Alais (fl. 12th c.)

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Alais (fl. 12th c.)

French troubadour.

Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about Alais, one of the few female troubadours of southern France. Her only known work is a poem composed with two other women. Alais and her co-authors, Iselda and Carenza , were opposed to the idea of marriage and refer in their poem to the anguish of being someone's wife and to their distaste for the idea of bearing children. The overall message of the work is that becoming a nun is infinitely preferable to marriage.