of 1252 by the cathedral chapter to use the quarry at Bernay just west of Le Mans, which
had previously served as the principal source of stone for the new cathedral. Seen from
the great marketplace immediately to the east and below, this choir is one of the most
magnificent structures of Gothic Europe. In addition to the cathedral, Le Mans is rich in
medieval monuments from the Romanesque and Gothic periods, such as Notre-Dame-du-
Pré, the former abbey church of La Couture, and the former Cistercian abbey of L’Épau.
John B.Cameron
Congrès archéologique (Maine) 119 (1961):9–142.
Mussat, André. La cathédrale du Mans. Paris: Berger-Levrault, 1981.
LE MOTE, JEAN DE
(La Motte; fl. mid-14th c.). A poet and composer, Le Mote was active in the Low
Countries and England and probably spent time in Paris. Gilles Li Muisis, writing in
1350, names Le Mote with Guillaume de Machaut and Jean de Vitry among the
prominent composers of biaus dis. His extant works include an elegiac dream vision, the
Regret Guillaume comte de Hainault (dated 1339), written for the daughter of the dead
count, Queen Philippa of England, and two works written in 1340 for Simon de Lille,
goldsmith to King Philip VI: a continuation of the romances of Alexander, the Parfait du
paon, and a religious vision, the Voie d’enfer et de paradis. None of his music is extant,
and though his long works contain intercalated ballades, a single independent lyric
survives, a ballade response to Philippe de Vitry. Vitry had criticized Le Mote’s poetry
for its bizarre use of names, and Le Mote defends his practice while praising his attacker.
James I.Wimsatt
[See also: ALEXANDER ROMANCES; LI MUISIS, GILLES; VOW CYCLE]
Le Mote, Jean de. Le parfait du paon, ed. Richard J.Carey. Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1972.
——. La voie d’enfer et de paradis, ed. M.Aquiline Pety. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of
America Press, 1940.
——. Li regret Guillaume, comte de Hainaut, ed. Auguste Scheler. Louvain: Lefever, 1882.
Wimsatt, James I. Chaucer and the Poems of “Ch” in University of Pennsylvania MS French 15.
Cambridge: Brewer, 1982, pp. 51–60. [Details about the poet and the ballade exchange with
Vitry.]
LE PUY
. The volcanic peaks rising from the Auvergnat plain create a dramatic setting for the
town of Le Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire). This site had religious significance in Roman
times, when a temple of Diana may have preceded the church. By the 6th century, Le Puy
The Encyclopedia 1015