Marie de France

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

Born c. 1130
Died c. 1200
Activity c. 1160-c. 1199

Places

Born in France
Active in England; France

Genres and Modes

Fable
Romance

Activities

Primary

Poet
Story-writer

Resources

Marie de France was one of the best Old-French poets of the twelfth century. She identifies herself only as Marie who originated in France. Nothing else definite is known about her. Whereas the English poet Denis Piramus (Vie Seint Edmund le rei, after 1170) refers to her as “dame Marie,” emphasizing her noble rank, the scholar Claude Fauchet was the first to coin the name “Marie de France” in his Reueil de l'origine de la langue et poésie françoise (1581). Both the historical circumstances of the manuscripts containing her texts, and linguistic elements of Anglo-Norman, suggest that she lived in England during her adult life, but it seems most likely that she was born in France, probably in the Bretagne. She …

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2261 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Marie de France". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 September 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5494, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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