ng the
simplicity of the fundamental theme. It is doubtful whether any one
unacquainted with the teaching of the Courts of Love, such as they
were in the twelfth century, would have made the compulsory quest of
love the keynote of a story, as, for instance, Marie does in the "Lay
of Guigemar." These Courts of Love, though not so elaborate, yet
seemingly as imperious, as those of the fourteenth century, formed one
of the semi-serious pastimes of the Middle Ages, and although it may
be that they were often mere forms of entertainment, no
self-respecting person could afford to disregard their rules or
decisions. The cardinal doctrine was that love was necessary to a
man's moral, social, and aesthetic training. Hence if it did not arise
of itself, it must be sought for, and, like its counterpart in the
spiritual world, come at, if needs be, through much tribulation.

Owing to Henry's possessions in France through inheritance, marriage,
and the many ties of relationship which united the royal families of
both countries, England and France were never more closely allied
than they were at that time. French was established by them as the
speech of the cultured and the high-born. The Norman Conquest had made
us more cosmopolitan in both manners and ideas. May we not look on the
victory at Hastings as a symbol as well as a reality? Did it not mean
for us a spiritual as well as a material conquest, since, mingled with
the clashing of battle-axes, was to be heard the chanting of the
_Chanson de Roland_? Moreover, through a desire to bring about
uniformity of sentiment and service, the Church, though perhaps
unconsciously, aided this good work of general enlargement of outlook
by appointing outsiders to control our abbeys and religious
foundations. Thus, in the latter half of the twelfth century, the
romantic movement which characterised late mediaeval literature stirred
in England and France alike, and Marie was one of its truest and
daintiest exponents. Although what she relates may be fiction
intermingled with myth and magic, she all the same pictures on her
somewhat small canvases the ideas of her time, and so helps to make
history.

[Illustration: _Photo. Macbeth._

ADD. MS. 10293, BRIT. MUS.

_To face page 34._]

Marie's readers and hearers were naturally to be found amongst
castle-folk. That these were many we may conclude from the fact that
the number of castles had already come to be regarded as a menace to
the cent