Everything about Marie De France totally explained
Marie de France ("Mary of France") 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 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.
Although her actual name is now unknown, she's referred to as "Marie de France" after a line in one of her published works:
"Marie ai nun, si sui de France," which translates as "My name is Marie, and I'm from France." Some of the most widely accepted candidates for the poet are Marie, Abbess of
Shaftesbury and half-sister to
Henry II, King of England; Marie, Abbess of
Reading;
Marie de Boulogne; Marie, Abbess of
Barking; and Marie de Meulan, wife of Hugh Talbot.
Four works have been attributed to Marie de France:
The Lais of Marie de France (a collection of short narrative poems not unlike shortened versions of romances), the "
Ysopet" fables, a retelling of the
Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick, and, most recently, a saint's life called
La Vie seinte Audree about
Saint Audrey of
Ely. Scholars have dated Marie's works between about
1160 at the earliest, and about
1215 at the latest, though it's probable that they were written between about 1170 and 1205. One of her works, the
Lais, is dedicated to a "noble king," another to a "Count William." It is thought that the king referred to is either
Henry II of England or his eldest son, "
Henry the Young King." The Count William in question is, most likely, either
William of Mandeville or William Marshall.
It has been suggested that Marie de France was a member of the court Henry II and his wife,
Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1816, the English poet
Matilda Betham wrote a long poem about Marie de France in octosyllabic couplets, "The Lay of Marie."
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