The following is an excerpt from a two volume work by the Reverend Francis Uriah Lot called 'The Island of Avalon'. The Book sets out to show the close relationship between Marie of France AKA.... Marie Countess of Champagne and Henry Blois the uncle of her Husband.
Hence the relationship found between her work and that which Henry Blois propagated which now constitutes the genre of work known as the 'Matiere de Bretagne' which derives from the earliest Grail stories.
You can also see the updated 2019 information at https://geoffreyofmonmouth.com/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Island-Avalon-concerning-Geoffrey-ebook/dp/B011NWHSR6
Marie of France,
the medieval poet is also known as Marie Countess of Champagne 1145 –1198…. as
her married name. She was the elder daughter of Louis VII of France by his
first wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Scholars today think that Marie of France, the poet, lived in England
because she wrote at an undisclosed court and mentions places in England; but,
like Henry Blois secret authorship of many tracts, she has half hidden her identity.
At about 25 years old c.1165, Marie was married to the eldest of Henry Blois’ nephews by his brother Theobald and Marie was involved in writing poems which are directly related to the Arthuriana, which came by way of her husband’s Uncle.
Marie's work mainly embodies love and lust from a female perspective in the chivalric era. Her work was known at the Royal court of King Henry II as Marie’s mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine and Marie writes: In your honour, most noble and courteous King, to whom joy is a handmaid, and in whose heart all gracious things are rooted, I have brought together these Lays, and told my tales in seemly rhyme. Ere they speak for me, let me speak with my own mouth, and say, "Sire, I offer you these verses. If you are pleased to receive them, the fairer happiness will be mine, and the more lightly I shall go all the days of my life. Do not deem that I think more highly of myself than I ought to think, since I presume to proffer this, my gift." Hearken now to the commencement of the matter.
At about 25 years old c.1165, Marie was married to the eldest of Henry Blois’ nephews by his brother Theobald and Marie was involved in writing poems which are directly related to the Arthuriana, which came by way of her husband’s Uncle.
Marie's work mainly embodies love and lust from a female perspective in the chivalric era. Her work was known at the Royal court of King Henry II as Marie’s mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine and Marie writes: In your honour, most noble and courteous King, to whom joy is a handmaid, and in whose heart all gracious things are rooted, I have brought together these Lays, and told my tales in seemly rhyme. Ere they speak for me, let me speak with my own mouth, and say, "Sire, I offer you these verses. If you are pleased to receive them, the fairer happiness will be mine, and the more lightly I shall go all the days of my life. Do not deem that I think more highly of myself than I ought to think, since I presume to proffer this, my gift." Hearken now to the commencement of the matter.
Scholars
have dated Marie's works to between about 1160 and 1215. It is probable that
the Lais were written c.1165 and they are dedicated to a "noble
King" who presumably is her step father. We might even posit that she
refers to her own Father but this seems doubtful. This is again, a classic case
of scholarship closing its eyes and steering everyone in the wrong direction
decreeing virtually nothing is known of her life.
She was also an older maternal half-sister to William IX, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King and Richard I of England. She is steeped in Henry Blois’ Arthuriana and is one of his main conduits for spreading histoires of his alter-ego Arthur. It was also at her court the chivalric Arthur from 'Geoffrey's' HRB underwent the transition to become the protagonist of Henry Blois’s Grail material.
The earliest forms of the 'soup' of Grail literature was propagated by the likes of Chrétien (and his continuators) and Robert de Boron. Writing about 1165, long before King Arthur was dug up at Glastonbury, Marie of France reflects an era of transition just before the Grail becomes a major feature in the European courts. Lanval is a poor knight at King Arthur's court, mixing with Gawain and Guinevere and a host of others brought to life by Henry Blois through his poems read at court (in some part orally transmitted) and through possibly three written works. But, more specifically, Marie of France knows of 'Avalon' and employs the iconic island and is devising poems about characters that were initiated by Henry Blois while Henry the Bishop of Winchester is still alive. It is for this reason that Chrétien and his continuators refer to Master Blehis. It is not by accident that Robert de Boron knows of Chrétien. It is also hardly surprising the author of the Elucidation quotes both a 'Master Blihos ' and a knight Blihos-Bliheris. We could speculate that it was Henry Blois’s influence which encouraged Marie to feature Avalon as the place of unknown whereabouts: The Bretons tell that the knight was ravished by his lady to an island, very dim and very fair, known as Avalon.
She was also an older maternal half-sister to William IX, Count of Poitiers, Henry the Young King and Richard I of England. She is steeped in Henry Blois’ Arthuriana and is one of his main conduits for spreading histoires of his alter-ego Arthur. It was also at her court the chivalric Arthur from 'Geoffrey's' HRB underwent the transition to become the protagonist of Henry Blois’s Grail material.
The earliest forms of the 'soup' of Grail literature was propagated by the likes of Chrétien (and his continuators) and Robert de Boron. Writing about 1165, long before King Arthur was dug up at Glastonbury, Marie of France reflects an era of transition just before the Grail becomes a major feature in the European courts. Lanval is a poor knight at King Arthur's court, mixing with Gawain and Guinevere and a host of others brought to life by Henry Blois through his poems read at court (in some part orally transmitted) and through possibly three written works. But, more specifically, Marie of France knows of 'Avalon' and employs the iconic island and is devising poems about characters that were initiated by Henry Blois while Henry the Bishop of Winchester is still alive. It is for this reason that Chrétien and his continuators refer to Master Blehis. It is not by accident that Robert de Boron knows of Chrétien. It is also hardly surprising the author of the Elucidation quotes both a 'Master Blihos ' and a knight Blihos-Bliheris. We could speculate that it was Henry Blois’s influence which encouraged Marie to feature Avalon as the place of unknown whereabouts: The Bretons tell that the knight was ravished by his lady to an island, very dim and very fair, known as Avalon.
Marie's parents' marriage was annulled in 1152, and
custody of Marie and her sister Alix was awarded to their father, King Louis.
Their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine re-married King Henry II. In 1160 her
father, King Louis VII also re-married to Adele of Champagne just five weeks after his previous wife, Constance of Castile had died
in childbirth. Queen Adèle was the
mother of Louis VII's only son, Philip II, who was Marie’s step brother. Adele of Champagne was the daughter of Theobald II, Count of Champagne, and was
named after her grandmother, Adela of Normandy, (Henry Blois' mother). As a
marital arrangement for his new wife Adele, King Louis VII betrothed Marie and Alix to Adele's
brothers (the sons of Theobald), Henry Blois’ nephews. Even though Marie attended the abbey of Avenay
in Champagne to further her education, she still held court with her husband
and had a large library. It was at this court Chrétien de Troyes heard Henry’s expansion
from Arthuriana into Grail lore where both Robert and Chrétien derived
their material.
So, in 1164, Marie married Henry Blois’ nephew
Henry Ist Count of Champagne and they had four children, one of which was also
named Marie of Champagne, who died 1204 not long after her mother, but, she is
not the source of the Lais. Marie of France was also a patron of authors, including
Andreas Capellanus, who served in her court, and Chrétien de Troyes and she may
well have been the source or connection to the Grail book which Chrétien
suggests came from Philip of Flanders. Philip may also have been the patron of
Chrétien while Chrétien was writing his last romance ‘Percival and the story of
the Grail’. In the opening lines, Chrétien heaps laudatory praise on Philip for
having provided him with the book he adapted into the "best tale ever told
in a royal court". Chrétien's work, which was obviously begun sometime before
Philip's death, remains unfinished but the continuators aver that the original
comes from Master Blehis/ Blihos.
Henry
Blois had many royal connections to Flanders from where the Perlesvaus scripts seem
to emanate, and Henry was a great uncle of Philip. Marie of France was literate in Anglo- Norman French and Latin and this may be the
reason that Latin originals are posited by continuators. A deep relationship
existed between Marie and her half-brother, the future Richard I of England and
his celebrated poem J'a nuns hons pris. This lamenting his captivity in
Austria (at the time Arthur’s body was dug up at Glastonbury), was dedicated to
Marie.
It
is in the opening lines of the poem Guigemar that she first reveals her name to
be Marie….. she refers to herself "Marie
ai num, si sui de France," - ‘My name is Marie, and I am from France’.
Modern scholars seem to have assumed she is otherwise a different person from Marie of
Champagne because they have determined that she lived in England.... not
Blois is the author of Geoffrey's HRB).
She,
like Henry Blois does not wish her views expressed in her Lais to be attached to herself; so, she explicitly hides behind her name
as she was known before she was married. Marie from France could be anyone
called Marie who is from Ile de France.
As Henry Blois provided a source for ‘Geoffrey’ so that… should he ever have been found out, the source material was written by another…. so too, Marie claims in the prologues to most of her Lais (too often with too much ado[1]) that she has heard the stories from Breton minstrels. It is not by accident that so few positive indications of her circumstance are given in her poems for this is purposefully hidden. For a woman in the twelfth century to express herself publicly (especially with such avante garde views) was almost impossible, so, Marie hid behind the fact that others supposedly composed the themes.
The secretive authorship was instigated so that themes feminine could be expressed, but seemingly appear to derive from jongleurs. If Marie were not wealthy (and really was just an ordinary poet in England)…. how easily she transfers her acclaim for such poetry to another and how intricately she represents the sentiments of the female aristocrat.
The obvious reason for doing this is that the views expressed are not traceable to her and purposefully pretend not reflect her own experiences. Marie’s adulterous sentiments which pervade the works are personal reflections dramatized. It is also probable Marie is trying to rationalize her own mother’s divorce from Louis VII and explores the problems of love in highborn women in loveless marriage reflecting the modern female sentiments of those of her friends and family.
As Henry Blois provided a source for ‘Geoffrey’ so that… should he ever have been found out, the source material was written by another…. so too, Marie claims in the prologues to most of her Lais (too often with too much ado[1]) that she has heard the stories from Breton minstrels. It is not by accident that so few positive indications of her circumstance are given in her poems for this is purposefully hidden. For a woman in the twelfth century to express herself publicly (especially with such avante garde views) was almost impossible, so, Marie hid behind the fact that others supposedly composed the themes.
The secretive authorship was instigated so that themes feminine could be expressed, but seemingly appear to derive from jongleurs. If Marie were not wealthy (and really was just an ordinary poet in England)…. how easily she transfers her acclaim for such poetry to another and how intricately she represents the sentiments of the female aristocrat.
The obvious reason for doing this is that the views expressed are not traceable to her and purposefully pretend not reflect her own experiences. Marie’s adulterous sentiments which pervade the works are personal reflections dramatized. It is also probable Marie is trying to rationalize her own mother’s divorce from Louis VII and explores the problems of love in highborn women in loveless marriage reflecting the modern female sentiments of those of her friends and family.
The
Fables, another of Marie’s works, is dedicated to a "Count
William", who may have been either William of Mandeville who grew up with
Philip of Flanders. More likely, Count William, may refer to William Longsword, the
illegitimate son of Henry II. As Marie was Henry II's half-sister, through
Eleanor of Aquitaine, a dedication to his son is a feasible possibility. The English poet Denis Piramus mentions in
his Life of Saint Edmund the King, (written c.1180) that the Lais of a Marie were popular at court: "And also Dame Marie, who turned into
rhyme and made verses of 'Lays' which are not in the least true. For these she
is much praised, and her rhyme is loved everywhere; for counts, barons, and
knights greatly admire it, and hold it dear. And they love her writing so much,
and take such pleasure in it, that they have it read, and often copied. These
Lays are wont to please ladies, who listen to them with delight, for they are
after their own hearts."
The presence of an Anglo-Norman dialect in her
writings and the survival of many of her texts in England suggest that she and
Henry Blois may well have promoted (exchanged) each others works. Three of the
five surviving manuscript copies of the Lais are written in continental
French. It seems silly for scholars to insist the writer of the Lais is any
other than Marie de France, sister of Alix of France and to imply that she
was English or from England.
One can assume she is highborn by the
rationalisation of employing her time to some good purpose rather than
succumbing to a life of idleness:
Whoever wants to be safe from vice should
study and learn (heed this advice) and undertake some difficult labor; then trouble
is a distant neighbor-- from great sorrows one can escape. Thus my idea began
to take shape: I'd find some good story or song to translate from Latin into
our tongue. (prologue)
The
setting for Marie's Lais is the
Celtic world, but this is based initially on the stage set by Henry Blois as the initiator of the primordial Grail literature and the manufacturer of King Arthur's grave at Glastonbury (as I covered earlier).
Marie reflects the feminine embellishments of Arthurian romances. Henry Blois (originally as ‘Geoffrey’) creates the Chivalric Arthur in HRB.... and then post 1158 expanded upon this idea in romance material expressed through Master Blehis orally and in written verse. In most of Marie de France’s Lais, love is associated with suffering and most stories involve an adulterous or improper relationship. Rather than the male orientated jousts, battles of Knights and adventures reflecting the male aspects of the Arthurian stage…. Marie opens up the lot of women in her writing. Essentially, she focuses on the feminine aspect set in the same Arthurian romance era.
Marie reflects the feminine embellishments of Arthurian romances. Henry Blois (originally as ‘Geoffrey’) creates the Chivalric Arthur in HRB.... and then post 1158 expanded upon this idea in romance material expressed through Master Blehis orally and in written verse. In most of Marie de France’s Lais, love is associated with suffering and most stories involve an adulterous or improper relationship. Rather than the male orientated jousts, battles of Knights and adventures reflecting the male aspects of the Arthurian stage…. Marie opens up the lot of women in her writing. Essentially, she focuses on the feminine aspect set in the same Arthurian romance era.
In Bisclavret
and Equitan the adulterous lovers are
severely condemned, but there is evidence (based on the personal dramatization
of her own lusts) that Marie approved of extramarital affairs in some
instances. It is plain that Marie, like her mother, was lustful. She puts the handsomeness
of men on an equal footing as the beauty of women; where women ravish men and
yet women have the power to besot men. She knows what it means to lust after men
and express this appetite in Yonec. Yet,
more frequently, it is the women in her tales that have power over men through
their beauty and condescend to sharing their body to satisfy the male lust.
If Marie of Champagne’s husband Henry spent time away, surely the
pre-occupations of adultery would be a cause for her rationalizing such
scenarios in her poetry.
However, Henry of Champagne made his court at
Champagne one of the most powerful of the era and the Count's
court at Troyes became a renowned literary centre where the likes of Walter Map
was among those who found hospitality there.
As I mentioned before, after the
death of Count Thibaut II of Champagne, (Henry Blois’
brother) in 1152, Henry Blois would have become the elder or father figure to Henry of
Champagne. To my mind, between Count Henry and his wife, much of the
proliferation of Henry Blois’ propaganda can be witnessed to have been
perpetuated and embellished as a direct result of being told at their court and proliferated by the people
who frequented it.
I have speculated elsewhere that the Tristan and Isolde poem
originated with Henry Blois. This is based upon the common links of Merlin,
Tintagel, and Isolde. We know also from John of Cornwall’s rendition of the Merlin
prophecies (written also by Henry Blois) that Henry has been in Cornwall and thus locates Arthur’s Camlann
battle near Tintagel. Thus, where Marie is concerned we can speculate that her
reference to Tristan and Isolde in Chevrefoil is based on her having obtained
this story from Henry Blois directly.
From the
view point of Henry Blois, any furtherance of the fictional Chivalric Arthur
and his knights could only increase the groundswell of interest and further
provide an historical backdrop for his chivalric invention in HRB. What existed once
in the seedling of the Primary Historia found at Bec (the version of HRB related by Huntingdon in EAW)….
a brief account of chivalric Arthur
(thirty five years previously) had then blossomed, so that the vestiges of
Arthur the Warlord and the Arthur understood in ‘the hope of the Bretons’ had
become synthesized and expressed as one with Henry’s fully developed Chivalric
Arthur told by Master Bohis/Blehis.
It seems fairly obvious in Lanval that Marie exposes herself as pretending to source her material from the Breton minstrels when it is obvious she is recounting not only Geoffrey’s work but also that of Wace (see chapter on Wace): King Arthur was staying at Carduel-- That King of valiant and courtly estate-- His borders there he guarded well against the Pict, against the Scot, who would cross into Logres to devastate the countryside often, and a lot. He held court there at Pentecost, the summer feast we call Whitsun, giving gifts of impressive cost to every count and each baron and all knights of the Round Table. Yet, to fully understand this.... one has to be cognizant of the fact that the Bishop of Winchester is both the author of the Roman de Brut (not the Roman de Rou) and Geoffrey of Monmouth's HRB.
It seems fairly obvious in Lanval that Marie exposes herself as pretending to source her material from the Breton minstrels when it is obvious she is recounting not only Geoffrey’s work but also that of Wace (see chapter on Wace): King Arthur was staying at Carduel-- That King of valiant and courtly estate-- His borders there he guarded well against the Pict, against the Scot, who would cross into Logres to devastate the countryside often, and a lot. He held court there at Pentecost, the summer feast we call Whitsun, giving gifts of impressive cost to every count and each baron and all knights of the Round Table. Yet, to fully understand this.... one has to be cognizant of the fact that the Bishop of Winchester is both the author of the Roman de Brut (not the Roman de Rou) and Geoffrey of Monmouth's HRB.
Logres is 'Geoffrey’s' invention of Arthur’s kingdom
as well as the mythical state fair at Caerleon and Henry Blois is also responsible for
the invention of the round table. Likewise, we can see Marie of France carrying out
the same ploy as Henry Blois in pretending the source of her material is from
elsewhere. No doubt it is Henry Blois who advises her to express herself
fully under the cloak of secrecy. Marie of France writing after 1164 (when she
became Countess Marie of Champagne) publishes her work under her own former
appellation which just so happens to be a nom description of any other person called ‘Marie
from France’. Yet, if she were from Isle de France….why, (because of the
language she uses and the English backdrop) do scholars assume she is writing
to Henry II.
Of course, in reality, she was writing to him (as the undefined king) as he is her stepfather and married to her mother. In Marie’s lai titled Yonec, we could speculate that Henry Blois may well have intoned to Marie that Arthur was in a tomb. Apart from the mound (which can be equated to Glastonbury Tor), her mistreated lady locked in the tower has her lover Knight that is buried in a tomb in an abbey. He is un-named, yet he was the king of the country and she is buried beside him at her death. Is this derived from seed material which put Arthur and Guinevere at Avalon as described in the colophon in Perlesvaus?
Of course, in reality, she was writing to him (as the undefined king) as he is her stepfather and married to her mother. In Marie’s lai titled Yonec, we could speculate that Henry Blois may well have intoned to Marie that Arthur was in a tomb. Apart from the mound (which can be equated to Glastonbury Tor), her mistreated lady locked in the tower has her lover Knight that is buried in a tomb in an abbey. He is un-named, yet he was the king of the country and she is buried beside him at her death. Is this derived from seed material which put Arthur and Guinevere at Avalon as described in the colophon in Perlesvaus?
Marie of France expressed in her poetry what
transpired around her and what she had seen in her mother’s own love life (who
was known to be highly sexed). Marie captivates the female court audience with
adulterous affairs, women of high stature like her mother who seduced other
men, women seeking escape from a loveless marriage. Marie wrote the Lais
expressing her own risqué sentiments
that were contrary to the traditions of the Church, and marriage and therefore….
the Lais are posited as stories
having been told by others i.e. Breton minstrels (or those translated from a supposed previous Latin version): This adventure chanced in Brittany, and in remembrance thereof the
Bretons made a Lay, which I heard sung by the minstrel to the music of his
rote.
The ploy is that what is expressed cannot be accounted as the feelings and views of Marie of Champagne, but the stories and the avante-garde views originate with minstrels: Many a one, on many a day, the minstrel has chanted to my ear. I would not that they should perish, forgotten, by the roadside. In my turn, therefore, I have made of them a song, rhymed as well as I am able, and often has their shaping kept me sleepless in my bed.
Again, another example is found in Bisclavret where Marie re-affirms the lais are not of her imagination: Some time later (not very long, I think, unless I heard it wrong), The King went riding in the wood….
The ploy is that what is expressed cannot be accounted as the feelings and views of Marie of Champagne, but the stories and the avante-garde views originate with minstrels: Many a one, on many a day, the minstrel has chanted to my ear. I would not that they should perish, forgotten, by the roadside. In my turn, therefore, I have made of them a song, rhymed as well as I am able, and often has their shaping kept me sleepless in my bed.
Again, another example is found in Bisclavret where Marie re-affirms the lais are not of her imagination: Some time later (not very long, I think, unless I heard it wrong), The King went riding in the wood….
There is
no proper way that a woman could express the feelings of lust and love in
beguiling circumstances and be the respectable wife of a Count and not be
accused of owning much of the emotional impropriety witnessed in her poetry.
The only way of expressing herself is to disown the provenance of the material
avowing (too frequently) that the tales derive from Breton conteurs. What seems evident is that Marie did hear Breton Jongleurs
and to my mind where Chaitivel and Laustic are concerned, an original lai existed. In Chaitivel, Marie tackles
every women’s dilemma (as propriety dictates only one suitor), by having four
lovers all at once…. and desire fulfilled from four loves.
The
Lais also exhibit the idea of a
stronger female role and the power of the feminine, which is exactly as Henry Blois viewed women….
as his own mother was the power broker of the Blois region. To my mind, Henry
encouraged Marie and propagated her poems in Britain. At her own court his own
seedlings of the Grail legends were born, coalesced and initially propagated. We
are reliably informed by experts that the essence of Marie’s stories is of
Celtic (rather than of Breton) origin when neither is categorically true.
Marie
of Champagne was the former Marie of France. It seems only fair to propose that
she and Henry Blois knew each other well as she feels at liberty to use what is
a Chivalric Arthurian background to convey her feminine sentiments by using icons and
characters which in all likelihood came from the uncle of her Husband. That Marie uses Avalon
as a mystical island where Lanval lands on the lady's palfrey, and the two ride together to
Avalon…. an island, very dim and very fair, known as Avalon and are never seen again…. indicates that the man who
invented Avalon (as this mystical isle) has encouraged her to write the Lais and she understands his symbolism. (As I covered earlier, Henry Blois is responsible for the interpolations which constitute the first 34 chapters of William of Malmesbury's De Antiquitates which was dedicated to Henry Blois)
That Marie of France and Countess Marie of Champagne
are one and the same and are both concerned with affairs of the heart (and
female and male love) is obviated on the one side by the content of Marie of
France’s Lais. On the other hand there
is clear evidence that Countess Marie of Champagne as the same person (as Marie of France) is called
to judge (as an authority) the affairs of love clearly indicated by the
following letter from a certain noble women A and Count G:
To the illustrious
and wise woman M., Countess of Champagne, the noble woman A. and Count G. send
greeting and whatever in the world is more pleasing.
Ancient custom shows us plainly, and the way of life of the ancients demands, that if we are to have justice done we should seek first of all in the place where Wisdom is clearly known to have found a home for herself and that we should seek for the truth of reason at its source, where it is abundant, rather than beg for its decisions where it flowers scantily in small streams. For a great poverty of possessions can scarcely offer to anyone a wealth of good things or distribute an abundance of fertility. Where the master is oppressed by great want it is wholly impossible for the vassal to abound in wealth.
Now on a certain day, as we sat under the shade of a pine tree of marvellous height and great breadth of spread, devoted wholly to love's idleness and striving to investigate Love's mandates in a good-tempered and spirited debate, we began to discern a twofold doubt, and we wearied ourselves with laborious arguments as to whether true love can find any place between husband and wife and whether jealousy flourishing between two lovers ought to be approved of. After we had argued the matter back and forth and each of us seemed to bolster up his position with reasonable arguments, neither one would give in to the other or agree with the arguments he brought forward. We ask you to settle this dispute, and we have sent you both sides of the question in detail, so that after you have carefully examined the truth of it our disagreement may be brought to a satisfactory end and settled by a fair decision. For knowing clearly and in manifest truth that you have a great abundance of wisdom and that you would not want to deprive anyone of justice, we believe that we will in no wise be deprived of it; we most urgently implore Your Excellency's decision, and we desire with all our hearts, begging you most humbly by our present address, that you will give continued attention to our case and that Your Prudence will render a fair decision in the matter without making any delay in giving the verdict.
Ancient custom shows us plainly, and the way of life of the ancients demands, that if we are to have justice done we should seek first of all in the place where Wisdom is clearly known to have found a home for herself and that we should seek for the truth of reason at its source, where it is abundant, rather than beg for its decisions where it flowers scantily in small streams. For a great poverty of possessions can scarcely offer to anyone a wealth of good things or distribute an abundance of fertility. Where the master is oppressed by great want it is wholly impossible for the vassal to abound in wealth.
Now on a certain day, as we sat under the shade of a pine tree of marvellous height and great breadth of spread, devoted wholly to love's idleness and striving to investigate Love's mandates in a good-tempered and spirited debate, we began to discern a twofold doubt, and we wearied ourselves with laborious arguments as to whether true love can find any place between husband and wife and whether jealousy flourishing between two lovers ought to be approved of. After we had argued the matter back and forth and each of us seemed to bolster up his position with reasonable arguments, neither one would give in to the other or agree with the arguments he brought forward. We ask you to settle this dispute, and we have sent you both sides of the question in detail, so that after you have carefully examined the truth of it our disagreement may be brought to a satisfactory end and settled by a fair decision. For knowing clearly and in manifest truth that you have a great abundance of wisdom and that you would not want to deprive anyone of justice, we believe that we will in no wise be deprived of it; we most urgently implore Your Excellency's decision, and we desire with all our hearts, begging you most humbly by our present address, that you will give continued attention to our case and that Your Prudence will render a fair decision in the matter without making any delay in giving the verdict.
[1]
1) Hearken now
to the Lay that once I heard a minstrel chanting to his harp. In surety of its
truth I will name the city where this story passed.
2) Listen, oh Lordlings, to the words of Marie, for she pains herself grievously not to forget this thing.
3) Now will I tell you a story, whereof the Breton harper already has made a Lay.
4) Now will I rehearse before you a very ancient Breton Lay. As the tale was told to me, so, in turn, will I tell it over again.
5) I will tell you the story of another Lay. It relates the adventures of a rich and mighty baron, and the Breton calls it, the Lay of Sir Launfal.
6) The story of their love was bruited so abroad, that the Bretons made a song in their own tongue, and named this song the Lay of the Two Lovers. Etc…
2) Listen, oh Lordlings, to the words of Marie, for she pains herself grievously not to forget this thing.
3) Now will I tell you a story, whereof the Breton harper already has made a Lay.
4) Now will I rehearse before you a very ancient Breton Lay. As the tale was told to me, so, in turn, will I tell it over again.
5) I will tell you the story of another Lay. It relates the adventures of a rich and mighty baron, and the Breton calls it, the Lay of Sir Launfal.
6) The story of their love was bruited so abroad, that the Bretons made a song in their own tongue, and named this song the Lay of the Two Lovers. Etc…
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