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The present volume examines twelve poems which have come down to us in manuscript Harley 978 of the British Library. These poems are known individually as lays or 'lais' and collectively as the "Lais" of Marie de France. We are able, in the first instance, to attribute the collection to a specific author because the name Marie appears in the prologue to the first of the lays: "Oëz, seignurs, ke dit Marie" ("Guigemar", v. 3). The full name of Marie de France derives from the epilogue to a collection of fables also found in the Harley manuscript: "Marie ai num, si sui de France" (v. 4). The generally held conviction that Marie de France wrote the "Fables" and all the lays in the Harley collection underpins the current book, but the possibility does exist that the two authors were not one and the same person and, more importantly for our purposes, that the twelve lays in the Harley collection were not written by the same person. It is hoped that the present study, which brings forward a number of thematic and textual parallels, will help in preparing the way for a future reevaluation of the authorship of works currently attributed to Marie de France. The Harley lays were composed in the second half of the twelfth century and they include a total of around 5,770 lines of text.
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The Lais of Marie de France The Lais of arie de France M Text and Context G L Y N S. B U R G E S S The University of Georgia Press ATHENS rù 1987 by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 All rights reserved Designed by Betty P. McDaniel Set in 10 on 13 Trump Mediaeval The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Printed in the United States of America 91 90 89 88 87 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Burgess, Glyn S. (Glyn Sheridan) The Lais of Marie de France. Bibliography: p. Includes index. i. Marie, de France, 12th cent. Lais. 2. Lays— Flistory and criticism. I. Marie, de France, 12th cent. Lais. 1987. II. Title. PQ1494.L7B87 1987 84T.1 87-4999 ISBN 0-8203-0948-6 (alk. paper) Contents Introduction vii Chapter One: The Problem of Internal Chronology Chapter Two: Two Cases of m esure 35 Chapter Three: "El nés pot mie tuz amer . . . " Chapter Four: "Ceo fu la summe de l'escrit . . . " Chapter Five: Chivalry and Prowess Chapter Six: Women in Love 71 10 1 Chapter Seven: The Vocabulary of Love Conclusion Notes 189 Bibliography Index 179 235 221 134 50 65 i Introduction The present volume examines twelve poems which have come down to us in manuscript Harley 978 of the British Library. These poems are known individually as lays or lais and collectively as the Lais of Marie de France. We are able, in the first instance, to attribute the collection to a specific author because the name Marie appears in the prologue to the first of the lays: " Oëz, seignurs, ke dit M arie ” [Guigemar, v. 3).1 The full name of Marie de France derives from the epilogue to a collec tion of fables also found in the Harley manuscript: "Marie ai num, si sui de France" (v. 4).2 The generally held conviction that Marie de France wrote the Fables and all the lays in the Harley collection underpins the current book, but the possibility does exist that the two authors were not one and the same person and, more importantly for our purposes, that the twelve lays in the Harley collection were not written by the same person.3 It is hoped that the present study, which brings forward a number of thematic and textual parallels, w ill help in prepar