ABSTRACT
Marie de France was, to the best of our knowledge, the earliest French female author. We know next to nothing about her, and various attempts to identify her with specific women have not gained general acceptance. She herself offers very little information, telling us only that her name is Marie and that she is from France. That statement suggests that she was not living in France at the time, and in fact linguistic and other evidence make a plausible case for her working in England, likely at the court of Henry II.
