earldom of Flanders; it was only in 1246 that she came into its possession, and then her husband William was dead[1]. He therefore never acquired the title of Earl: his son Guy de Dampierre was not associated to the government of Flanders before 1251, and did not become an earl till 1280[2].
Convinced, as I am, that Mary did not compose her fables in France, but in England, it is in this latter kingdom that the earl William is to be sought for; and luckily, the encomium she has left upon him is of such a nature as to excite an opinion that he was William Longsword, natural son of Henry II, and created earl of Salisbury and Romare by Richard Cœur de Lion. She calls him the flower of chivalry, the most valiant man in the kingdom, and these features perfectly characterize William Longsword, so renowned for his prowess[3]. The praise she bestows on him expresses, with great fidelity, the sentiments that were entertained of this prince by his contemporaries, and which were become so general, that, for the purpose of making his epitaph, it should seem that the simple elogy of Mary would have sufficed.
Flos comitum, Willelmus obit, stirps regia, longus
Ensis vaginam capit habere brevem[4].
This earl died in 1226[5], so that Mary must have written her fables before that time. The brilliant reputation she had acquired by her Lays had, no doubt, determined William to solicit a similar translation of Æsopian Fables, which then existed in the English language. She, who in her Lays had painted the manners of her age with so much nature and fidelity, would find no difficulty in
