A Second Flowering of the Old French Lais

Abstract

The late Old French Lai de l’Ombre, Lai du Conseil, and Lai d’Amours represent a second flowering of the lais, very different from the first flowering under Marie de France in the last third of the twelfth century. Marie’s early successors were on the whole imitative of her, but these three late lais, written probably in the second decade of the thirteenth century, attained a second flowering of their own. They had relinquished the Breton material of the earlier lais, and did not concern themselves with men experiencing aventures. Instead, they interested themselves in the portrayal of women, especially women as the ones who controlled sexual relationships. They stand apart from the lais of their time in embracing the concept of love as essential to happiness and emotional fulfilment. Other lais around their time do not treat love so positively—some show it as primarily sexual desire, some show it as abortive or inappropriate, and some do not mention it at all. These three late lais briefly revitalized the genre in terms of their positive attitude to love, their originality, and their sophistication.