1. The Prologue here given was transferred by Tyrwhitt from
the place, preceding the Squire’s Tale, which it had formerly
occupied; the Shipman’s Tale having no Prologue in the best
manuscripts.
2. Lollard: A contemptuous name for the followers of
Wyckliffe; presumably derived from the Latin, “lolium,” tares,
as if they were the tares among the Lord’s wheat; so, a few lines
below, the Shipman intimates his fear lest the Parson should
“spring cockle in our clean corn.”
3. Cockle: A weed, the “Agrostemma githago” of Linnaeus;
perhaps named from the Anglo-Saxon, “ceocan,” because it
chokes the corn.
(Transcriber’s note: It is also possible Chaucer had in mind
Matthew 13:25, where in some translations, an enemy sowed
“cockle” amongst the wheat. (Other translations have “tares”
and “darnel”.))