Little is known for certain about the life of Alain de Lille (also known as Alanus de Insulis) or the conditions under which he composed his many influential texts. He is mentioned on several occasions by contemporaries and is celebrated especially for his allegorical epic, Anticlaudianus de Antirufino (Against Claudian's Against Rufinus, written circa 1181-1184), which soon became an object of commentary and imitation.

According to James J. Sheridan in the revisionist chronology in his Alan of Lille: The Plaint of Nature (1980), it would appear that Alain de Lille was born in the town of Lille in Flanders (now part of Belgium) in 1116 or 1117 and came to Paris to pursue advanced studies in 1136. He probably spent time in the schools of Paris and Chartres before taking up teaching in some of the major intellectual centers of his time, including most importantly Paris and Montpellier. Vix nodosum (I Can...