Ruy de Oliveira ANDRADE FILHO, Ligia Cristina CARVALHO

Original title: A misoginia medieval e seus ecos nos Lais de Maria de França

Published in Mulier aut Femina. Idealism or reality of women in the Middle Ages

Keywords: Chivalric literature, Female images, Maria of France, Misogyny.

The Lais of Marie de France are a specific type of historical record about the medieval aristocratic society and enables us to decipher the hierarchies that govern the relationship between men and women in the period. As well explains Georges Duby, medieval society tends to present coated with a male character because, among other factors, its latent misogyny. Women were placed under male authority, convinced of their natural superiority , the men despised , mocked her sex , meanwhile feared them, after all, women were Eve’s daughters. So, Lais offer female images that cannot be ignored , since it express the author women’s idea. However , as we seek to demonstrate in this article, Maria of France reflects the representations of the Christian society aristocratic. One note here that this article does not aspire to reach the actual circumstances, but the historical significance of female images present in the Lais.