Albrecht Classen
University of Arizona, USA. ORCID: 0000-0002-3878-319X. Email: aclassen@arizona.edu
Volume 12, Number 2, April-June, 2020 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n2.01
Abstract:
While medievalists have long recognized Marie de France’s extraordinary literary abilities, we have not yet fully identified the extent to which she stood up as a social critic who attacked many social ills within her society, not holding back in her sharp attacks both against the figure of the king and against the powerful nobles of her time. Only if we combine her lais and her fables in our analysis, can we gain a full understanding of the far-reaching discourse about the danger of abuse of power at the hand of the mighty and rich in the high Middle Ages. Although we tend to identify that past era as deeply remote from us, as repressive, simple-minded, and submissive, Marie’s strong criticism of the abuses by the high-ranking contemporaries sheds important light on a world that was not really that far away from us in many different ways, with many intellectuals already extensively aware about social injustice and the danger of tyranny.
Keywords: Marie de France, court criticism, criticism of the king, lais, fables