Marie de France probably wrote late in the twelfth century in England or France. She wrote poetry primarily in Anglo-Norman French, but also knew Latin and English. Her surviving works are mainly lais and fables. Twelve lais are attributed to Marie de France, while another twenty-four lais (“anonymous lais”) have also survived. The latter lais are now readily available in Burgess & Brook’s Twenty-Four Lays from the French Middle Ages (2016). While all the lais concern relationships and are thus important to men, Marie de France’s lais are particularly important to men. Marie de France appreciated the challenges and difficulties in men’s lives and showed keen sensitivity for men as a gender.
Unlike modern stereotypes of medieval romance, the lais Graelent and Guingamor frankly depict queens sexually harassing knights. … Read the post no medieval romance: queens sexually harass Graelent & Guingamor
Tristan and Iseut flagrantly lie in Béroul’s Tristan, but since they are good persons, what they say is true. Evil persons maliciously speak falsehoods. … Read the post Béroul’s Tristan narrates evil persons’ lies vs. good ones’ truth
The medieval lai Chastelaine de Vergi tells of a knight subservient to his beloved chastelaine & an evil duchess manipulating her uxorious husband. … Read the post Chastelaine de Vergi: the tragedy of men’s subservience to women
The myth of Pyramus and Thisbe, first written in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, developed to be acutely gender-polarized in Chaucer’s The Legend of Good Women. … Read the post Pyramus & Thisbe from Ovid’s gender subtlety to polarized Chaucer
The lais Narcissus and Danae {Narcisus et Dané} and Lai of the Reflection {Lai de l’Ombre} put men into their gynocentric place in medieval Europe. … Read the post Narcissus & Lai de l’Ombre: putting men into their gynocentric place