Question

Breton Lay

Accepted Answer

it was apparently a narrative accompanied by music, but in what form is uncertain
these are exemplified by the collection of Marie de France's Lais, written in the late 12th century, simple, relatively short narrative poems, usually treating of love and often involving some elements of magic
most of the lais have been written in 14th and some of its examples include Sir Launfal and Lai le Freine (both translated from Marie's Lais), Sir Rodeo, Emare, sir degare, sir gowther, and the earl of tolous
Chaucer's Franklin's tale, has an Italian source and an uncharacteristically complex narrative structure.

Breton lai, also known as a narrative lay or simply a lay, is a form of medieval French and English romance literature. Lais are short (typically 600–1000 lines), rhymed tales of love and chivalry, often involving supernatural and fairy-world Celtic motifs. The word "lay" or "lai" is thought to be derived from the Old High German and/or Old Middle German leich, which means play, melody, or song, or as suggested by Jack Zipes in The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, the Irish word laid (song).

Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things, painting Sophie Gengembre Anderson
Zipes writes that Arthurian legends may have been brought from Wales, Cornwall and Ireland to Brittany; on the continent the songs were performed in various places by harpists, minstrels, storytellers. Zipes reports the earliest recorded lay is Robert Biker's Lai du Cor, dating to the mid- to late-12th century.

The earliest of the Breton lais to survive is probably The Lais of Marie de France, thought to have been composed in the 1170s by Marie de France, a French poet writing in England at Henry II's court between the late 12th and early 13th centuries. From descriptions in Marie's lais, and in several anonymous Old French lais of the 13th century, we know of earlier lais of Celtic origin, perhaps more lyrical in style, sung by Breton minstrels. It is believed that these Breton lyrical lais, none of which has survived, were introduced by a summary narrative setting the scene for a song, and that these summaries became the basis for the narrative lais.

The earliest written Breton lais were composed in a variety of Old French dialects, and some half dozen lais are known to have been composed in Middle English in the 13th and 14th centuries by various English authors.

Breton lais may have inspired Chrétien de Troyes, and likely were responsible for spreading Celtic and fairy-lore into Continental Europe. An example of a 14th-century Breton lai has the king of the fairies carrying away a wife to the land of fairy.

Lais Breton Narrative De Sir French Lay Marie