Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Estates of women
- Part II Texts and other spaces
- Part III Medieval women
- 10 Heloise
- 11 Marie de France
- 12 The Roman de la Rose, Christine de Pizan, and the querelle des femmes
- 13 Lyrics and romances
- 14 Julian of Norwich
- 15 Margery Kempe
- 16 Continental women mystics and English readers
- 17 Joan of Arc
- Further reading
- Index
11 - Marie de France
from Part III - Medieval women
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2006
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Estates of women
- Part II Texts and other spaces
- Part III Medieval women
- 10 Heloise
- 11 Marie de France
- 12 The Roman de la Rose, Christine de Pizan, and the querelle des femmes
- 13 Lyrics and romances
- 14 Julian of Norwich
- 15 Margery Kempe
- 16 Continental women mystics and English readers
- 17 Joan of Arc
- Further reading
- Index
Summary
In the 1160s, an author who identifies herself as 'Marie' dedicated a collection of Breton stories or lais to a 'noble reis', most likely Henry II Plantagenet. Some time later, a 'Marie' who announces that she is 'de France' penned the Fables, which she says she translates from King Alfred's English translation of Aesopic tales; these she dedicated to 'le cunte Willame'. Finally, the Espurgatoire seint Patriz, an account of an Irish knight's voyage to the underworld, was translated from a religious text of monastic origin into the vernacular for the benefit of a lay audience by one 'Marie', probably around 1190. During the course of her career, 'Marie de France' thus produced works in three different genres - Breton tale, animal fable, spiritual voyage - each of which blends literary traditions and linguistic registers and whose topics progress from a tapestry of marvellous love stories, to a shrewd observation of animal and human social behaviour, and finally, to a vision of sin and redemption.
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women's Writing , pp. 172 - 183Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003
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