Marie was an educated woman for her time; she knew Latin, French and English. Her works show that she was very acquainted with Latin and Greek fables as well as vernacular works from her time period. Since we know so little about her we can only assume she had affluence. She had knowledge of languages with access to manuscripts and texts.

The Lais were influenced from celtic sources as well as Wace's Brute, Roman d'Enéas and works by Ovid. (Kibler 589-591) We can see where Marie got her influence from Wace's Brute for many reasons. The first is that he wrote the tale in a vernacular language which we know that Marie was familiar with. The tale is also the first to mention the legend of King Arthur's Round table. Marie glorified King Arthur's court in many of her stories so we can see the correlation between the two and the influence Wace had over Marie. Roman d'Enéas was another work that Marie got ideas from for her works. The tale of Roman d'Enéas is about a hero who is the founder of Rome. On a break from his wanderings he meets the Queen of Carthage, Dido, and wants to marry her even though he is supposed to continue his journey to Italy to marry the king's daughter, princess Lavine.

There is one major influence for the Fables that Marie wrote, Romulus and Remus. This is a tale about the two twin brother's who founded Rome. The legend describes Rome's moral values. All of the stories within Marie's Fables have the framework of moral and social values. The Fables were also influenced by other Latin traditions and stories.

Although her actual name is now unknown, she is referred to as "Marie de France" after a line in one of her published works: "Marie ai num, si sui de France," which translates as "My name is Marie, and I am from France." Some of the most widely accepted candidates for the poet are Marie, Abbess of Shaftesbury and half-sister to Henry II, King of England; Marie, Abbess of Reading; Marie de Boulogne; Marie, Abbess of Barking; and Marie de Meulan, wife of Hugh Talbot.

Four works have been attributed to Marie de France: The Lais of Marie de France (a collection of twelve short narrative poems not unlike shortened versions of romances), the one hundred and two "Ysopet" fables, a retelling of the Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick, and, most recently, a saint's life called La Vie seinte Audree about Saint Audrey of Ely. Scholars have dated Marie's works between about 1160 at the earliest, and about 1215 at the latest, though it is probable that they were written between about 1170 and 1205. One of her works, the Lais, is dedicated to a "noble king", another to a "Count William". It is thought that the king referred to is either Henry II of England or his eldest son, "Henry the Young King". The Count William in question is, most likely, either William of Mandeville or William Marshall. However, it has also been speculated that Count William may refer to William Longsword. Longsword is a, recognized, illegitimate son of Henry II. If Marie is actually the half-sister to Henry II then a dedication to her nephew would be a reasonable inference (Kibler 589).

It has been suggested that Marie de France was a member of the court Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1816, the English poet Matilda Betham wrote a long poem about Marie de France in octosyllabic couplets, "The Lay of Marie".

What is known from others:

The English poet Denis Piramus (Vie Seint Edmund le rei, after 1170) refers to her as "dame Marie," emphasizing her noble rank, the scholar Claude Fauchet was the first to coin the name "Marie de France" in his Recueil de l’origine de la langue et poésie françoise (1581). Both the historical circumstances of the manuscripts containing her texts, and linguistic elements of Anglo-Norman, suggest that she lived in England during her adult life, but it seems most likely that she was born in France, probably in Britanny.

Information on women of the time, outside of royalty, is scarce. The Middle Ages were strongly patriarchal. Men were more valued for accomplishments in this time. Women were usually just entrusted with taking charge of the castle when their lords were away on crusades. Typically woman also became nuns or took part in the church. "Often women were heavily involved in politics, like Emma, wife of Edward the Confessor, who did more then anyone else to make the Norman Conquest to last." [1] Women were valued within their society but they were not known for accomplishments in writing or discovering new theories; this was left to the men. Although the role of woman was changed between the middle of the 11th century and the middle of the 12th century. During this time women were thought of as goddesses and their roles were then more important then they were previously, but still not as important as the men. From learning about Marie de France we can see how she is unlike many of the other women in her time period. Marie differed from the regular woman of the middle ages because she was so educated and knew of three languages and she could write. Her works were not just some rubbish written down, they were good stories that an average person could not just come up with randomly. They explored emotions and love and taught morals. This was not typical of a woman; this is why Marie sticks out in the history of literature. Women typically were not educated, only men attended school and universities.

Although there is no hard evidence to support the speculations made about Marie de France's work, if one believes that the Lai can be put in a genre by itself, than it is agreeably said that Marie was the first to present a “new genre of the Lai in narrative form.” (Whalen 63) Marie's Lais were considered a new type of literary technique derived from classical rhetoric. Marie’s plan was to develop short detailed poems filled of imagery so that her audience would remember and retain her Lais. Each of her Lais ranged from 118 to 1,184 lines. “The Lais often take up aspects of the merveilleux, and at times intrusions from the fairy world.”(Whalen 62) Other themes that were conveyed in her Lais were courtly love entangled in love triangles, and adventure. “Maries Lais take place in the Celtic world, more precisely within the geography of England and Ireland, and Brittany”. (Whalen 62) The Lais of Marie de France had a huge impact on the literary world. She produced her Lais with such detail so that they became a form of art. The great detail of the Lai formed an image in the audience’s mind that formed a memory. Marie de Frances Lais were articulated in such a way that poetry started becoming a form of art.

  Only five manuscripts of Marie’s Lais exist but the only manuscript that encompasses the general prologue and all twelve Lais is the [[Harley 978]]. The Harley 978 resides in the [[British Library]]. One may conclude that Marie’s fables were more popular during that time period because of the extreme difference in manuscripts produced. For there were only five manuscripts of Marie’s Lais and twenty five manuscripts of Maries [[Fables]], but Marie's Lais have received much more critical attention through out the Modern Age.

The unifying theme that is exhibited throughout each lai is love. However, Marie de France’s views of love in most of her lais are almost inevitably associated with suffering, such as adulterous relationships. This resulted in a more negative outlook on love in her lais. “Eight of Marie’s lais concern an adulterous relationship.” In Bisclarvet and Equitan, the adulterous lovers are severely condemned. There is some evidence that she approved of extra marital affairs under only some circumstances. “Professor Schiött, author of L'Amour et les amoureux dans les Lais de Marie de France, concludes that Marie approves of extramarital love under certain circumstances: When the deceived partner has been cruel and merits deception and when the lovers are loyal to one another.”Furthermore in the Lais, Marie believed that love often leads to dishonor and sorrow. In her lais, “because of the obstacles confronting it, the love always involves suffering and frequently ends in grief even when the love itself is approved” This suffering can be further observed within the situations seen within each lai.

“The lovers in Marie’s Lais are nearly always on their own and pitted against forces of evil in various forms: a jealous husband, an envious society and so on. It is in fact by virtue of their loving that the protagonists are set apart from the rest of society and privileged. Marie concentrates on the individuality of her characters and is not very concerned with their integration into society. If society does not appreciate the lovers, then the lovers die or abandon society, and society is the poorer for it.”

Additionally, we can see this type of negativity towards love based on how she writes about love. In her lais, love is more of a spontaneous phenomenon than the love we typically find in the romance genre. Though, there are some lais that exhibit “courtly love,” which instead of showing a dark outlook on love, express a sincere expression of love. Emanuel Mickel has said “The suffering from what is often called love is present in every lai, but the means of overcoming this suffering is beautifully and subtly illustrated.”

Defying traditions of love

Marie de France’s lais not only had a gloomy outlook on love, but they also defied the traditions of love within the church at the time. She wrote about adulterous affairs, women of high stature that seduce other (and sometimes older) men which gives the idea that women can have sexual freedom. She even wrote lais that supported many mistresses, all of which were against the traditions of the church and the idea of virginal love and marriage. The lais also exhibit the idea of a stronger female role and power. However, they are also portrayed in a more unfortunate position.“The women of the Lais are unhappy, first of all, because they are imprisoned. Sometimes imprisonment takes the form merely of close surveillance, as in Laustic, where the husband, who keeps a close watch on his wife when he is present, has her watched equally closely when he is away from home.”

Furthermore she was able to challenge patriarchal power through her lais. They had little effect on actual social conditions, but the mere fact that they raised the issue is remarkable. “It certainly reminds us that people in the Middle Ages were aware of social injustices and did not just accept oppressive conditions as inevitable by the will of God”

In addition to her defying the construct of love that is exhibited by the church, Marie also changed the way romance is written. By the time Marie was writing her lais, France already had a deep-rooted tradition of the love-lyric, specifically in Provence. In some ways the lais represent a transitional genre between Provencal love-lyrics from an earlier time and the romance that develops these themes.

Love within the lais

Lanval

“Lanval presents a problem of love-casuistry: the hero transgresses his lady’s command not to reveal their love to anyone, but does so in order to preserve his life in the face of Guinevere’s accusation.” Marie poses the question of if he’s guilty or not. However, she does not provide explicit answers. Lanval also portrays the blockage of feminine desire, “Good girls are the ones who have submerged their own desire in order to create socially effective simulacra of the desires of men.” The Queen is vilified because she went after the love she desired. However, this lai also shows that love can be found without suffering.In addition to vilifying women, the lai is also concerned with female power in the form of the fairy queen who saves Lanval. However, even the fairy queen does not play a completely feminist role. The fairy queen “gives life of a courtly male, satisfying not only his needs for erotic satisfaction and sustenance appropriate to a nobleman, but allowing him to fulfill his chivalric spirit in generosity of a public, indeed kingly sort, giving hospitality, patronage, and rich gifts to all”

Chevrefoil

In Chevrefoil, we are shown forbidden passionate love. Through this lai we are able to see some of Marie’s outlooks on love.“Yonec, Chevrefoil and Laustic all show extra-marital love, all incorporate the usual situation of the unmarried lover and the unhappily married lady, and in none of the three does Marie give an indication of disapproving of this state of affairs.”

Furthermore love leads to the death of lovers in Chevrefoil, “the choice of a Tristanian subject and the explicit statement at the beginning of the poem make the symbol of the intertwining plants one of the inevitable union of the lovers in death.”

Other Lais

“In Equitan, Bisclavret and Chevrefoil, cupidity leads to crime and disaster. In Laustic and Chevrefoil, love is unfulfilled. In Guigemar and Lanval, love overcomes obstacles. In the Deus Amanz, Yonec, and Milun, the point is that the real significance of the union of love is fruition. The charitable devotion of the heroines in Eludic and Le Fresne shows that there is a more spiritual side to early love.”

Marie’s stories exhibit a form of lyrical poetry that influenced the way that narrative lais are written. Through her lyrical writing style, more influence was placed on how the lais are to be said because of the Bretons’ culture and her work on the archaic past. She created the idea of narrative lais and added another dimension of the narration through her prologues and the epilogues. She also developed three parts to a narrative lai: aventure (the ancient Breton deed or story); lai (Breton melodies); conte (recounts the story narrated by the lai).