What does The Lais of Marie de France reveal about the society from which it emerged?
By Kiran Megone, Second Year History Student
During the twelfth century, few were literate apart from church men. However, there was a growing minority of literate aristocrats creating a demand for literature. Consequently, chivalric tales were heard in courts across Europe, with writers like Chrétien de Troyes and Geoffrey of Monmouth becoming famous names. Since it was mostly church and aristocratic men who were literate, a female written text - The Lais of Marie de France - provides a deeper understanding of the intricacies of twelfth century Europe. The lais offer a rare insight into frustrations and concerns of women, the complexities of courtly love, and how courtly behaviour fit in with the many ideals of feudalism, often at the cost of Christian ideals.
All that is known for certain about Marie is her name, as she revealed in Guigemar: ‘Hear, my Lords, the words of Marie’. However, being literate, she was probably aristocrat, and she most likely did not belong to the church due to her secular ideas. One could also presume that she was a woman due to her name, and her uncommon focus on female struggles and welfare for children, such as the ‘imprisoned’ maiden in Guigemar, and the abandonment of the baby in La Fresne. Kinoshita argues that Marie provides an uncommon yet insightful perspective into the lives of aristocratic women of the period. Unlike many Arthurian legends, the focus is on women in Marie’s lais. Utilising the trope of mal mariée, Marie conveys the struggles of women trapped in abusive marriages, however rather than using this trope as the knight’s motivation to save the maiden, it is used to voice the emotions of aristocratic women stuck in such marriages. For instance, in Yonec, the maiden despairs about being a ‘prisoner’ in her marriage. In this period most aristocratic marriages were arranged, with the decision often being a financial one. Women rarely had a say, and Marie voices the concerns of being a ‘prisoner’ as a result, perhaps from her own experiences or at least from women she knew. Perhaps this frequent utilisation of the mal mariée suggests how common abuse was in this period, or maybe it reflects how frowned upon it was, considering the tone and vilification of the husband. Using her female voice, Marie reveals the hidden struggles of the aristocratic women in her society by integrating ‘the feminine into the wholly masculine world of epics’.
Along with frustration, Marie integrates female empowerment, perhaps reflecting the desires for authority and autonomy felt by herself and other aristocratic women of the time. Burns argues that courtly love could be unpredictable and ‘push the boundaries and expectations of normative heterosexuality’. In Equitan, patriarchal boundaries are pushed when the unnamed lover rejects her king, Equitan, due to the imbalance of power in their relationship; she is the wife of his seneschal, after all. She proclaims that ‘love is not honourable unless it is based in equality’. This desire for ‘equality’ has limitations, however; women were still depicted as hysterical and fragile: for instance, in Yonec the mother dies from grief, and in general, the maidens are not named, highlighting the view of women being the inferior sex in this time. Nonetheless, the desire for respect and equal status is notable. Marie also depicts an assertive woman in Lanval. Traditionally courtly literature portrays knights courting ladies, however in this lai, the maiden courts Lanval : ‘I have come far in search of you’. Whilst such examples of women pushing boundaries are significant, the extent to which such authoritative women reflected reality should be considered as these tales were fiction. Again, aristocratic marriages were arranged, with women having little say, so it is unlikely that women were as assertive as in Marie’s lais. However, as lais were read or performed to aristocratic households, women across Europe must have heard the stories, and perhaps related to the women’s desire for power and choice when having their marriages arranged. So, if it did not reflect reality, the stories at least reflected the taboo desires of medieval women.
Marie de France’s depiction of ‘courtly love’ highlights the complexities of courtly life. Some historians define the concept narrowly; for instance, C.S. Lewis characterized it solely based on ‘humility, courtesy, adultery and the religion of love’. Others, however, view this interpretation as a generalisation; Burges and Busby recognize it as ‘too complex to be reduced to a single model’. Marie de France demonstrates this in her lais by creating a world full of contradictions. Some characters, like Eliduc, ‘the fine knight, worthy and generous’ are noble and chivalric, and some characters are not, such as Equitan who attempts to murder his vassal. Moreover, couples, such as Lanval and his maiden, are not always adulterous. References to Christianity are mentioned all throughout the lais, however the characters actions often juxtapose their self-proclaimed piety with adultery (Equitan), divorce (La Fresne and Eliduc) and murder (Yonec). Marie de France’s lais reveal that courtly love cannot be narrowed down to a single definition; its complexity reflects the intricacy and contradictions of courtly life in the medieval period.
How reflective, however, was courtly love of society? Was courtly love simply fiction, or was it an ideal strived towards by aristocrats? Marie de France portrays the love between knights and maidens as intense, complex, and true. It brings joy and beauty, such as in Yonec – ‘her beauty was quite restored’. Similarly, a lack of love leads to grief, suffering, deterioration and sometimes death, with many characters wishing to die if parted from their beloved. Guigemar’s lover declares ‘if you die, I too wish to die’, and Guilliadun threatens Eliduc with suicide at the thought of him leaving, for example. Courtly love is portrayed in this tragic manner to symbolise its perfection. Ashe argues that all love ends in either parting or death, so for love to be perfect, it must end in death. If the lovers cannot live together, they must die to immortalise their love. However, how reflective of reality this was must again be questioned. The lais are fictional, so the love was exaggerated to symbolise perfection; of course these stories do not accurately reflect real aristocratic relationships, especially when considering that arranged marriages were rarely based on love. Nevertheless, historians suggest that courtly love enabled nobles to distinguish themselves from the peasants: it was an ideal that belonged to them and influenced aristocratic life. The existence of this ideal highlights how ingrained feudalism was: it was not only about social status, owning wealth and land, but how aristocrats acted and perceived themselves as superior. The lais, although hyperbolic, demonstrates an ideal strived towards by the upper-class elites of medieval society: an ideal which reinforced the all-encompassing societal structure of feudalism.
Despite the Christian backdrop of twelfth century Europe, Marie de France displays a morally ambiguous world in which its people are more concerned with the societal structure of feudalism than the influence of Christianity. Her world is ‘resolutely secular’, with moral laws of Christianity being downplayed depending on circumstances, and with each case requiring a ‘separate evaluation’. In particular, the immoral acts of adultery and even murder are celebrated in the lais as chivalric. In Yonec, adultery is portrayed positively; the love ‘restored’ her beauty, and the eventual murder of her possessive husband by Yonec is celebrated as just. In courtly literature, jealous husbands (the forces of evil in courtly literature according to Burgess and Busby, and May) and imprisoned damsels were a common motif; it allowed for the justification of adultery and sometimes murder, despite the sanctity of marriage in Christianity. This enabled writers to reinforce ideals of feudalism (chivalry and courtly love), whilst also undermining ideals of the church. In Equitan, it was not the lovers’ adultery which was punished, but their ‘evil plan’ to murder the seneschal. Here, the king, Equitan, desecrates the sacred chivalric bond between a lord and vassal (the supposed ‘glue holding feudal society together’) by attempting to murder his seneschal. In La Fresne, the mother considers murdering her own child to save her reputation: ‘I would rather make amends with god than shame and dishonour myself’. Honour and reputation, important aspects of feudalism, were prioritised over committing the cardinal sin of murder. So was God on the side of the virtuous, as argued by Burgess and Busby, or did Marie de France glorify characters who adopted feudalistic ideals instead? Whilst historians, such as May, describe these contradictions between the church and feudalism as inconsistencies, it is possible that Marie de France used these examples to reassert the importance of feudalism over the church, revealing its importance in twelfth century Europe.
To conclude, by exploring who Marie de France was, when she wrote, her audience and the contents of her works, much is revealed about twelfth century Europe. By being one of the few female writers of the period, she expresses the unheard and taboo concerns of women, particularly abuse, confinement, and desire for empowerment. The constant references to female suffering may suggest that this was a common characteristic of womanhood and arranged marriages. However, the vilification of abusers may also suggest that this behaviour was frowned upon. Her assertive female characters may depict the unspoken desires of women for a level of equality in relationships. Additionally, the wide range of convoluted stories and relationships suggest that courtly love was much more complicated than some definitions portray. By portraying the relationships as perfect, hyperbolic and dramatic, Marie de France illustrates that these relationships were an ideal to strive towards as an aristocrat: an ideal which highlights the importance of feudalism. The lais illustrate that feudalism was an all-encompassing concept which enabled nobles to assert their superiority and distinguish themselves as elite. It was so far-reaching, that even the church’s influence was overshadowed by the importance of chivalry.
Bibliography
Primary Source
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Cover Photo Credit: Tom Parkes on Unsplash