The Lais of Marie de France Book

This book contains the 12 poems by Marie de France, an introduction by Glyn Burgess, a translator's note from Keith Busby: a bibliography, an Index of Proper Names, and three of Marie's poems in the original Old French which allows the reader to see that the original poems consisted of short lines, of about 7 or 8 syllables arranged in continuous rhyming couplets.

Burgess and Busby have offered a prose translation, which focuses on being as close to the original meaning as possible, and they considered that this makes a more easy reading as Marie's original short sentences are quite staccato.

I disagree of course, because I was taught that much of the sense of a poem comes from the structure which adds to the simple word meaning in a multitude of additional ways, for example rhyming couplets in English are often used for comedic effect, or possibly curtness. And line length is also highly relevant in indicating the speed of diction so that certain effects are transmitted by requiring the speaker/presenter to slow or speed up their performance. Nevermind: it would certainly take a very skilled translator to re-create the Old French into a similar poem with the continuous rhyme scheme and tight syllabic structure that Marie has created. You start to appreciate her skill, when you consider this.

I did enjoy Professor Burgess's introduction. He covers all the salient points reference the various manuscripts that are in existence today; the difficulties of accurately pinpointing the exact date for the production of Marie's work (last quarter of the 12th century) and of course the difficulty of identifying Marie herself, although he does confirm in his opinion that the writer is indeed a woman.

Burgess offers no less than four possible candidates for Marie's real-life personage, and confirms that she must have been a lady of high-birth because of her facility with languages (Latin, Anglo-Norman and Old French) and her knowledge of contemporary and ancient literary texts and styles, as well as her familiarity with courtly life. He concludes that she was probably born in France, but moved to England as a result of marriage or the need to expand her literary fame.

The central theme of all the poems or lais is love, and specifically erotic or passionate love between a man and a woman; usually the love takes place between a couple who must break the vows of wedlock; so the two must be resourceful and fight to establish or to continue their love, most often in secret; and it is not simply courtly love, but physical love, as in the union of the two. In some of the lais, for example Yonec and Milun there are offspring.

I think the modern reader will be surprised to find that the problems of the lovers are still very much what lovers today find themselves dealing with. Here is an example from Milun, which is the ninth lais:

The damsel was full of joy because of the love thus granted to her. Milun and she frequently arranged a meeting in a garden in which she took her ease, close to her bedchamber. Milun visited the damsel so often and loved her so much that she became pregnant. When she realized this, she summoned Milun and bemoaned her fate. She told him what had happened: she had forfeited her honour and good name by allowing such a thing to befall her.

It is such an old tale. And what I find interesting is that in most of Marie's lais, often the action is instigated by the woman, and when problems befall the couple, it is often the woman who comes up with a plan, or compromise or some kind of resolution. Marie's women prove to be intelligent, and independent thinkers.

The lai of Milun continues with the damsel making plans to conceal the baby with her married sister, and her partner carries out her requirements to the letter.

Let us go back to the beginning, the twelve lais are prefaced by a Prologue in which Marie presents the source of her lais and her reasons for writing. She explains that she took the material from the touring Breton musicians, who had turned adventures into songs. Marie says that she chose this material because - and here I present my own interpretation - that is was contemporary and spoke to her. She also reveals a reason which I think explains her focus on love:

Anyone wishing to guard against vice should study intently and undertake a demanding task, whereby one can ward off and rid oneself of great suffering. For this reason I began to think of working on some good story and translating a Latin text into French, but this would scarcely have been worthwhile, for others have undertaken a similar task. So I thought of lays which I had heard and did not doubt, for I knew it full well, that they were composed, by those who first began them and put them into circulation, to perpetuate the memory of adventures they had heard. I myself have heard a number of them and do not wish to overlook or neglect them. I have put them into verse, made poems from them and worked on them late into the night.

I think this part of the Prologue is very revealing about Marie, and certainly I am not a scholar and no doubt scholars would decrie my womanly intuition but I think it is quite clear that Marie has suffered from a broken heart. It is framed - in the general, but... "Anyone wishing to guard against vice..." sounds like a secret affair "...can ward off and rid oneself of great suffering." Her second reason: the minstrels songs appeal, is because they are about adventures - of love. She says "I thought of lays I did not doubt, for I knew it full well..." (my emphasis).

Or perhaps the significance of a line break? Medieval writing is renowned for its play with words, the use of double negatives, puns, innuendo, some effects that are easily lost if you translate or change the structure. The Breton love-tales or songs appealed to Marie because she heard them herself and they spoke directly of people the musicians knew about and, quite possibly reminded Marie of her own adventures.

Personal speculation aside, however, it does not do to make make light of Marie's subject. She would have been familiar with the troubadour love poems composed at that time in the south of France, Provence, and of the development of Romances. Burgess suggests that Marie's lais fall between them stylistically. Marie was drawn to this material from a personal perspective I suspect, but more importantly, her interest in the genre of Courtly Love, was primarily to do with the fact that it represented an important intellectual development, and quite possibly its very real effect on the re-structuring of society at that time.

The social structure was the feudal system, and depending on the region, it covered a period of approximately 500 years between 1000 and 1500 A.D. The feudal system was a power structure with Lords in allegiance to a regional king. The lords governed large areas, and every single person within (the serfs) were owned and in life-servitude to the lord. This power structure was controlled by force - the knights, and through allegiances by marriage, - sanctioned by the Church. In fact marriage was the primary tool by which noble families retained power, formed alliances, and established heirs.

Courtly Love reflected a strata of this society, - the Knights, who were essentially second, third, fourth sons etc, who did not have the right to marry, or receive lands through inheritance. These young men of noble birth were trained to fight, but were also educated and looked to ladies of similar status with which to interact. The social dynamics of this situation were directed into formal fighting at jousting tournaments - for the "favours" of the lady; and the energy of these relations was captured in a new literary development, as already stated, in the love-poems of the troubadours, and Romances, by writers such as Chretien de Troyes, Guillaume de Lorris, and others. Marie's choice of subject, therefore strongly suggests her desire to participate in this dialogue of social re-definement.

It is difficult to say whether Literary Works reflect or direct social dynamics but Marie, and her lais were part of an important evolvement of social behaviour which eventually usurped the power structures of the Lords, and their feudal system. In her lais Marie examines a situation or dilemma involving individuals - What do you do for instance, if you love a lady, but have no land, castle, or right to claim land of your own? What if you are a lord married to an upright lady, but are struck by love for another? What if you are a dutiful daughter but do not love the husband chosen for you by family allegiances?

Marie questions the traditional values of marriage in relation to love arrangements. In every lai the right of the lovers to seek fulfilment in whatever way they can is supported by Marie. Sometimes, as in Eliduc there is a happy resolution: the wife requests an annulment so that her husband Eliduc can marry his true love. Sometimes the lovers are discovered and die together at the hands of the cuckolded husband, as in Equitan. In another, the lovers are tested to ascertain the loyalty of one for the other as in Milun, but in each lai the poem revolves around the central pair and their ability to sustain or achieve their love.

I don't think Marie's lais are significant for their strong narrative style (perhaps the longer ones such as Eliduc, Guigemar, and Lanval), but are instead of significance for the fact that they question the traditional roles offered to men, and women and how they suggest the possibility of an alternative, using the concept of Love.

Here is a short extract from Equitan who in this case is a king. He falls in love with his seneschal's wife. The seneschal is a high-ranking retainer, responsible for the administration of the king's lands. Equitan contrives to meet with the wife and confesses his love for her - here is her cautious and diplomatic answer:

'My lord,' said the lady, 'I must have time to reflect on this. ... You are a king of great nobility; I am not wealthy enough to be the object of your love or passion. If you had your way with me, I know well and am in no doubt that you would soon abandon me and I should be very much worse off. If it should come about that I loved you and granted your request, our love would not be shared equally. Because you are a powerful king and my husband is your vassal(servant), you would expect, as I see it, to be the lord and master in love as well. [101-36]

Anyone in doubt that Marie is a woman? The Lady continues in this way for another 20 odd lines, courteous but firm, and concludes that a man who steals away the wife of another does so only because of his high status. Equitan replies:

My lady, I beg you. Do not say such things! Such men are not truly courtly (realises he is speaking about himself!)
This is the sort of deal struck between merchants who, to acquire wealth or a large fief, expend much effort for some unseemly purpose.

(manages to save the situation through flattery, with caveat) Any wise and courtly lady of noble disposition, who sets a high price on her love and is not fickle, deserves to be sought after by a rich prince in his castle, and loved well and loyally, even if her only possession is her mantle. (Suggests - correctly she has nothing to lose except her good name)

(... and wins the argument by convincing her -if they are loyal and treat each other as equals then much is possible... which was her suggestion in the first place!)
'Do not regard me as your king, but as your vassal and lover. I swear to you in all honesty that I shall do your bidding. Do not let me die because of you. You can be the mistress and I the servant; you the haughty one and I the suppliant.' (I think this is where the lady gives in.)

It concludes thus:

So long did the king speak with her and so ardently did he beg for mercy that she promised him her love and gave him her body. By an exchange of rings they took possession of each other and pledged their faith. They kept this faith well and loved each other dearly. It was later to be the cause of their death. [137-84]

Take note here that Marie intends both or more meanings of the word "possession" and of course "faith", used twice is intended to vye with the more usual, as in religious faith, faith in God, which bespokes a challenge to the authority of the Church.

The romance literature, along with Marie, and the troubadour love poems, reflect or possibly have contributed to the massive social evolvement that took place throughout the Middle Ages.