French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France
Chapter 1 of 18 Introduction
- Running time
- 7 h 29 min
- Language
- English
- Readers
- Alisson Veldhuis, Barry O'Neill, Bellona Times, Linda Hogan, Ted Garvin and 2 others
- Translated by
- Eugene Mason
Chapters
About this recording
The tales included in this little book of translations are derived mainly from the "Lays" of Marie de France. I do not profess them to be a complete collection of her stories in verse. The ascription varies. Poems which were included in her work but yesterday are withdrawn to-day, and new matter suggested by scholars to take the place of the old. I believe it to be, however, a far fuller version of Marie's "Lays" than has yet appeared, to my knowledge, in English. Marie's poems are concerned chiefly with love. To complete my book I have added two famous mediaeval stories on the same excellent theme. This, then, may be regarded as a volume of French romances, dealing, generally, with one aspect of mediaeval life. (Summary by Eugene Mason, from his preface to Lays of Marie de France)