Seven of Her Lays

Despite their modest size, the Lays of Marie de France are among the finest flowerings of Medieval French literature. They are charming, witty, and imbued with the code of courtly love. This new edition of Edith Rickert's translations will appeal to the general reader as much as the medievalist. Marie de France is thought to have been a noblewoman from the Isle de France or Normandy, living in England in the middle of the twelfth century. Her tales draw on the stories of Brittany and of her adopted country. Edith Rickert (1871-1938), a talented linguist and medievalist, received her degree from Vassar in 1891, and returned there in 1897 to teach English. She received a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1899. In 1900 she went to England where she combined academic research with a busy career as a professional writer. She returned to the United States in 1909 and later lectured at the University of Chicago. During the First World War, she worked as a codebreaker.