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Updated 05-29-09
Marie de France
(later 1100s)
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"LISTEN, MY LORDS, TO THE WORDS OF MARIE."
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At the end of Isopet (Ysopet), the author wrote, "I
am from France, my name's Marie." The same writer identified
herself by name in her Lais and in Espurgatoire Seint
Patriz. A contemporary English monk, Denis Pyramus, in the
introduction to his poem on the life of St. Edmund, spoke of
one Dame Marie, who "composed verses of lais which
are not at all true; nevertheless, she is much praised for them...[by]
counts, barons, and knights; and they are fond of her writing,
and have them read." Denis, perhaps concerned about the
popularity of his own morally uplifting poem, concluded rather
mournfully, "The lais please women, who hear them
with joy and pleasure because these are what they want."
This is all the biography we have of Marie. Conjectures have
been made about the dates and order of her three works; now the
scholarly assumption is that at least some of the lais
were written before 1180 and that Espurgatoire was written
after 1189.
Marie wrote in what was still, in the reigns of Henry II and his son Richard I, the dominant language of England, where she probably lived at least part of her life. She used the Anglo-Norman form of Old French to record twelve oral lays from Brittany (Lais), to translate 103 anonymous fables from English or Latin (Isopet), and to translate a story about St. Patrick's Purgatory that had been written in Latin perhaps 30 years earlier (Espurgatoire Seint Patriz).
Marie's translations would more properly be called adaptations. As the introductions to the translations by Harriet Spiegel and by Michael J. Curley show, her originality can be seen on every page. She recast the fables she had read and heard to fit her own social world; she turned a "monkish" tale into a chivalric adventure "suited for lay folk." She made the old stories hers and offered them in her voice.
Recently another Anglo-Norman poem has been attributed to Marie de France, Vie seinte Audree, the life of an Anglo-Saxon queen, written by a woman named Marie in the late 1100s or early 1200s. Like Espurgatoire, the poem is based on Latin sources, and it has a conclusion reminiscent of Isopet. It remains to be seen whether its attribution will be widely accepted by scholars.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from translations in print:
Lais
Isopet
Espurgatoire Seint Patriz
Vie seinte Audree (attributed)Information about secondary sources.
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1. The International Marie de France Society's site, is a useful place to start; click on "Resources" at the top and you will find links to other sites, including, under "English," Judith P. Shoaf's introduction to her verse translations of the prologue and eight of the lais, all of which can be be downloaded as PDF files (three of Shoaf's lais are available below as HTML).
2. Translations of Marie's lais:
(a) Eugene Mason's 1911 French Medieval Romances: From the Lays of Marie de France, which includes his prose translation of the Prologue and 12 lais of Marie, followed by four other Breton lais once attributed to Marie. Later research has made much of the information in Mason's introduction outdated, but it does quote the complaint of Denis Pyramus against "Dame Marie."
(b) From his 1917 book, Legends and Romances of Brittany, Lewis Spence's prose version of seven of Marie's lais: "Bisclavret" (Lay of the Were-Wolf), "Guigemar," "Laustic," "Eliduc," "Equitan," "Le Fresne" (Lay of the Ash-Tree), and "Chaitivel" (Lay of the Dolorous Knight); also given is "Graelent," one of the other lais attributed to Marie.
(c) A link to the text of Marie de France: Seven of her Lays Done into English (1901), Edith Rickert's prose translation of the Prologue and seven lais: "Guigemar," "Le Fresne" (the Ash Tree), "Les Deux Amanz" (The Two Lovers), "Yonec," "Laustic" (The Nightingale), "Chevrefoil" (The Honeysuckle), and "Eliduc"; Rickert's introduction and notes follow the translations. You can also download the book as a PDF file.
(d) In The Honeysuckle and the Hazel Tree, you can link to Patricia Terry's 1995 verse translation of five lais: "Laustic" (The Nightingale), "Les Deus Amanz" (The Two Lovers), "Chevrefoil" (Honeysuckle), "Lanval," and "Eliduc." Also given are two lais not by Marie: "The Reflection" by Jean Renart, and the anonymous "Chatelaine of Vergi." (And at another site, a review of Terry's book by Ruthmarie H. Mitsch.)
(e) Three translations by Judith P. Shoaf (with the first two, the originals are also given): "Bisclavret,"; "Lanval,"; and "Yonec."
(f) Another version of "Bisclavret"; here the opening and closing verses are translated by M. Roberts (with the original); the rest is in a prose translation by Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby.
(g) A link to the text (or to a PDF file) of Jessie L. Weston's 1900 Guingamor, Lanval, Tyolet, Bisclaveret; Four Lais Rendered into English Prose; there you will find "Lanval" at p. 31 and "Bisclavret" at p. 78 (the other two are lais once attributed to Marie).
(h) "Les Deus Amanz," translated by Jane Tozer, with the original.
(i) "The Lay of the Honeysuckle" ("Chevrefoil"), translated by A. S. Kline.
(j) "Eliduc," in a prose translation by John Fowles.
3. Plot summaries of each of the 12 lais, by Fidel Fajardo-Acosta; at another site, a 2001 study guide to the lais, by Paul Brians.
4. From Isopet:
(a) Links to the prologue, epilogue, and five fables in a prose translation by Mary Lou Martin, with lecture notes by Teresa Canosa and Diana Solomon on Marie's use of comedy.
(b) Verse translations of three of the fables that are given in prose just above: two on "A woman and her paramour," both translated by Larry D. Benson and Theodore M. Andersson; and "The cock and the fox," translated by W.W. Skeat.
(c) Near the bottom of the page, Harriet Spiegel's version of the last fable given above, "The cock and the fox."
(d) With the original, Spiegel's "The wolf and the sow" (but note that the four lines of the moral are given only after footnote #16).
(e) A verse translation, "A thirsty deer" (note, though, that the marble bust shown is that of a 1300s French princess named Marie).
(f) Half-way down the page, "The priest and the wolf", with commentary by Ayers Bagley; then, about two-thirds down, the second half of another fable, "The grey wolf," in the original and, like the first, in Spiegel's translation.
(g) In an essay by Ivy Stanmore, use your browser's search function to go to "Marie" for the morals of three fables, with brief comments on Marie's use of the wolf as symbol.
(h) "The horse and the hedge," a prose translation of a 8-line fable (also given are brief passages from two lais).
5. In the original Anglo-Norman:
(a) Links to the prologue and the 12 lais.
(b) The prologue of Isopet.
(c) From Isopet, the story of a wolf and a lamb, "Ci dit del lu e de l'aignel."
(d) All but the two last lines of the epilogue to Isopet.
(e) A link to the text (or to a PDF file) of an 1894 dissertation by Thomas Atkinson Jenkins that includes Espurgatoire Seint Patriz (the poem begins about one-third down the page).
6. And in modern French:
(a) From Isopet, "Le corbeau et le renard" ("The crow and the fox"; in the original, "Del corbel e del gupil").
(b) The first 48 lines of Espurgatoire Seint Patriz.
7. Early manuscripts:
(a) Two pages (and a detail of one illumination) of a late 1200s Isopet (not Lais, as indicated at the site): on the first page, Marie is shown reading; on the second, she is writing.
(b) From a 1300s manuscript, a page of "Yonec."
8. Essays, etc:
(a) "Estreitement bende: Marie de France's 'Guigemar' and the Erotics of Tight Dress" (2008), by Nicole D. Smith, sees the description of clothing in that lai (and to a lesser extent in "Lanval") as an expressio of Marie's views on sexuality (the phrase estreitement bende means "tightly bound").
(b) "Metamorphosis and Return in the Lays of 'Bisclavret' and 'Melion'" (2005), by Robyn A. Holman, compares Marie's poem with a contemporary poem that also deals with a man changing into a wolf. (At another site, a translation of "Melion" by Helen Nicholson)
(c) "Rethinking Marie" (2003), by Dinah Hazell, questions the assumption that Marie lived in England and considers what an alternative view would suggest about her self-descriptions and dedications.
(d) "Narration and Representation of Women in the Lais of Marie de France and the Coutumes de Beauvaisis of Philippe de Beaumanoir" (2003), by Jerry Root, looks at the lais in the light of what is revealed about the role of women in a French jurist's 1283 collection of customary law.
(e) "The Making of the Man: Woman as Consummator in the Lais of Marie de France" (2002), by Judith Barban, looks at Marie's treatment of men and of women in five of the lais; Barban sees the women as controlling forces in the movement of each tale.
(f) "Woman-hating in Marie de France's 'Bisclavret'" (2002), by Paul Creamer, provides a close reading of the lai and its treatment of the female character; he finds the poem differing from its companions in its misogyny.
(g) "'I Do, I Do': Medieval Models of Marriage and Choice of Partners in Marie de France's 'Le Fraisne'" (2001) by Dolliann Margaret Hurtig, presents "Le Fresne" as a treatment of the two contemporary views of marriage, that of the court and that of the church.
(h) "Guilty as Charged? Subjectivity and the Law in La Chanson de Roland and 'Lanval'" (2000), by Katherine Kong, compares Lanval's trial at King Arthur's court with that of the accused traitor Ganelon in Roland, and considers what each reveals of the men's perception of self and law.
(i) "Adultery and Kingship in Marie de France's 'Equitan'" (1999), by Sharon Kinoshita, discusses the lai in the light of contemporary views of marriage.
(j) "Objects, Possession and Identity in the Lais of Marie de France" (1994), by Nancy Bradley Warren, shows how the lais' characters are described and what this reveals of their world.
(k) "The Inscription of a New Audience: Marie de France's Espurgatoire Saint Patriz" (1993), by Bonnie H. Leonard, looks at the Prologue, the Epilogue, and those passages not found in the original Latin work, to show Marie's appeal to her lay aristocratic audience.
(l) "The French Woman Writer in the Middle Ages: Staying Up Late" (1990), by Tilde Sankovitch, presents the prologue to the lais as Marie's way of establishing her and her text's authority. Sankovitch gives the original and her translation of all quotations.
(m) An English-language review by Leslie C. Brook of a 1999 French study by Sahar Amer, Esope au feminin: Marie de France et la politique de l'interculturalite, on Arabic influence on Marie de France's Isopet.
10. Other reviews (for information on the books' treatment of Marie, see below, under "Secondary sources"):
(a) Robert Hanning on R. Howard Bloch's 2003 study, The Anonymous Marie de France; and elsewhere, another review, this by Paul Creamer; and yet another, by Jane Gilbert.
(b) An anonymous reviewer on the 2006 essay collection, Courtly Arts and the Art of Courtliness.
(c) At #68 in this list of H-France Reviews, you can download a PDF file of Seeta Chaganti on Logan E. Whalen's 2008 study, Marie de France and the Poetics of Memory.
11. From Vie sainte Audree:
(a) A passage from near the end of June Hall McCash's and Judith Clark Barban's 2006 edition /translation, Life of Saint Audrey, in which Audrey successfully challenges her angry husband (for more excerpts, see "In print").
(b) At the Wikipedia entry on the poem, the original of the last two lines, beginning "Ici escris mon non Marie."
(c) From a 1200s collection of saints' lives, the opening manuscript page of La Vie sainte Audree, noneyne de Ely, par Marie.
12. Background on Ethedreda (Audrey):
(b) In this book of Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, c. 731), by the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede, go to Chapter 19 (about half-way down the page) for his account of Queen Etheldreda (Audrey); Bede was one of Marie's Latin sources for Vie sainte Audree.
(c) The entry on Etheldreda from the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
(d) A wall-painting of Etheldreda, from the 1200s.
13. A 2009 bibliography of manuscripts, editions, translations, and studies of Marie's three accepted works; at the same site, a 2008 bibliography for Vie seinte Audree.
14. For historical background, a brief essay by Debora B. Schwartz, "Prologues and Epilogues in 12th-Century French Works," not on Marie, but on the medieval attitude toward translation. (Note the link in the first paragraph to translatio studii, where Schwartz briefly describes the Anglo-Norman court.)
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[This is a verse translation of Lais, by Robert Hanning and Joan Ferrante; there is a useful introduction and a brief essay on each lai:]
The lais of Marie de France / translated with an introduction
and notes by Robert Hanning & Joan Ferrante. Durham, N.C.:
Labyrinth Press, 1982, c1978. (237 p.)
LC#: PQ1494 .L3 E5 1982; ISBN: 0939464020
Bibliography: p. 235-[238]
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"I don't propose to give up."
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[In the one extant complete manuscript,"Guigemar" is the first lai given. These are its opening lines. We don't know what "evil things" Marie's critics said of her, unless it was Denis Pyramus' complaint about the lais not being "true":]
Whoever deals with good material
feels pain if it's treated improperly.
Listen, my lords, to the words of Marie,
who does not forget her responsibilities when her turn comes.
People should praise anyone
who wins admiring comments for herself.
But anywhere there is
a man or woman of great worth,
people who envy their good fortune
often say evil things about them;
they want to ruin their reputation.
Thus they act like
vicious, cowardly dogs
who bite people treacherously.
I don't propose to give up because of that;
if spiteful critics or slanderers
wish to turn my accomplishments against me,
they have a right to their evil talk.
The tales---and I know they're true---
from which the Bretons made their lais
I'll now recount for you briefly;
and at the beginning of this enterprise,
just the way it was written down,
I'll relate an adventure
that took place in Brittany,
in the old days. [p.30]
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[This prose translation of Lais, by Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby, is accompanied by an introduction that discusses Marie's identity, brief notes, and the original of "Laustic":]
The lais of Marie de France / translated with an introduction
by Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby (Penguin classics). Hammondsworth,
Middlesex, England; New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1986.
(140 p.)
LC#: PQ1494.L3 E5 1986; ISBN: 0140444769
Includes index. Bibliography: p. [129]-131
------------------------------------------------------------------
"...speak so persuasively that the tale brings pleasure."
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[The opening of "Milun":]
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. I shall now begin Milun and explain in a few words for what reason and under what conditions the lay which bears its name was composed. [p.97]
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"... so that it should not be forgotten."
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[And the opening and ending of "Eliduc":]
I shall tell you the story and the whole substance of a very old Breton lay, in so far as I understand the truth of it. [p.111]
From the story of these three the ancient courtly Bretons composed a lay to be remembered, so that it should not be forgotten. [p.126]
========================================================================
[The print version of the translations by Patricia Terry that are available online:]
The honeysuckle and the hazel tree: medieval stories of men
and women / translated and with an introduction by Patricia Terry.
Berkeley University of California Press, c1995. (x, 218 p.)
LC#: PN671 .H66 1995; ISBN: 0520083784, 0520083792
========================================================================
[Harriet Spiegel gives the original and her English translation of Isopet on facing pages; the introduction and notes emphasize changes that Marie made from the known originals:]
Fables / Marie de France; edited and translated by Harriet
Spiegel (Toronto medieval texts and translations, 0821-4344;
5). Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, c1987. (viii,
282 p.: ill.)
LC#: PQ1494.F3 E5 1987; ISBN: 0802026095, 0802066496
Bibliography: p. [263]
--------------------------------------------
"...think about what wisdom says."
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[From the Prologue:]
Those persons, all, who are well-read,
Should study and pay careful heed
To fine accounts in worthy tomes,
To models and to axioms:
That which philosophers did find
And wrote about and kept in mind.
The sayings which they heard, they wrote,
So that the morals we would note;
That those who wish to mend their ways
Can think about what wisdom says. [ll.1-10;
p.29]
-----------------------------------------
"He is, however, less than loyal."
-----------------------------------------
[A fable on choosing subordinates:]
The king of all the birds is eagle;
His strength and virtue make him regal.
The hawk is eagle's seneschal.
He is, however, less than loyal.
The eagle, when heat bothers him,
Perches upon a high oak limb.
The hawk sits farther down the oak.
He looks below and is provoked
By doves down there who fly around
And play together on the ground.
Said hawk, "You're down there frolicking,
But if the eagle, who's our king,
Would go away from here, if he
Would fly off to another tree,
Your game would go another way---
For I would have with you fair play!"
Therefore, a prince ought not to want
A seneschal who's arrogant
Or greedy or of lying word--
Unless he wants him made his lord. [#62;
p.173]
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"I thought that I would rise so high."
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[From a fable on upward mobility via marriage:]
There once was so vainglorious
A vole (which is a kind of mouse)
That he'd not of his own lineage,
Of his own kind or heritage,
Look for or choose a wife to wed.
He'd never have a wife, he said,
Unless he found one very pleasing---
The daughter of a most high being
Was what the vole thought he should seek.
So to the sun he went to speak:
The sun, highest of all, he guessed,
Hottest in summer, mightiest.
Vole wished to wed sun's daughter now;
He'd gone as high as he knew how.
If he looked further, said the sun,
He'd find an even stronger one--
The cloud---who shades and makes a cover---
Sun can't come out when cloud takes over....
[So the vole went to the cloud, who sent him to the wind who sent him to a wall. The wall said a mouse is strongest, because it can undermine even a wall. When the vole heard this:]
The vole replied, "What's this? Oh dear!
Oh this is dreadful news to hear!
The mouse and I are family!
My mission's ruined utterly!
I thought that I would rise so high,
But now I must turn back, so I
Can bow to my own kind," said he.
Said wall, "That's what your lot must be.
Go home, and keep in mind for aye,
That you should never, come what may,
Your nature ever again despise.
Whoever thinks that he can rise
Beyond his rightful situation
Must come back to a lower station.
Never should one his birthright scorn,
Whate'er he knows (unless baseborn).
Because so far you cannot go
To find yourself a wife, you know,
Who would be better in your house
Than this---the little lady mouse."
With prideful folk it's often thus---
Those arrogant and envious---
Who seek what they should not; for they
End back where they don't want to be.
[#74:ll.1-18, 75-98; pp.199,203]
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"This volume was by me created."
------------------------------------------
[From the Epilogue:]
Out of my love for Count William,
The doughtiest in any realm,
This volume was by me created,
From English to Romance translated.
This book's called Aesop for this reason:
He translated and had it written
in Latin from the Greek, to wit.
King Alfred, who was fond of it,
Translated it to English hence,
And I have rhymed it now in French
As well as I was competent.
I pray to God omnipotent
To let me to such work attend
And thus to Him my soul commend. [pp.257-259]
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[Mary Lou Martin has made a prose translation of Isopet, with the Old French original and English on facing pages, but without the aids given in the Spiegel translation. You can see samples of Martin's translation online:]
Martin, Mary Lou, tr. The fables of Marie de France: An English
translation. Birmingham, AL: Summa Publications, 1984, c1979
(iii, 259p., ill)
LC#: PQ1494 .F2 M3x 1979; ISBN: 0917786343
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[Michael J. Curley's is a free verse translation of Espurgatoire Seint Patriz, with the original and English on facing pages; the introduction and notes are thorough:]
Saint Patrick's purgatory: a poem / by Marie de France; translated,
with an introduction and notes by Michael J. Curley (Medieval
& Renaissance texts & studies; v. 94). Binghamton, N.Y.:
Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1993. (178 p.)
LC#: PQ1494 .P313 1993; ISBN: 086698108X
Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-43) and index.
---------------------------------------
"...as a recollection and record."
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[An English monk, perhaps named Henry of Saltrey, had written the Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii sometime after 1150. Because it was part of the developing concept of an elaborately detailed Purgatory, it was much translated in the following century; Marie's translation appears to have been the first. After the opening and dedication, which are all hers, Marie made two major changes from her original: the knight Owen becomes much more an adventurer than a penitent, and the dignity of the lay life is constantly stressed. The start:]
In the name of God, may he be with us,
And send us his grace.
I wish to put into writing in French
"The Pains of Purgatory,"
Just as the book tells us about them,
As a recollection and record,
For God wished to show Saint Patrick
The place where one might enter purgatory.
[ll.1-8, p.47]
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"I have heard and seen little of this subject."
------------------------------------------------------
[From the "dedication to a good man" who has asked Marie to write this work:]
Dear father, now listen.
However much I might want to cause many people
To come to great profit,
To amend their ways,
To fear God and serve him better,
I never would have undertaken
To study or apply myself to this labor,
Were it not for your request,
Which is pleasant and dear within my heart.
I have heard and seen little of this subject,
Yet, through what I have learned of it,
I have greater love for God,
And desire to serve him, my Creator.
For these reasons, I want to open up this writing
For you, and reveal its contents.
[ll.16-30, pp.47-47]
---------------------------------------------------------
"I want to disclose this writing very carefully."
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[From the Preface; Marie compares her work to that of Pope Gregory I (d.604):]
Saint Gregory sets forth
Many examples in his sermons
About spirits within the body
And others which are outside of it,
And of other things which are harmful,
Horrible and frightening.
He wishes to strike fear into the hearts
Of sinners and foolish people
With the sorrows which will be theirs
And which their souls will suffer,
And to cause compunction
And greater devotion
Among those who desire to please God,
And to merit his kingdom.
Thus, I want to disclose
This writing very carefully
And to put effort and care into it for the sake of God,
In order to improve the simple folk.
[ll.31-48, p.49]
------------------------------------------------------
"I would choose... the most heavy penance."
------------------------------------------------------
[After telling how St. Patrick (400s) found the cave which
led to Purgatory and after giving some history of the cave to
the 1100s, Marie begins to describe the adventure of a Irish
knight, Owen. King Stephen had reigned 1135-54:]
In the time of King Stephen,
As we find it written down,
There was a nobleman in Ireland,
A knight, by the name of Owen,
About whom we now wish to speak,
And to set forth his true story.
Owen came to the bishop of the land
in which the Purgatory was found,
In order to make his confession,
And to seek pardon for his sins,
For he had very often labored against
God with his great cruelty. [ll.503-514,
p.73]
[Owen first declined a penance assigned by the bishop, because it was too easy:]
"Accordingly, I would choose, by your leave,
The most heavy penance.
I shall go forth and enter
Saint Patrick's Purgatory,
So as to be purged
And delivered from my sins." [ll.535-540,
p.73]
[When the bishop then suggested entering a monastery as penance, the knight again declined:]
But he answered that he would not do that.
He would take no habit
Besides the one he had,
Until he had seen purgatory. [ll.555-558,
p.75]
---------------------------------------------------------------
"He sought out new and strenuous knightly deeds."
---------------------------------------------------------------
[After learning that he will be tempted by demons and after preparing himself by prayer and fasting, Owen was ready for his adventure in purgatory:]
He, who heretofore was well armed
And equipped with weapons of iron,
And who had great courage
In overcoming men in battle,
Now armed himself
With faith, good hope,
Justice and belief,
So that he had no fear of devils.
Truly, with these virtues
He would overcome the devil in battle.
[ll.651-60, p.79]
--------
The knight had no fear
As he took his way through the pit;
Indeed, have no doubt that he sought out
New and strenuous knightly deeds. [ll.671-74,
p.81]
-------------------------------------------
"...or lay person, chosen by God."
-------------------------------------------
[Owen met a group of demons who took him to ten places where souls were suffering. In each place, the demons urged him to give up his adventure; when he refused, he himself was made to suffer until he called upon the name of Jesus, which released him so that he could move on. After leaving the place of torment, he came to an "earthly paradise" where souls waited, but without suffering, to be finally ready for the "celestial paradise":]
He saw forms of men and images
Of every age, and likewise
Of every order.
Great was that company of folk.
All were differently attired,
According to their orders....
One like an abbot, another like a monk,
A priest, a deacon, a canon,
Subdeacon, acolyte,
Or lay person, chosen by God.
Dressed in such form and image,
Each one appeared exactly
As he had, have no doubt,
When he served God in this life. [ll.1541-46,
1548-56; p.133]
---------------------------------
"Live justly in the world."
---------------------------------
[After he had been given a brief sight and taste of the celestial paradise, the leaders of the terrestrial paradise told Owen he must now return to earth:]
"Live justly in the world,
And be assured that you will return
After your death
To the joys which you have seen.
Live a wicked life,
(God grant that you may not do so!)
And you will come back to purge yourself
In the torments you have witnessed.
Quickly now! Be on your way!" [ll.1847-55;
p.147]
-------------------------------
"He would die a knight."
-------------------------------
[After his adventure, Owen became for a while a crusader in
the Holy Land. Returning to Ireland, he asked the king whom he
served for advice about his future life:]
Whether he should become a monk,
And what order he should embrace.
But the king answered
That he should remain as he was, a knight.
He counseled him to retain this station
So that he might serve God well.
And so he did for the rest of his life,
Never changing his station for another.
[ll.1925-32; p.151]
[Owen followed his king's advice. He spent two years helping a Cistercian abbot, Gilbert, to found an abbey in Ireland, and then moved on:]
He remained with Gilbert,
And served him well.
Yet he did not wish to change his station,
Becoming either a monk or lay brother:
He would die a knight,
And would never take any other habit.
[ll.1971-75; p.155]
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"...so that it might be intelligible and suited to lay folk."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[After a few more stories about St. Patrick's Purgatory, Marie ends her poem:]
I, Marie, have put
The Book of Purgatory into French,
As a record, so that it might be intelligible
And suited to lay folk.
Now we pray God through his grace
To cleanse us of our sins.
[ll.2297-2302; p.171]
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[June Hall McCash and Judith Clark Barban have edited and translated Vie seinte Audree, with the original Anglo-Norman given on facing pages. The introduction discusses the dating and authorship of the work, but for a detailed discussion of the identification of the author with Marie de France the reader is referred to McCash's 2002 article (for that, see under "Secondary sources"). The notes usefully show where the author departs from her Latin sources. An "Annotated Index of Proper Names" acts as a glossary, and a separate index covers the introduction and notes. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The life of Saint Audrey / a text by Marie de France; translated
and edited by June Hall McCash and Judith Clark Barban; foreword
by Emanuel J. Mickel. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, c2006. (287
p.: map, geneal. table)
LC#: PQ1494.V54 E5 2006; ISBN: 0786426535
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
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"...loved by God and also by the world."
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[Etheldreda (Audrey) was an East Anglian princess of the 600s who remained a virgin through two marriages and as queen of Northumbria founded a double monastery at Ely. After Bede wrote of her in the 700s she became one of the most venerated of the Anglo-Saxon saints. Marie, the author of Vie seinte Audree, begins her poem (you can see the original online):]
For a good work and for a good purpose
should each person use his time.
It would be wise
for everyone to remember
what he is made of, who made him,
and whither he shall return
People who do good are honored
and loved by God and also by the world....
I have undertaken to write this book,
in honor of Saint Audrey the queen
whose goodness has never faded or diminished. [ll.
1-8, 29-31; p.27]
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"Neither wealth nor poverty increases saintliness at all."
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[Using Bede's story and other Latin sources, Marie tells of Audrey's ancestors, her life, and the miracles attributed to her. But she makes her own points: here on the variety of lifestyles that can lead to holiness:]
In all orders, in all ranks,
in every position
God knows those who belong to Him,
for each one of them has fellowship with Him.
Neither wealth nor poverty
increases saintliness at all.
A person is not perfected through obscurity
nor is he condemned if he is in the light. [ll.463-70;
p.49]
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"...noble barons... and fine ladies from great families."
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[Perhaps the most interesting parts of the poem are those passages that differ from the clerical sources. Marie's sources do not stress the rank of those who joined Ely; Marie does:]
Many people came to Ely
to join her community:
noble barons of high lineage
and fine ladies from great families;
even young people
went there quite willingly.
although she pointed out to them
and made them aware of the severity of the order,
they still did not want
to leave her community. [ll.1819-28;
p.113]
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"...imposed by the very one who gives them generous alms."
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[And (sounding much like the author of Isopet) she can be caustic about the nobles' treatment of the poor:]
Rich men are burdened
and so are the poor:
the rich because of their noble duties,
the poor because of their heavy taxes
often imposed by the very one who gives them
generous alms. [ll.1933-48;
p.117]
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"...the gold necklaces... in which she took such delight."
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[The most often-told story about Etheldreda /Audrey concerns the neck-tumor that led to her death. She saw it as punishment for her earlier enjoyment of a queen's jewelry:]
[She] often said that it was her own fault
that this suffering was visible on her
because of the gold necklaces she once wore
in which she took such delight.
Saint Audrey believed that she suffered ill
around her neck because of that sin,
but she hoped and believed
that through her pain she expiated
the excess and vanity
over the gold she had worn. [ll.1941-50;
pp.117-19]
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"Here I write my name, Marie, so that I may be remembered."
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[It is the ending of Vie seinte Audree, quite similar to that of Isopet, that first led scholars to identify its author with Marie de France:]
Now I have finished this book,
told and translated into French
the life of Saint Audrey
just as I found it in Latin,
along with the miracles I have heard.
I do not wish to let anything be forgotten.
Therefore I beseech
glorious Saint Audrey
to hear me out of compassion
and give aid to my soul,
as well as to those for whom I pray:
may she help them through her mercy.
One is indeed foolish who forgets herself:
here I write my name, Marie,
so that I may be remembered. [ll.4611-4625;
pp.245-47]
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[Logan E. Whalen's study focuses on the importance of memory in all of Marie's works (including La vie de seinte Audree, which Whalen believes "merits inclusion in her corpus" (p.159), showing Marie's use of her sources and the rhetorical methods used to help her readers remember her scenes. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Whalen, Logan E. Marie de France and the poetics of memory.
Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2008.
(xii, 208 p.)
LC#: PQ1495 .W43 2008; ISBN: 9780813215099
Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-198) and index.
------------------------
[Glyn S. Burgess' fourth bibliography covers editions, translations,
and studies published between 1995 and 2006 on Marie's three
accepted works. Its detailed descriptions constitute a summary
of recent work, especially valuable for those books and articles
written in languages other than English. One of the indexes will
refer you to the coverage of individual titles (treating each
of the twelve lais separately). (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Marie de France: an analytical bibliography. Supplement no.
3 / Glyn S. Burgess; with the assistance of Giovanna Angeli (Research
bibliographies and checklists New ser. 8). Woolbridge, Suffolk:
Tamesis, 2007. (xi, 132 p.)
LC#: Z8550.314 .B87 2007 Suppl. 3; ISBN:9781855661547
Includes indexes
----------------------
[R. Howard Bloch's study is a useful introduction, which concludes that Marie is "not so anonymous after all" (p.311). The book's introduction reviews critical reaction over the centuries; this is followed by a close reading of the three accepted works to show what they reveal about Marie's purposes and use of language. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Bloch, R. Howard. The anonymous Marie de France. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2003. (xi, 367 p.)
LC#: PQ1495 .B53 2003; ISBN: 0226059685
Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-355) and index
----------------------
[The ten English-languages essay in this collection describe scholarly treatment of Marie and her work since 1774. Perhaps of most interest to the general reader is Joan M. Ferrante's "Do Preconceptions Influence Translations?" which compares the ways women were presented in the lais "Lanval" and "Bisclavret" by translators in the 1800s and early 1900s. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The reception and transmission of the works of Marie De France,
1774-1974 / edited, with an introduction by Chantal A. Marechal
(Mediaeval studies; v. 23). Lewiston, N.Y.: E. Mellen Press,
c2003. (vi, 346 p.: ill., col. port.)
LC#: PQ1495 .R43 2003; ISBN: 0773465995
Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-338) and index
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[Sunhee Kim Gertz' study discusses the treatment of oral and
written narratives by Ovid and by Marie, looking not for influence
but for "reflections, tensions, and echoes" (p.11)
in the Lais. Gertz analyzes five lais ("Deus Amanz,"
"Guigemar," "Laustic," Chaitivel," and
"Chievrefoil"), comparing each to one of the tales
in the Metamorphoses. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Gertz, Sunhee Kim. Echoes and reflections: memory and memorials
in Ovid and Marie de France (Faux titre; 232). Amsterdam; New
York: Rodopi, 2003. (182 p.)
LC#: PA6537 .G47 2003; ISBN: 9042010630
Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-180) and index
----------------------
[Jane Chance's study of women who created their authority as writers by contesting the literary conventions of their times includes the chapter "Marie de France Versus King Arthur: Lanval's Gender Inversion as Breton Subversion," which sees the lai "Lanval" as an account of "male failure and female heroism" (p. 46) and so as an attack on the convention of masculine feudal culture. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Chance, Jane. The literary subversions of medieval women (New
Middle Ages). New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. (xiii, 215
p.)
LC#: PN682.W6 C53 2007; ISBN: 9781403969101
Includes bibliographical references (p. [179]-198) and index
----------------------
[Laurence M. Porter's study includes a chapter,"The
Situation Ethics of Marie de France," which looks at the
three works. Perhaps most valuable is Porter's analysis of the
fables, in which he sees Marie presenting not moral absolutes
but situations in which circumstances determine the virtue of
characters' acts, whether those characters are male or female.
(See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Porter, Laurence M. Women's vision in Western literature: the
empathic community (Contributions in women's studies, 0147-104X;
no. 203). Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2005. (256 p.)
LC#: PN471 .P65 2005; ISBN: 0313318301
Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-245) and index
-------------------------
[Four of the English-language essays in this collection
are on Marie or the manuscript history of her works. For the
general reader the most useful may be an essay by McCash,"The
Mulier Mediatrix in the 'Deus Amanz' of Marie de France,"
which sees as the protagonist of the tale not the immoderate
hero but the king's daughter, who tries to act as a mediator
to avoid conflict within her family. Quoted passages are given
in the original and in McCash's own translation. The book also
includes a translation by Walter Blue of "Equinec,"
a lai that has recently been attributed to Marie. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Courtly arts and the art of courtliness: selected papers from
the Eleventh Triennial Congress of the International Courtly
Literature Society, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 29 July
- 4 August 2004 / edited by Keith Busby, Christopher Kleinhenz.
Cambridge, UK; Rochester, N.Y.: D.S. Brewer, 2006. (xiv 788 p.)
LC#: PN663 .I58 2006; ISBN: 1843840790
Includes bibliographical references and index
----------------------
[McCash's 2002 article analyzes La vie de seinte Audree in much greater detail than in the introduction to her 2006 translation. McCash compares the style of the vita to that of the three accepted works of Marie de France, and concludes by being "inclined to believe" that Marie de France is the author of La vie (p.776). Whether or not the reader agrees, McCash's stylistic analysis is of interest. Passages from La vie and from the three known works of Marie are given in the original and in McCash's translation. (See the issue's table of contents online.):]
McCash, June Hall. "La vie seinte Audree: A Fourth Text
by Marie de France?" Speculum, 77 (2002), 744-777.
LC#: PN661 .S74; ISSN: 0038-7134
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[Building on a line from Espurgatoire Seint Patriz, "To
show you the real hell," David L. Pike's article discusses
the ways in which Marie re-interprets for her courtly audience
the "truth" of Henry of Saltrey's Tractatus; Pike
also briefly describes the relationship of Espurgatoire
to the Lais and to Isopet. (See
the issue's table of contents online.):]
Pike, David L. "Le dreit enfer vus mosterruns":
Marie de France's Espurgatoire Seint Patriz. Viator:
Medieval and Renaissance Studies 32 (2001), 43-57.
LC#: CB3 .V53; ISSN: 0083-5897
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[There are several good articles in this collection. Most are on the Lais, but there are two on Isopet. One is by Harriet Spiegel, "The Woman's Voice in the Fables of Marie de France," in which she elaborates on points made in her 1987 translation. The other is by Karen K. Jambeck, "The Fables of Marie de France: A Mirror of Princes," on the relation of the fables to English society of the 1100s. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
In quest of Marie de France, a twelfth-century poet / edited,
with an introduction by Chantal A. Marechal (Medieval and Renaissance
series, v. 10). Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, c1992. (xii, 294
p.)
LC#: PQ1495 .I5 1992; ISBN: 077349586X
Includes bibliographical references.
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[This collection includes a later essay by Spiegel, "The Male Animal in the Fables of Marie de France." In the 1992 article above, Spiegel emphasized the fables' women; here she shows how Marie portrayed men. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Medieval masculinities: regarding men in the Middle Ages /
Clare A. Lees, editor, with the assistance of Thelma Fenster
and Jo Ann McNamara (Medieval cultures; v. 7) . Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, c1994. (xxv, 193 p.; 23 cm)
LC#: HQ1088 .M45 1994; ISBN: 0816624259, 0816624267
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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[This collection contains another essay by Jambeck, "Reclaiming the Woman in the Book: Marie de France and the Fables," which shows how Marie's fables differ from those of her predecessors and, interestingly, how later copyists apparently made changes that caused some of the fables to denigrate women. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Women, the book and the worldly: selected proceedings of the
St. Hilda's Conference, 1993, volume II / edited by Lesley Smith
and Jane H.M. Taylor. Cambridge [England]; Rochester, NY, USA:
D.S. Brewer, 1995. (xiv, 193 p.: ill., map ; 24 cm)
LC#: PN682.W6 W65 1995; ISBN: 0859914798
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Updated 05-29-09