The Lais of Marie de France

“Anyone who has received from God the gift of knowledge and true eloquence has a duty not to remain silent: rather should one be happy to reveal such talents.”

Here, the narrator Marie presents her “eloquence” and ability to tell stories as a divine gift, rather than a talent that originates within her. This attitude is typical of devout medieval creators, who wished simultaneously to promote themselves and to show humility before God, the greatest creator of all. As a result of this distinction, Marie feels that it is her duty to share her eloquence with those bereft of this gift.

“I thought of lays which I had heard and did not doubt, for I knew it full well, that they were composed, by those who first began them and put them into circulation, to perpetrate the memory of adventures they had heard. I myself have heard a number of them and do not wish to overlook or neglect them.” 

The narrator Marie explains and defends her choice of subject matter: the Breton lays. She twice emphasizes having “heard” the lays, thus establishing her proximity to the oral source of the works. She claims that she “did not doubt” the lays in her collection, signaling that she believes them to be authentic and that there were other inauthentic lays that she discarded. However, the fact that her sources have also “heard” the works from elsewhere indicates that the origin of the authentic lays is inaccessible. Rather than positively affirm that the lays are worthwhile and worth the reader’s time, she opts for the modest assertion that she does “not wish to overlook or neglect them.” Arguably, this understatement is a performance of humility, designed to flatter the king to whom the collection is dedicated.