Marie De France Composed A Works Of The French Aquitanian...

From the works of the French Aquitanian and Champagnian troubadours, the framework/ideals of fin amour grew and spread throughout Europe, reaching the courts of Britain. As the conception of fin amour became increasingly popular amongst the literature of the aristocracy, writers such as, Andreas Capellanus wrote of the stages and rules of courtly love. Inspired by this movement in the culture and literature of court, the poet Marie de France composed a collection of romantic lays. In the â€Å"Breton Lays†, Marie presents her narratives as a guide for courtly lovers. For, each lay exhibits the problems, consequences, and rewards that can occur if a lady or knight does/or does not follow the three principles of fin amour which, as explained by the scholars Jeri S. Guthrie (1976) and F.R.P Akehurst (1995), include mezura (to have self-restraint and patience in love, to have discretion within an affair), joven (to be spontaneous in love, to woo with grand gestures and gifts), and cortezia (to follow the moral and societal rules of court). The first standard of courtly love Marie de France presents within â€Å"The Breton Lays† is mezura. Through the narratives of â€Å"Lanval† and â€Å"Yonec†, Marie reinforces the importance mezura plays in maintaining a courtly affair; she shows that being open about a relationship can lead to disaster. In the story of â€Å"Lanval†, Lanval breaks the principle of mezura by rashly exposing his affair with the amie to Queen Guinevere. When Guinevere propositions