tradition, is certainly representative of that country's fascination with this fearful monster. Interesting, then, that the werewolf is a rather sympathetic and noble character.
Adultery is probably the most common theme in the Lays and, while Eugene Mason's introduction gave some background as to why this should be so, I still found the attitudes rather confusing. Some of the cuckolded husbands were nasty pieces of work who might possibly be getting their comeuppence, but mainly they did not seem deserving of the contempt heaped upon them. At the same time the lovers would keep their affairs secret to avoid the shame that would be their lot if discovered, so there was clearly some sense of wrongdoing for the original audience. I think there's some cultural divide that I haven't bridged.
Overall, enjoyable little vignettes of early medieval courtly life.
The Lays were originally folk-songs which Marie heard from Breton minstrels, and she frequently praises the music to which they were set, which is obviously lost to us. Her source material is therefore similar to that of the more well-known Chrétien de Troyes,and many of his themes of courtly love and questing are dealt with here, although in a less literary style. This is actually quite charming: there is a sweet naïveté about the Lays that would be lost under a more polished hand.
Set mainly in northern France, but with forays into the England and Wales of King Arthur, there are a lot of folklore motifs: the fair maiden sequestered in a tower, to be freed by her gallant lover; mistaken identities; the fairy lady whose love will be lost if she is spoken of; noble children abandoned at birth, fostered by peasants, who inevitably return to claim their inheritance, and so on. There are also Arthurian motifs: the Ship of Solomon; the knight wounded in the "thigh"; swords of destiny; beautiful fairy ladies visiting the court. Much that is familiar now to us later readers, but this is one of the earliest tellings that has come down to us.
I particularly enjoyed The Lay of the Were-Wolf, which if it did not influence later French tradition, is certainly representative of that country's fascination with this fearful monster. Interesting, then, that the werewolf is a rather sympathetic and noble character.
Adultery is probably the most common theme in the Lays and, while Eugene Mason's introduction gave some background as to why this should be so, I still found the attitudes rather confusing. Some of the cuckolded husbands were nasty pieces of work who might possibly be getting their comeuppence, but mainly they did not seem deserving of the contempt heaped upon them. At the same time the lovers would keep their affairs secret to avoid the shame that would be their lot if discovered, so there was clearly some sense of wrongdoing for the original audience. I think there's some cultural divide that I haven't bridged.
Overall, enjoyable little vignettes of early medieval courtly life.
Read
July 9, 2025There's a honeysuckle in my garden.
It twines itself around everything in sight.
I think I'll name it Tristan
Et voilà: j'en ai fait un lai!
When I have time, I'll maybe pen a lai
For each of the twelve story-poems
That Marie de France transcribed
From songs she'd heard back in the 1100s
It twines itself around everything in sight.
I think I'll name it Tristan
Et voilà: j'en ai fait un lai!
When I have time, I'll maybe pen a lai
For each of the twelve story-poems
That Marie de France transcribed
From songs she'd heard back in the 1100s
January 18, 2021
Soooo... Is adultery good or bad?
I mean, on the surface the answer is bad, you faithless arsehole, though one or two stories give some wriggle room, such as the horrific marriage in the The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover, in which case the wedded relationship is so monstrously vicious and toxic you'd be weird if you didn't cheer for the adulterers. But in the various 'knights in love' tales of Marie de France, where the stories are varnished in old time religion and 'thou shalt not commit adultery', the swings and hypocrisy on such a question hurt my bloody neck.
We're asked to applaud or villify people for the same situations:
A son kills his mother's husband so his Dad can marry her: happy ending for the lovers.
Two lovers plan to murder the woman's husband so they can be together, but God sees fit to have the husband die conveniently: good ending for the lovers.
But:
A couple plan to murder a husband via a boiling bath, but when the husband enters early, the lover boils his own head out of shame (what?) and the wife is killed: bad ending for the lovers.
A woman finds out her husband is a werewolf and, not terribly surprisingly, gets rid of him so she can marry someone who isn't likely to eat her or drag his arse along the good carpet: wife and her lover suffer a bad ending.
What the hell is the difference, exactly? Clearly I'm missing something, but what still alludes me. It's not that the lovers happen to be morally justified or that their love is 'too powerful', as even the most devoted couple can face terrible endings and even the most rampantly shitty people are saved by the cure all that is the divine power of 'courtly love'. One example of the latter which stood out for me, has the married male lover never tell his mistress he's already wed and murders his squire for letting the cat out of the bag. This bellend gets a happy ending, with his wife joining a convent out of choice so the lovers can be together, and her willingness to do this is based on how clearly distressed and 'devoted' her hubby is to his mistress (you made wedding vows, pal), the fact the girl didn't know he was married and died on the spot when she found out (she got better) and the fact the wife also found her rival ever so terribly sexy. It's a weird mess.
Despite the fact it's not quite clear who's the villain or the star crossed lover till they suffer some terrible punishment, the stories also include tragedies, daring adventures and horrible crimes. Some stories are beautifully poignant, while some are bloody stupid, not least of which
I might sound like I'm taking the utter piss out of the these stories, and you would be 100% accurate, but I quite liked the Lays. It was amusing interpreting the amount of euphemism ('thigh' for 'dick' and how lovers were always called 'friends') and there's plenty of imagination, fantasy and some quite heartening examples of pushing against the morals of the time. The stories can be a little frustrating, sure, but I can see how these silly tales enthralled many a bored Lord or Lady on a cold winter's night in the manor, and while there is more beautiful (and sensible) stories from the Middle Season, there's plenty for the modern reader to appreciate here.
I mean, on the surface the answer is bad, you faithless arsehole, though one or two stories give some wriggle room, such as the horrific marriage in the The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover, in which case the wedded relationship is so monstrously vicious and toxic you'd be weird if you didn't cheer for the adulterers. But in the various 'knights in love' tales of Marie de France, where the stories are varnished in old time religion and 'thou shalt not commit adultery', the swings and hypocrisy on such a question hurt my bloody neck.
We're asked to applaud or villify people for the same situations:
A son kills his mother's husband so his Dad can marry her: happy ending for the lovers.
Two lovers plan to murder the woman's husband so they can be together, but God sees fit to have the husband die conveniently: good ending for the lovers.
But:
A couple plan to murder a husband via a boiling bath, but when the husband enters early, the lover boils his own head out of shame (what?) and the wife is killed: bad ending for the lovers.
A woman finds out her husband is a werewolf and, not terribly surprisingly, gets rid of him so she can marry someone who isn't likely to eat her or drag his arse along the good carpet: wife and her lover suffer a bad ending.
What the hell is the difference, exactly? Clearly I'm missing something, but what still alludes me. It's not that the lovers happen to be morally justified or that their love is 'too powerful', as even the most devoted couple can face terrible endings and even the most rampantly shitty people are saved by the cure all that is the divine power of 'courtly love'. One example of the latter which stood out for me, has the married male lover never tell his mistress he's already wed and murders his squire for letting the cat out of the bag. This bellend gets a happy ending, with his wife joining a convent out of choice so the lovers can be together, and her willingness to do this is based on how clearly distressed and 'devoted' her hubby is to his mistress (you made wedding vows, pal), the fact the girl didn't know he was married and died on the spot when she found out (she got better) and the fact the wife also found her rival ever so terribly sexy. It's a weird mess.
Despite the fact it's not quite clear who's the villain or the star crossed lover till they suffer some terrible punishment, the stories also include tragedies, daring adventures and horrible crimes. Some stories are beautifully poignant, while some are bloody stupid, not least of which
I might sound like I'm taking the utter piss out of the these stories, and you would be 100% accurate, but I quite liked the Lays. It was amusing interpreting the amount of euphemism ('thigh' for 'dick' and how lovers were always called 'friends') and there's plenty of imagination, fantasy and some quite heartening examples of pushing against the morals of the time. The stories can be a little frustrating, sure, but I can see how these silly tales enthralled many a bored Lord or Lady on a cold winter's night in the manor, and while there is more beautiful (and sensible) stories from the Middle Season, there's plenty for the modern reader to appreciate here.
April 6, 2022
Medieval love tales from French Brittany translated from Old French verse to English prose. I requested this from the library after reading about [Matrix] by Laura Goff here in Club Read and on Litsy. I think someone said forget the novel, read the Lais and that stuck. Anyway, it's a tiny book. There are twelve Lais, found amongst four manuscripts. They were possibly written for Henry II of England around 1170. Lengths vary, but they average about 10 pages each (ok, 7.167 pages). These are all love stories with knights and damsels and tragedy. Fun stuff. They come with a prologue and each story has its own tiny prologue, in first person. Most of them say something like, "I relay to you the Lais of so-and-so, as told, of old, by the Bretons." The first opens, "Whoever has good material for a story is grieved if the tale is not well told." Another opens discussing how one should go about presenting a new story.
This is charming fun stuff. Easy reading in this Penguin edition.
-----------------------------------------------
14. The Lais of Marie de France
translation: from Old French by Glyn S. Burgess & Keith Busby, 1986
composed: circa 1170, maybe for Henry II of England
format: 134-page paperback (2003 edition)
acquired: library book read: Mar 28 – Apr 2 time reading: 6:10, 2.8 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: medieval literature, theme random
locations: Brittany, Devon and Wales
about the author: unknown, but the lais themselves say Marie.
This is charming fun stuff. Easy reading in this Penguin edition.
-----------------------------------------------
14. The Lais of Marie de France
translation: from Old French by Glyn S. Burgess & Keith Busby, 1986
composed: circa 1170, maybe for Henry II of England
format: 134-page paperback (2003 edition)
acquired: library book read: Mar 28 – Apr 2 time reading: 6:10, 2.8 mpp
rating: 4
genre/style: medieval literature, theme random
locations: Brittany, Devon and Wales
about the author: unknown, but the lais themselves say Marie.
January 12, 2021
Originally read as assigned in undergrad, but upon re-reading realized that the Lais are much subtler than I had allotted time to appreciate. Good stories of courtly romance and observations about love - as experienced, pursued, and idealized by that particularly chivalric wedge of medieval society.
February 26, 2015
Marie de France is my homegirl forever.
February 27, 2023
There were a few notable Maries from France during the twelfth century. Some were poets, some were nobility, some were known for their music, and there is a lot of educated speculation on who, exactly, Marie de France was. Or if she was the author of all of these lays. Was she one of the known Maries? Was she a Marie for whom we have no record? We don’t know anything about the author of these writings except for what she gives us at the beginning of the collection, referring to herself as Marie, promising to relate these tales to us as she learned them. We also know she was French-Norman, probably lived in Britain or Brittany, and was familiar with Breton culture.
These lays are presented as Marie’s Norman versions of Bretonic lays. In their original forms, they were sung to the accompaniment of a harp or a rote. All are adventure stories revolving around love between knights and ladies, complicated by infidelity, monstrous evil, war, jealousy, or rage. They were intended for a courtly audience of nobles. They’re imaginative, fun, and simple, the sort of stories large audiences consume for entertainment. Although simple in form, there’s quality and substance to all of them, a sense of adventure and depictions of the Anglo-Norman world of the Middle Ages. Each embodies a distinct set of characteristics that set them apart from one another.
Marie’s characters are not deep representations of human complexity, like the fashions of contemporary literature. They are familiar, exemplars of the virtues such a medieval audience valued: loyalty, courage, quick to fall in love, driven by passion and fury, eager to right wrongs; or the sort of vices the audience would despise: jealousy, control, maniacal hatred, or treachery. Plots are direct and to the point, though with enough tangents into the worldly details of the medieval lands of the Normans, Flemish, French, and Bretons to convey an authenticity to the well-traveled nobles of the court.
Some of these lays are tales we’ve heard before, like Chevrefoil, a very short version of the Tristan and Isolde legend, trimmed down to a couple pages. Others, tales of the supernatural, like the knight Bisclavret who prowls the night as a werewolf, whose secret is leaked by his wife to her lover. His cursed existence as a werewolf does not turn out to be exactly the plight we would imagine, as he is taken in by a king, and eventually granted the chance for revenge against the two who betrayed him.
This animalistic shape shifting also appears in the lay Yonec, about a hawk that flies into an imprisoned maiden’s chamber and transforms into a knight. Her wrathful husband’s jealousy drives him to a murderous plot that will be avenged by the knight’s son. Other visits to and from the supernatural appear, like in the lay of Guigemar, which sees a wounded knight carried off to a distant, mysterious land by an immaculately decorated ship, where he falls in love with the wife of a mad lord. Guigemar’s wound cannot heal without the love of a faithful woman, because he is cursed by an animal who speaks to him shortly after he has mortally wounded it in a hunt. I’m reminded of Japanese folklore where similar things often happen — an animal is hurt or mistreated, and it speaks to its human abuser, cursing it or setting it upon some grave adventure as atonement for its crime.
Another lay, Milun, about a knight who impregnates a lady who is forced to give up her son to her sister in Northumbria, exhibits a motif I have seen before in medieval folklore, of a warrior father who unknowingly meets his son in battle. This happens in the Middle High German epic Hildebranslied and the later Junger Hildebrandslied. We also see this in the Irish myth of Cu Chulain, who unknowingly fights his son after his son has been raised to despise the father he’s never met. In Milun, the story has a happy ending, and the battle is merely a joust, with the father proudly embracing and kissing his son who has so heroically unhorsed him.
The lay of Lanval is the only Arthurian story here besides the Tristan tale. The knight Lanval, of Arthur’s court, meets and falls in love with a magical queen who is visible only to him. Their love must be kept a secret. He is later approached by Arthur’s wife Guinevere, who makes advances on him and is refused, leading her to angrily accuse him of her own crime and of dishonoring her. Lanval must defend himself against such accusations, and in doing so almost ruins his amorous affair with the mysterious queen.
There are a handful of standout lays here, and all are good. A few are too short to be impressive, but they all have a subtle, folkloric charm. Though most have happy endings, or grim endings heralding justice, like Equitan, there are a few, like Les Deus Amanz or Chaitivel, that embrace tragedy and reveal a surprising depth of emotion, ornamented in medieval interpretation. Most of these lays represent early forms of stories and themes that would be reused over the next centuries by writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare to the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, as well as many writers of folklore and fantasy.
The longer lays tend to be more captivating, with more creatively put together drama, a more dynamic kind of story development, and better insight into medieval ideas. Although these lays have been translated into prose, one gets a sense of the traditions and style that dominated the work almost 900 years ago. The economic composition would have served the court musician well, and probably made it easier for audiences to remember and appreciate the stories. Despite all the lays having a common theme, this is only a high level similarity that provides a big enough landscape of variations and unique ideas to allow a great diversity of amusing, delightful, sometimes exciting stories.
These lays are presented as Marie’s Norman versions of Bretonic lays. In their original forms, they were sung to the accompaniment of a harp or a rote. All are adventure stories revolving around love between knights and ladies, complicated by infidelity, monstrous evil, war, jealousy, or rage. They were intended for a courtly audience of nobles. They’re imaginative, fun, and simple, the sort of stories large audiences consume for entertainment. Although simple in form, there’s quality and substance to all of them, a sense of adventure and depictions of the Anglo-Norman world of the Middle Ages. Each embodies a distinct set of characteristics that set them apart from one another.
Marie’s characters are not deep representations of human complexity, like the fashions of contemporary literature. They are familiar, exemplars of the virtues such a medieval audience valued: loyalty, courage, quick to fall in love, driven by passion and fury, eager to right wrongs; or the sort of vices the audience would despise: jealousy, control, maniacal hatred, or treachery. Plots are direct and to the point, though with enough tangents into the worldly details of the medieval lands of the Normans, Flemish, French, and Bretons to convey an authenticity to the well-traveled nobles of the court.
Some of these lays are tales we’ve heard before, like Chevrefoil, a very short version of the Tristan and Isolde legend, trimmed down to a couple pages. Others, tales of the supernatural, like the knight Bisclavret who prowls the night as a werewolf, whose secret is leaked by his wife to her lover. His cursed existence as a werewolf does not turn out to be exactly the plight we would imagine, as he is taken in by a king, and eventually granted the chance for revenge against the two who betrayed him.
This animalistic shape shifting also appears in the lay Yonec, about a hawk that flies into an imprisoned maiden’s chamber and transforms into a knight. Her wrathful husband’s jealousy drives him to a murderous plot that will be avenged by the knight’s son. Other visits to and from the supernatural appear, like in the lay of Guigemar, which sees a wounded knight carried off to a distant, mysterious land by an immaculately decorated ship, where he falls in love with the wife of a mad lord. Guigemar’s wound cannot heal without the love of a faithful woman, because he is cursed by an animal who speaks to him shortly after he has mortally wounded it in a hunt. I’m reminded of Japanese folklore where similar things often happen — an animal is hurt or mistreated, and it speaks to its human abuser, cursing it or setting it upon some grave adventure as atonement for its crime.
Another lay, Milun, about a knight who impregnates a lady who is forced to give up her son to her sister in Northumbria, exhibits a motif I have seen before in medieval folklore, of a warrior father who unknowingly meets his son in battle. This happens in the Middle High German epic Hildebranslied and the later Junger Hildebrandslied. We also see this in the Irish myth of Cu Chulain, who unknowingly fights his son after his son has been raised to despise the father he’s never met. In Milun, the story has a happy ending, and the battle is merely a joust, with the father proudly embracing and kissing his son who has so heroically unhorsed him.
The lay of Lanval is the only Arthurian story here besides the Tristan tale. The knight Lanval, of Arthur’s court, meets and falls in love with a magical queen who is visible only to him. Their love must be kept a secret. He is later approached by Arthur’s wife Guinevere, who makes advances on him and is refused, leading her to angrily accuse him of her own crime and of dishonoring her. Lanval must defend himself against such accusations, and in doing so almost ruins his amorous affair with the mysterious queen.
There are a handful of standout lays here, and all are good. A few are too short to be impressive, but they all have a subtle, folkloric charm. Though most have happy endings, or grim endings heralding justice, like Equitan, there are a few, like Les Deus Amanz or Chaitivel, that embrace tragedy and reveal a surprising depth of emotion, ornamented in medieval interpretation. Most of these lays represent early forms of stories and themes that would be reused over the next centuries by writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare to the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, as well as many writers of folklore and fantasy.
The longer lays tend to be more captivating, with more creatively put together drama, a more dynamic kind of story development, and better insight into medieval ideas. Although these lays have been translated into prose, one gets a sense of the traditions and style that dominated the work almost 900 years ago. The economic composition would have served the court musician well, and probably made it easier for audiences to remember and appreciate the stories. Despite all the lays having a common theme, this is only a high level similarity that provides a big enough landscape of variations and unique ideas to allow a great diversity of amusing, delightful, sometimes exciting stories.
Read
September 22, 2021Beaucoup aimé ce recueil de lais, des fables médiévales bretonnes faciles à lire, parfois très belles, qui plongent dans le patrimoine et l'imaginaire d'une région que j'affectionne tout particulièrement.
September 25, 2022
I absolutely love these Medieval soap operas indeed, complete with fair ladies in golden locked girdles, damsels in distress, knights dueling knights, disrobed dames for beauty competitions, the fae, love, lies, betrayal, revenge, plot and treason.
I honestly hated the story of Eliduc because he is a cheating bastard, the princess is no better, and his wife a saint that took up the veil as a sacrifice to him. I don't know what the point of the Arthurian story of Lanval was at all other than to shame Guinevere. Of course, my favorite story is Le Frêne because it's about a twins. And God help me I love Châtelaine de Vergy in all it's travesty which resembles Tristan and Isolde/Romeo and Juliet. I highly recommend these lais to everyone and there are many Arthurian stories to be read in this collection of late 12th century medieval tales.
October 6, 2020
Top tier: Bisclavret (the werewolf), Eliduc (one with the weasel), Yonec (bird).
Middle tier: Guigemar (unhealing wound, knots), Equitan (boiling water), La Fresne (ash/hazel tree, separated at birth), Les Deux Amants (mountain, strength potion).
Bottom tier: Lanval, Chevrefoil, Chaitivel (four knights), Milun (swan), Laüstic.
The stories are great but the rhyming scheme makes me wish I'd read the Project Gutenberg prose translation instead.
Middle tier: Guigemar (unhealing wound, knots), Equitan (boiling water), La Fresne (ash/hazel tree, separated at birth), Les Deux Amants (mountain, strength potion).
Bottom tier: Lanval, Chevrefoil, Chaitivel (four knights), Milun (swan), Laüstic.
The stories are great but the rhyming scheme makes me wish I'd read the Project Gutenberg prose translation instead.
May 10, 2019
FR/EN
Je m'attendais à détester ; j'ai finalement beaucoup apprécié ces petites histoires ! Cela m'a permis de réviser mon ancien français tout en me divertissant !
I thought I would hate this book; I finally enjoyed these little stories! Thanks to it, I revised my old French!
Je m'attendais à détester ; j'ai finalement beaucoup apprécié ces petites histoires ! Cela m'a permis de réviser mon ancien français tout en me divertissant !
I thought I would hate this book; I finally enjoyed these little stories! Thanks to it, I revised my old French!
July 24, 2020
My favorite lais are "Yonec", "Equitan", and "Bisclavret" in that order. "Le Pauvre Malheureux" needs an ending. It could make for some decent fan fiction or retelling.
November 18, 2021
I wish I had artistic talent so I could do some fanart for these stories. This was AMAZING. I've read some of Marie de France's stories before, but that was back when I was a teen, and it was great to finally sit down and read them again! And I discovered some new ones!
Guigemar
So, we're all in agreement that Guigemar is demiromantic, right? Anyway this story was very cute and I like how the heroine just leaves her trash husband! Also, it will never fail to amuse me how people think that medieval people were super prudish and when you actually read medieval stories it's just premarital sex and glorified adultery as far as the eye can see.
Equitan
Wow, this got violent. I like the heroine's discussion on how love can't exist without equality! She's a terrible person, but that conversation felt surprisingly realistic for this genre. I feel like I appreciate this story more now that I'm older.
Le Fresne
Ahhhh I've loved this one since I was a teen! I think this just might be my favorite by this author, but of course the werewolf one is also great. I have to say, the rumor the heroine's mom starts about some other mom that she knows (something something it's impossible to have twins unless the mom had sex with two different men???) sounds like a clickbait article you find on Facebook.
Bisclavret
GAY WEREWOLVES FOR THE WIN
Lanval
Okay, so Marie de France's Guinevere opinions are invalid, but literally everything else about this rules. Lanval's fey girlfriend is amazing and I have nonbinary headcanons for no reason at all except that I like her. Also, has anyone ever written a retelling of this? I've never found one before, but I'd be willing to read one!
Les Deus Amanz
Probably about 30% of dead mythological heroes would still be alive if they had just taken the good advice from the women in their lives. Anyway, the hero of this story is an idiot and I'm not sorry that he's dead. The heroine had a rough time of it and didn't deserve any of that, though.
Yonec
How come when this lady prays for a boyfriend she gets a shapeshifting hawk fey boyfriend but when I pray for a romantic partner, I get nothing? Is the quality of my prayer not as good or something? Life is so unfair.
Anyway, this was great and I need a retelling of this that gives the couple a happy ending!
Laüstic
I feel like this particular one suffers somewhat for being translated as prose instead of poetry, but I still liked it. I wish I could read these in the original French. Maybe one day I will finally sit down and learn how to read Old French.
Milun
Not sure about the swan abuse, but this was VERY cute otherwise. (Also this reminds me, I need to feed my geese.) I very much love how the son hears about his mom and dad's problems--mom is married to another guy--and decides that offering to kill his mom's husband is the reasonable thing to do in this situation. Oh my God. Luckily, the husband dies anyway, so no one has to commit murder!
Chaitivel
The more medieval stories I read, the more I am convinced that knights are feral. I think I could shine a flashlight at them and their eyes would glow like a deer's.
Chevrefoil
Again, I really wish I could read Old French so I could read this as a poem. This didn't have much of a story to it and I just wish I could read it in the original language.
Eliduc
Uh, wow, the husband is the worst man alive and his wife is a saint. Both the women in this story deserve SO much better, but I do like how the women support each other and aren't mortal enemies just because they love the same (trash) guy! Because women hating each other over a trash guy is my least favorite trope.
Anyway, this book was AMAZING and Marie de France rules. Everyone should read this.
Guigemar
So, we're all in agreement that Guigemar is demiromantic, right? Anyway this story was very cute and I like how the heroine just leaves her trash husband! Also, it will never fail to amuse me how people think that medieval people were super prudish and when you actually read medieval stories it's just premarital sex and glorified adultery as far as the eye can see.
Equitan
Wow, this got violent. I like the heroine's discussion on how love can't exist without equality! She's a terrible person, but that conversation felt surprisingly realistic for this genre. I feel like I appreciate this story more now that I'm older.
Le Fresne
Ahhhh I've loved this one since I was a teen! I think this just might be my favorite by this author, but of course the werewolf one is also great. I have to say, the rumor the heroine's mom starts about some other mom that she knows (something something it's impossible to have twins unless the mom had sex with two different men???) sounds like a clickbait article you find on Facebook.
Bisclavret
GAY WEREWOLVES FOR THE WIN
Lanval
Okay, so Marie de France's Guinevere opinions are invalid, but literally everything else about this rules. Lanval's fey girlfriend is amazing and I have nonbinary headcanons for no reason at all except that I like her. Also, has anyone ever written a retelling of this? I've never found one before, but I'd be willing to read one!
Les Deus Amanz
Probably about 30% of dead mythological heroes would still be alive if they had just taken the good advice from the women in their lives. Anyway, the hero of this story is an idiot and I'm not sorry that he's dead. The heroine had a rough time of it and didn't deserve any of that, though.
Yonec
How come when this lady prays for a boyfriend she gets a shapeshifting hawk fey boyfriend but when I pray for a romantic partner, I get nothing? Is the quality of my prayer not as good or something? Life is so unfair.
Anyway, this was great and I need a retelling of this that gives the couple a happy ending!
Laüstic
I feel like this particular one suffers somewhat for being translated as prose instead of poetry, but I still liked it. I wish I could read these in the original French. Maybe one day I will finally sit down and learn how to read Old French.
Milun
Not sure about the swan abuse, but this was VERY cute otherwise. (Also this reminds me, I need to feed my geese.) I very much love how the son hears about his mom and dad's problems--mom is married to another guy--and decides that offering to kill his mom's husband is the reasonable thing to do in this situation. Oh my God. Luckily, the husband dies anyway, so no one has to commit murder!
Chaitivel
It would be less dangerous for a man to court every lady in an entire land than for a lady to remove a single besotted lover from her skirts, for he will immediately attempt to strike back.
The more medieval stories I read, the more I am convinced that knights are feral. I think I could shine a flashlight at them and their eyes would glow like a deer's.
Chevrefoil
Again, I really wish I could read Old French so I could read this as a poem. This didn't have much of a story to it and I just wish I could read it in the original language.
Eliduc
Uh, wow, the husband is the worst man alive and his wife is a saint. Both the women in this story deserve SO much better, but I do like how the women support each other and aren't mortal enemies just because they love the same (trash) guy! Because women hating each other over a trash guy is my least favorite trope.
Anyway, this book was AMAZING and Marie de France rules. Everyone should read this.
April 12, 2023
Had been meaning to read this ever since stumbling on Bisclavret and loving it. (I mean: Werewolf story written in the 12th century that gives the werewolf a happy ending? Yes, please!). So I was delighted to accidentally stumble on this just sitting on a family bookshelf!
These fairy-tale-like stories are not all romances in the modern sense - but a majority do explore romantic love from a variety of angles and a morally nuanced perspective. For instance, while 'Equitan' condemns the king who betrays a trusted and hardworking senescal (who's pretty much running the kingdom for him) by sleeping with his wife, in 'Guigemar' the reader is clearly meant to cheer for the wife who is kept locked up and ignored by her jealous old husband to find happiness with the young knight who washes up on their shore. Which she does!
One thing I wasn't expecting was for Marie to gently satirize her own genre of poetry - but she does, TWICE. In 'Les Deus Amanz' (the two lovers), we have the trope of the king who sets an impossible task for his daughter's suitors...but the task is just to carry her up a mountain! She decides not to elope with the hero - which would obviously have solved the problem - but sends him to, not a witch, but a lady doctor in Salerno (yes, like in Mistress of the Art of Death) to be made stronger, while she goes on a crash diet to try and get lighter. But then of course he gets cocky and doesn't take the medicine, and their demise is just too goofy to be taken seriously. In 'Chaitivel' (the unfortunate one), Marie turns the trope of the poet supposedly praising his lady but actually making it all about himself on its head by making the tale about a lady with four admirers who cares more about the the flattery of being loved than about any of the men in question. When three die and one is wounded (probably castrated) through taking stupid risks in a tourney to impress her, her main concern is in how best to write a tragic ballad about it!
'Lanval' is the only story I've ever seen that contains the "magical being says 'I'll love you and give you all this good stuff but you can't tell anyone about me'" trope and still manages to have a happy ending - so that's fun! In 'Eliduc' I mostly felt bad for the weasels - actually a properly devoted couple! - and wanted to give the titular husband a thorough beat-down. Though I did like that nobody had to die to resolve the plot. Finally, I was quite surprised to realize that the story in Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban Women where the rich lady with a broken leg dreams that a bird knight comes to visit her was probably inspired by 'Yonec'. (Nothing bad happens to the bird in the Cuban version...but enough of the vibes were retained that I worried it would!).
This edition does not try to maintain the poetic character of the stories, but they are still pretty read-able. And I appreciated the extensive notes on each story that help put them in context!
These fairy-tale-like stories are not all romances in the modern sense - but a majority do explore romantic love from a variety of angles and a morally nuanced perspective. For instance, while 'Equitan' condemns the king who betrays a trusted and hardworking senescal (who's pretty much running the kingdom for him) by sleeping with his wife, in 'Guigemar' the reader is clearly meant to cheer for the wife who is kept locked up and ignored by her jealous old husband to find happiness with the young knight who washes up on their shore. Which she does!
One thing I wasn't expecting was for Marie to gently satirize her own genre of poetry - but she does, TWICE. In 'Les Deus Amanz' (the two lovers), we have the trope of the king who sets an impossible task for his daughter's suitors...but the task is just to carry her up a mountain! She decides not to elope with the hero - which would obviously have solved the problem - but sends him to, not a witch, but a lady doctor in Salerno (yes, like in Mistress of the Art of Death) to be made stronger, while she goes on a crash diet to try and get lighter. But then of course he gets cocky and doesn't take the medicine, and their demise is just too goofy to be taken seriously. In 'Chaitivel' (the unfortunate one), Marie turns the trope of the poet supposedly praising his lady but actually making it all about himself on its head by making the tale about a lady with four admirers who cares more about the the flattery of being loved than about any of the men in question. When three die and one is wounded (probably castrated) through taking stupid risks in a tourney to impress her, her main concern is in how best to write a tragic ballad about it!
'Lanval' is the only story I've ever seen that contains the "magical being says 'I'll love you and give you all this good stuff but you can't tell anyone about me'" trope and still manages to have a happy ending - so that's fun! In 'Eliduc' I mostly felt bad for the weasels - actually a properly devoted couple! - and wanted to give the titular husband a thorough beat-down. Though I did like that nobody had to die to resolve the plot. Finally, I was quite surprised to realize that the story in Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban Women where the rich lady with a broken leg dreams that a bird knight comes to visit her was probably inspired by 'Yonec'. (Nothing bad happens to the bird in the Cuban version...but enough of the vibes were retained that I worried it would!).
This edition does not try to maintain the poetic character of the stories, but they are still pretty read-able. And I appreciated the extensive notes on each story that help put them in context!
February 25, 2023
5 stars for a set of stories written by a woman in 1160.
February 19, 2022
Mais pourquoi je n’avais jamais entendu parler de Marie de France avant ? C’est d’autant plus grave que je suis bretonne ! Je me sens trahie, flouée. Il m’a fallu attendre presque vingt-neuf ans pour apprendre qu’il existe une poétesse médiévale dont les œuvres sont passées à la postérité… Je fronce très fort les sourcils sur mes programmes d’histoire et de français.
Je m’attendais à détester et m’ennuyer, mais en fait, pas du tout. Je suis même très étonnée d’une certaine modernité dans le propos. La version bilingue vieux français-français moderne est très déstabilisante et intéressante à lire. Les histoires, quant à elle, m’ont beaucoup surprise. Même si on garde une vision de la femme et de l’homme un peu… rétrograde (c’était il y a un millénaire, cela dit, et vu ce qu’on nous a raconté sur le Moyen-Âge, je pardonne aisément ces petits désagréments), il y a des twists que je n’attendais pas de textes datant du XIIème siècle.
C’était aussi très drôle d’y lire le nom de quelques villes bretonnes, et de reconnaître les allusions à la légende arthurienne. Je découvre avec bonheur la chevalerie courtoise, et je crois que certains mecs du XXIème siècle feraient bien de s’en inspirer (genre ce qui concerne le consentement, à tout hasard).
Bref, une très bonne surprise. J’avais vraiment peur de galérer alors que ça se dévore tout seul (et bien mieux que les Contes de Canterbury de Chaucer…), et je suis contente de m’être lancée.
Je m’attendais à détester et m’ennuyer, mais en fait, pas du tout. Je suis même très étonnée d’une certaine modernité dans le propos. La version bilingue vieux français-français moderne est très déstabilisante et intéressante à lire. Les histoires, quant à elle, m’ont beaucoup surprise. Même si on garde une vision de la femme et de l’homme un peu… rétrograde (c’était il y a un millénaire, cela dit, et vu ce qu’on nous a raconté sur le Moyen-Âge, je pardonne aisément ces petits désagréments), il y a des twists que je n’attendais pas de textes datant du XIIème siècle.
C’était aussi très drôle d’y lire le nom de quelques villes bretonnes, et de reconnaître les allusions à la légende arthurienne. Je découvre avec bonheur la chevalerie courtoise, et je crois que certains mecs du XXIème siècle feraient bien de s’en inspirer (genre ce qui concerne le consentement, à tout hasard).
Bref, une très bonne surprise. J’avais vraiment peur de galérer alors que ça se dévore tout seul (et bien mieux que les Contes de Canterbury de Chaucer…), et je suis contente de m’être lancée.
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November 23, 2023un libro para todas las generaciones de mujeres y de gays
September 7, 2017
I wanna do a translation of Bisclaveret. If anyone wants to help me, here is what I've got so far.
While engaged in making lais,
I would not want to forget Bisclavret.
Bisclavret in Brittany was born
Called Garulf by the Norms.
Erstwhile, people told the tale
And often you would hear occur,
That many men werewolves became
And set up households in the wood.
A werewolf is a savage beast;
Because at least when fully stirred,
He eats up men and does great bad,
Travelling and living in that wood.
But it must be left there, that affair.
It’s of Bisclavret I wish to tell.
In Brittany there lived a sir,
Miracles of him, I’ve heard.
A good knight who was in good stead,
And a bearing that was well bred.
By his lord he was prized,
And by all his neighbors approved
His wife was a spouse most valiant,
And who very much seemed to do good.
He loved her and she him,
But for one thing greatly annoying:
That in the week he was lost
For three whole days that that she knew not
What became of him, or him befell,
And none of his folk could tell.
One time he came back
To his house, happy and carefree;
Ask him did she inquisitively,
“Sir,” went she, “dear friend, sweet,”
I ask of you something
With great desire, if I do dare;
But I so fear your wrath,
That nothing else give me such a scare.
Bisclavret embraced her hearing this
Pulled her near and gave her a kiss.
“Dame,” went he, “now ask!
Such thing as you query me,
If I know, I’ll tell it to thee.”
“By faith,” went she, “then you cure me!”
Sire, I have such a fright
The days when you leave me
When there is in me much great sorrow
And of losing you such great fear,
If I don’t get some relief quick,
I may very soon die of it,
Thus tell me where you go,
Where you stay, and convene,
I know that you’re in love,
And if that’s so then it’s obscene.”
“Dame,” went he, “pure god amercy!
Bad things will befall me, if I tell you;
Thus out of love I’d rather leave you
And even of myself be deprived.”
When the lady heard him,
She did not take a liking to it.
Often times she asked him.
So many times did she soothe and cajole him
To tell her of his adventures,
That holding nothing back he told her,
“Dame, I become Bisclavret.”
-end of Part 1-
While engaged in making lais,
I would not want to forget Bisclavret.
Bisclavret in Brittany was born
Called Garulf by the Norms.
Erstwhile, people told the tale
And often you would hear occur,
That many men werewolves became
And set up households in the wood.
A werewolf is a savage beast;
Because at least when fully stirred,
He eats up men and does great bad,
Travelling and living in that wood.
But it must be left there, that affair.
It’s of Bisclavret I wish to tell.
In Brittany there lived a sir,
Miracles of him, I’ve heard.
A good knight who was in good stead,
And a bearing that was well bred.
By his lord he was prized,
And by all his neighbors approved
His wife was a spouse most valiant,
And who very much seemed to do good.
He loved her and she him,
But for one thing greatly annoying:
That in the week he was lost
For three whole days that that she knew not
What became of him, or him befell,
And none of his folk could tell.
One time he came back
To his house, happy and carefree;
Ask him did she inquisitively,
“Sir,” went she, “dear friend, sweet,”
I ask of you something
With great desire, if I do dare;
But I so fear your wrath,
That nothing else give me such a scare.
Bisclavret embraced her hearing this
Pulled her near and gave her a kiss.
“Dame,” went he, “now ask!
Such thing as you query me,
If I know, I’ll tell it to thee.”
“By faith,” went she, “then you cure me!”
Sire, I have such a fright
The days when you leave me
When there is in me much great sorrow
And of losing you such great fear,
If I don’t get some relief quick,
I may very soon die of it,
Thus tell me where you go,
Where you stay, and convene,
I know that you’re in love,
And if that’s so then it’s obscene.”
“Dame,” went he, “pure god amercy!
Bad things will befall me, if I tell you;
Thus out of love I’d rather leave you
And even of myself be deprived.”
When the lady heard him,
She did not take a liking to it.
Often times she asked him.
So many times did she soothe and cajole him
To tell her of his adventures,
That holding nothing back he told her,
“Dame, I become Bisclavret.”
-end of Part 1-
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