Alain de Lille was a French theologian and poet. He was born in Lille, some time before 1128. His exact date of death remains unclear as well, with most research pointing toward it being between 14 April 1202, and 5 April 1203.

Famous during his lifetime as a preacher, scholar and philosopher, this Flemish theologian is best remembered for his two epic allegorical poems. De Planctu Naturae (Complaint of Nature) is modelled on Boethius’ De Consolatione Philosophiae, dealing with the conflict between sense and reason, and has a description of the feminine Divine:

While I with sorrowful lament was repeating these elegies over and over again, a woman glided down from the inner palace of the impassable heavens, and appeared, hastening her approach to me. Her hair, which shone not with borrowed light but with its own, and which displayed the likeness of rays, not by semblance, but by native clearness surpassing nature, showed on a starry body the head of a virgin. Twin tresses flowing loosely, neither forsook the parts above nor yet disdained to smile upon the ground with a kiss.

Another such description occurs in the Anticlaudianus de Antirufino where Wisdom’s journey is depicted:

O Queen of the heights, goddess of heaven, daughter of the Artist supreme – for your divine face teaches that you are no mortal, nor do you lament our race’s taint – your countenance proves you a goddess, your sceptre proclaims you queen, and your glory shows you are born of God: To you the abode of the gods lies open, and the way of heaven, the bounds of Olympus, the world beyond our world, the realm of the Thunderer – and the throne of God and the fate beyond.