A Fair Lady Takes on “Maistre Allain”Anne de Graville’s Belle Dame sans mercy

Anne Malet de Graville, a well-educated noblewoman from a family of bibliophiles with close connections to the crown, served as a lady in waiting at the intimate and austere court of Queen Claude I of France. Claude cultivated the virtuous accomplishments of her ladies, and de Graville appears to have been a favored companion of the queen, for whom she composed two literary works, each based upon the work of a prestigious medieval master. One was a translation and adaptation of Boccaccio’s epic romance, Teseida, and the other, the focal point of the present article, a rewriting of La Belle Dame sans mercy (LBDSM), perhaps the best-known work of the so-called “père de l’éloquence française,” the royal secretary, diplomat, and author, Alain Chartier.