Marie de France probably wrote late in the twelfth century in England or France. She mainly wrote poetry in Anglo-Norman French, but also knew Latin and English. Her surviving work is mainly lais and fables.
Gesta Romanorum and Marie de France’s Laustic teach that men’s lack of self-confidence in love contributes to the allure of the nightingale’s song. … Read the post wife caused nightingale’s death, anxious husband killed for it
Marie de France’s lais Yonec poignantly expresses a young, noble woman’s carnal desire for a young, noble man whom she imagines from a hawk. … Read the post Marie de France appreciated women's carnal desire for men
In 7th-century England, Earl Tondberht and King Ecgfrith endured sexless marriages with Æthelthryth. She’s a famous Anglo-Saxon saint. They were chumps. … Read the post Tondberht and Ecgfrith in sexless marriages to Æthelthryth
Against all the forces that have suppressed men’s dreams, Marie de France in Lanval dared to represent a nearly unspeakable male heterosexual fantasy … Read the post Lanval: Marie de France understood men’s dreams
Gestural philology reveals that pioneering twelfth-century author Marie de France stimulated the palm-inward v-sign in the Archpriest of Talavera’s work. … Read the post gestural philology of palm-inward v-sign
In her medieval romance Bisclavret, Marie de France acknowledges men’s depths of human being and appreciates a beast within the still-human man. … Read the post Marie de France's Bisclavret on men's secret, inner beast