THE SCENE: The passage below demonstrates how dangerous it could be for a young noblewoman to fall in love in the medieval era. Her lover [Milun] elects to go off to war, saddling her with an unwanted child and a bleak future. The passage is all the more notable for having been written by a woman – the famous Marie De France.
THE TEXT: Milun left his to seek fame as a mercenary. His beloved remained at home. Her father betrothed her to a nobleman, a very wealthy man from the region, a man of great power and reputation. When she realized what was to happen to her, she was lunged into the deepest grief and often recalled Milun regretfully. She greatly feared the consequences of having wrongfully had a child. Her husband would find out soon. “Alas,” she said, “what shall I do? Am I to have a husband? How can I accept him? I am no longer a virgin; I shall be a servant all my days. I never realized that things would turn out this way: I thought I could marry my beloved. We would have concealed the matter and I should never have heard it on others’ lips. I would rather die that go on living. But I am not free. I have my chamberlain and many guards, young and old, who hate to see a just love and who delight in sadness. Now I shall have to suffer in this way. Oh, woe is me, that I cannot die.”
– Milun, Marie de France, 12th Century AD
