Critical Introduction

Marie de France is among the most prominent authors of Old French texts and a rare female author whose name is known to us from the Middle Ages. Her Lais are a series of short narrative poems of romance and adventure. She wrote in twelfth-century England, where French was the language of the aristocracy, and she tells us that one of her goals is to preserve oral Breton tales—in the local dialect of Brittany—which she has translated into French, with some notes in English to clarify points of difficulty in the translations. Beyond her texts, we know little or nothing about Marie (“Marie de France” is actually a name given to her long after her death); the texts, however, attest to her literacy in multiple languages, and her sophistication is made clear in the complexity and humour of the Lais.

The Lais often focus on animals, but a few centre on monsters. Yonec is the tale of a hawk-man, and Bisclavret, the lay featured here, is a werewolf tale. She explains that “bisclavret” is the Breton term for what is, in Old French, “garulf,” that is, “man-wolf.” He is a lycanthrope, a person who can or must take on animal form. This is the tale of a baron who has wealth, status, and a loving wife, but also a secret: he periodically turns into a wolf. Perhaps surprisingly, the baron views this as a source of joy rather than a curse. This is an example of what are called “sympathetic werewolf “ narratives in which the werewolf, whether he feels pleased with his transformations or cursed by them, is the hero of the narrative.

Bisclavret does not physically become a hybrid man-wolf being, as do most werewolves in modern narratives. When he transforms, it is into a wolf, albeit one who “possesses understanding and intelligence.” He remains, it seems, fully in control of his actions when in his wolf form, which Marie informs us is quite unusual for a werewolf. In this story, full of intrigue, romance, and violence, the basic wonder that the baron can transform himself into a wolf is taken in stride. The focus is as much on marital (often misogynist) and feudal relationships among the characters.