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Stolen Away by Fairies by Dorothy Trench Bonett Torch Magazine • Fall 2016 Stolen Away by Fairies By Dorothy Trench Bonett About eight hundred years ago, a and scholastic philosophy flourished. woman named Marie began writing a This was the atmosphere in which the series of short, narrative poems called first pioneers started writing books on lais. It was unusual that Marie could secular subjects, often in the vernaculars write—but not because she was female. that people spoke, rather than in Latin. Europe in the twelfth century was They tended to stay with “safe” subject undergoing some important social matter, though, and to stress not transformations, and one of these was innovation, but tradition. It was safest a spike in the number of literate people. to write on subject matter taken from But still, only a few had reading skills, the classical authors who had survived, and fewer still could write. Those in the “authorities” that medieval people, Dorothy Trench Bonett this elite minority were likely to be still very much in the shadow of Rome, connected in some way with the church trusted. History and classical legends Dorothy Trench Bonett is a graduate of (since the church was the reason that were what they liked most. Local Yale University, where she received both any literacy and any books at all had legends sometimes crept in under the her B.A. (1979) and her M.A. (1980). She attended l’Université de Paris VII (Denis been preserved from the wreck of the guise of “history,” but for someone to Diderot) during a junior year abroad. She Roman Empire), and if they were not deliberately use local folklore and also studied at the Taipei Language monks or nuns, readers and writers traditions in a written work was not Institute (1981). were always from the upper class. But common. She served on the Yale Alumni Board of definitely not always male. Book- Governors from 2010-2013 and was on learning not being a skill considered Marie, however, dared to do this. the Board of the Yale-China Association from 1987-1993. She has taught at necessary for a knight, the lady was the The themes and settings of her lais Mount Saint Mary’s University in person in the castle who was more were Celtic, and she used Celtic folklore Emmitsburg and at Hood College. likely to take an interest in books, in them—the kind of legends that the Dorothy’s translation of Alexandre whether devotional or what we would jongleur sang accompanied by his harp Dumas pere’s Charles VII at the Homes of now call “literature” (Pernoud 79). and his “rote” (a stringed instrument His Great Vassals was published in 1991 with a soundboard). The innovative by the Noble Press. The New England Poetry Club awarded her an Honorable nature of the lais can be seen in her Mention for the Der Hovanessian Trans- feeling compelled to justify at length in lation Award in 2006, and she has won Around the her prologue not her standing as a prizes for her original poems. woman writer, but her choice of subject She has been a member of the Torch year 1100, matter. Club of Frederick, Maryland since 2008 and has presented three papers there. Her European paper on Xu Zhimo, “China’s First Great How did Marie come to tell Celtic Modern Poet,” was published in the Winter civilization was stories? How did she even know them? 2016 Torch. She has been married to expanding and We cannot be certain; it cannot be too Michael Bonett, also a member of the strongly stressed that we know nothing Torch Club, since 1983, and they have flourishing. for certain about Marie, except that she three grown sons. included her name in the three texts Her paper was presented at the Frederick Torch Club on October 1, 2010. commonly attributed to her, the Lais, the Fables and l’Espurgatoire Seint And an interest in “literature” was Patriz. The name that she called herself developing at this time. Around the is simply ‘Marie’. We add ‘de France’ year 1100, European civilization was because she wrote, in some famous expanding and flourishing. The glor- lines at the end of the Fables: ious Gothic cathedrals began to be built; the first universities came into Me numerai pur remembrance, being; Henry II codified English law; Ai num Marie, si suis de France. 26 Torch Magazine • Fall 2016 Because of this statement, in 1561, have Breton names, the place descrip- people from the nineteenth and Claude Fauchet, in one of the first tions are accurate, and at least one of twentieth centuries who believed histories of French literature, gave her the legends that she claimed to have abduction by fairies to be was a real the surname by which she is still heard there (Deuz Amanz) was still possibility) that we can compare with known. being told by the local populace in Marie’s writings. Such a comparison Brittany in 1900. can tell us much not only about what When someone in Marie’s time has been called “the fairy-faith,” but wrote that they were from “France,” So the facts we can be (mostly) also about Marie and her authorial they meant the area that later became certain of are these. Marie, an educated intentions. known as the province of Ile-de-France. woman, wrote between c. 1160 and c. Marie must have been born there. She 1190. She was probably born in Ile-de- Lanval is a knight of the Round did not write in the francien dialect of France but travelled extensively in both Table, kind and brave and generous, that area, though (which would later England and Brittany. And she uses handsome and full of prowess. He is develop into standard modern French), settings that took a lot from Celtic a foreigner at Arthur’s court, and but in Norman, spoken only in the culture and folklore for her Lais, which although he fights valiantly with the duchy of Normandy and in England. are innovative works. king in the wars against the Scots and Since Marie used Anglo-Norman and Picts, when the King returns to even included, in some of her lais, a Caerleon and shares out the spoils, he word or two of English, we can assume forgets Lanval. The young knight has that she spent time in England. Lanval is no other means of sustenance than the a knight of the King’s largesse, so this places him in a She may have been part of the bad position. Also, the other knights Angevin court; she dedicated the Lais Round Table, ignore him. to a king who was probably Henry II Plantagenet. She may have been one of kind and So Lanval rides out of the city one the aristocrats who then traveled back brave and day and comes to a meadow. Cities in and forth between England and the his time are the safe places—when you parts of the Angevin empire in France. generous, leave their walls, and go out into the Certainly she always takes an aristocratic handsome untamed wild, anything might happen. point of view in her work—but she And of course, it does. The knight’s may have done so to appeal to her and full of horse refuses to enter the meadow, but audience. She was definitely educated. Lanval leaves the animal outside and She knew the standard Latin classics prowess. goes in alone. As he lies beside a river, and evidently read Latin because both two beautiful women come to him. the Fables and l’Espurgatoire are They lead him to a splendid pavilion, translations from that language. Some Marie wrote twelve lais, which where Lanval is greeted by a lady who have assumed because of this that she survive in five manuscripts. All have is even more beautiful than her was a nun, which is certainly possible Celtic settings, and four deal with the attendants. She comes from “a far (and would not preclude an aristocratic supernatural. In Bisclavret, the hero is off country” she says, but has been background), but with no concrete a werewolf. In Yonec, a lover can turn watching him. She offers him her love, evidence, it remains speculation. into a bird and fly to his mistress. The and they become lovers, Lanval hero of Guigemar hunts a white doe swearing eternal fidelity. Afterwards, Marie may have acquired some of that speaks to him, and sails in a boat he eats a meal with her. She dresses her knowledge about Celtic folklore which has no crew, yet pilots itself. him in magnificent clothes, tells him while in England. England borders Lanval deals with fairy abduction— that she has the power to grant his Wales and is separated only by a narrow and that brings us to the rich tradition wishes, and that she will always come channel from Ireland. Henry II that is the focus of this paper. to him when he summons her—on the conquered Ireland in 1171, and condition that he never tell anyone else l’Espurgatoire, written after this The theme of “going away with the about her. Lanval swears that he will conquest, is set at Lough Derg in fairies” or being “stolen away by fairies” not. He then returns to the town. Once County Kerry. However, no special is a long-lasting one in the folklore and there, he is able to show knightly knowledge of Ireland is displayed in the beliefs of the Celts, persisting even into generosity and to lavishly entertain. He Lais, and the background of this work modern times.
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