MARIE OF FRANCE. - A French poetess who lived in England in the second half of the 12th century, about whom no precise dates are known.
Around 1165 she dedicated her *Lais* to Henry of England; after 1170 she translated from English and dedicated to a Count William a collection of fables in verse, the *Ysopet*. Her *Lais*, of which only twelve are certainly hers, are brief narratives of adventure and love; the themes of this poetry are almost all of Breton and Gaelic origin. They contain the same chivalric ideals, the same events, and often the same characters as the Breton cycle. Among the *Lais* certainly belonging to M. of France are *Lai de Lanval*, *Lai de Eliduc*, and *Lai du Chèvrefeuil*, the latter of which reprises the legend of Tristan and Iseult.
Another work by M. of France is the *Espurgatoire st Patriz*, a French verse translation of Henry of Saltrey’s *Tractatus de Purgatorio s. Patricii*, one of those visions of the afterlife so frequent in medieval literature.