The poetry of Marie de France: knights, ladies, love, and the supernatural

This video focuses on the lais of Marie de France, narrative poems of courtly love produced in the 12th century which range from 150 lines to over 1000 (with the average being around 500 lines). While the precise identity of Marie is not known, scholars have put forward a number of potential candidates, foremost among them being Marie, Abbess of Shaftesbury, the illegitimate half-sister of King Henry II of England (husband of the redoubtable Eleanor of Aquitaine).

Texts mentioned in this video:

Norton Anthology of the Middle Ages (Tenth Edition)

The editions of the lais I read can be accessed for free (after registering an account) at archive.org and are part of their 'borrow' a book scheme. While not a fan of being told I have one hour of access to a book, the lais are rather short, usually coming in around 500 lines, and so one can be read comfortably in that time.

Penguin classic (great introduction, prose translation): https://archive.org/details/laisofmar...

Norton edition (no introduction, verse translation): https://archive.org/details/mariedefr...

Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847)

Audio in the original Anglo-Norman. A viewer has kindly supplied a link where you can hear two of the lais being read in the original. These are a wonderful treat:

https://www.litteratureaudio.com/livr...

The Pre-Raphaelite painters whose work I used in the video:

Frederick Sandys, Queen Eleanor (1858)
Edmund Blair Leighton, God Speed (1900)

The jousting picture sandwiched between the PRB is from the Codex Manesse (on parchment material -XIV century) showing Duke John from Brabant going to battle.

Once again, thank you for your support and I'll be back soon. Nanu nanu.

NOTE: I am not an expert on Marie de France, I am not a medievalist. I am making these videos as a reaction to what I have read as I work my way through the Norton Anthology on the Middle Ages. These videos should be seen for what they are, the kind of presentation one would give in a graduate seminar to show what one has been learning about.

#booktube #bookreview #poetry