As is the case with Marie de France herself, very little is known about her collection of lays, including for whom or why they were written, and whether they were even intended to be presented as a unified collection. The date of composition has been placed between 1160 and 1199, though for a long time it was believed that they were written as late as the 13th century (a belief no longer substantiated by the evidence). This was a period of cultural renaissance in the midst of the Early Middle Ages (the period commonly called 'the dark ages'), and Marie is one of several authors from that century whose work continues to resonate. What was unique at the time was the use of vernacular (French or English, the spoken languages of the two cultures that thrived in this renaissance), rather than the traditional Latin. For the first time, the use of vernacular was not immediately considered inferior to Latin, and her use of French suggests that the purpose of the work fit within a larger entertainment context than had existed before.
While the lays are primarily concerned with love, Marie uses these romantic situations to probe various questions of, for example, obligation, fate, and class, through them, with a willingness to present different values for different situations, ultimately revealing a profound understand of the innate human tendency towards contradiction and complexity.
