Lays of Marie de France/Front matter
The last two stories in this collection, one a tale of chivalry about the immediate ancestors of Saladin, the other a tragedy of courtly love, are by unknown authors: of the remaining fourteen, twelve are translated from the Lays attributed to Marie de France who, apart from her name, is almost equally an unknown author. She wrote in the last quarter of the twelfth century in a dialect known as the Langue d'oïl, but she may have come from any part of Northern France between Lorraine and Anjou, she may have been a Norman or a Channel Islander, an Anglo-Norman, or Norman-Welsh. After all the academic debate of the last sixty years her identity remains as misty as ever. But this lady, who seems to have composed her tales for the very sophisticated court of King Henry II, was an admirable story teller, and the justness and fineness of her sentiment in all that concerns the delicacies of the human heart are also remarkable. A more excellent writer of romances it would be hard to find. It was something of a feat alone to have written a story about a werewolf neither horrific nor disgusting.
The stories are preceded by an Introduction, the work of the translator Eugene Mason, which gives an excellent idea of the society in and for which they were composed.
Wrapper drawing by Victoria Norrington
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EVERYMAN, I will go with thee,
and be thy guide,
In thy most need to go by thy side
MARIE DE FRANCE
Born circa 1140, probably in Normandy.
Spent most of her life in England. Died
circa 1190.
Lays of
Marie De France
AND OTHER FRENCH LEGENDS
TRANSLATED WITH
AN INTRODUCTION BY
EUGENE MASON
DENT : LONDON
EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY
DUTTON: NEW YORK
Made in Great Britain
at the
Aldine Press • Letchworth • Herts
for
J. M. DENT & SONS LTD
Aldine House • Bedford Street • London
First included in Everyman's Library 1911
NO. 557