MARIE DE FRANCE 



were read and prized for at least a century and 

 more is evident from the manuscripts five in 

 number, and all of the thirteenth, or the beginning 

 of the fourteenth, century which still exist. 

 Her renown, too, had travelled even beyond the 

 seas, for in about A.D. 1245 a translation of 

 her lays into Norse was made by order of the 

 king, Haakon the Fourth. The fact that their 

 popularity began to wane after a hundred years 

 or so is in no wise an adverse criticism of their 

 intrinsic worth, for in the fourteenth century 

 English was, in high places, beginning to take 

 the place of French, and naturally the demand 

 created a supply. But even if this had not been 

 so, Marie's work had served its purpose, and of 

 necessity passed into the crucible of human 

 thought and expression, to be resolved into 

 matter suited to other needs and conditions. As 

 has been well said, " les siecles se succedent, et 

 chacun porte son fruit, qui n'est pas celui du 

 siecle precedent : les livres sont les fruits des 



moeurs." 



Of the five manuscripts still extant, two are 

 in the British Museum. One of these is the 

 most complete that has come down to us, seeing 

 that, in addition to its including the largest 

 number of lays twelve in all, it alone contains 

 the prologue, in which for a moment the illusive 

 Marie lifts, as it were, her all-enshrouding veil. 

 It is a small manuscript, beautifully inscribed, 

 and even after its seven hundred years of 

 existence, as fresh as is the love enshrined in 



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