Literature: Marie de France

fl. c. 1160-1190

A twelfth-century French poetess and authoress of two Arthurian romances - Chevrefueil and Lanval. Born in Normandy, she spent most of her life in England, where she wrote her Lais some time before 1167 and her Fables some time after 1170.

She translated into French the Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii (c. 1190), and her works contain many classical allusions. The Lais, her most important work, comprises fourteen romantic narratives in octosyllabic verse based on Celtic material.