None allegeaunce alleviation
Of my grevaunce grievance
Can I nat fynd; not
Ryght so my chaunce
With displesaunce displeasure
Doth me avaunce; advance
And thus an end.
Alone walk I,
With many a sigh
In secrecy,
All desolate,
And still review
My life anew:
For death I sue
Both early and late.
My fate doth grow
So luckless now
That--do you know?
Beyond all telling
My life I hate:
Thus, desperate,
In woeful state
I still am dwelling.
I am not sure
Of any cure;
’Tis hard t’ endure
With no relief!
But certain ’tis,
My state is this:
What thing that is
Could have more grief?
My story plain
Is taken in vain,
With great disdain
In recollection;
Yet I would fain
Alway complain,
To shun the pain
Of this correction!
For which find I,
Substantially,
No remedy,
My lot to mend;
So fate, I see,
Still draws on me
More enmity--
And there’s an end!
Notes by the Way.
Chaucer’s ‘Complaint to his Purse’ was written, according to Mr.
Furnivall, in September, 1399, when Chaucer was in distress for money, and
sent to Henry IV. as a broad hint,--which was at once attended to.
It is a very clever piece of versification, like the ‘Good Counsel,’ &c.,
each line rhyming with the corresponding line in the other verses. He
addresses his hapless purse as though it were his lady-love, and comically
entreats her mercy, when he sees her inclined to be ‘light.’
Mr. Furnivall’s ingenious suggestion, that Chaucer’s penury may possibly
be due to his having dabbled in alchemy (an empirical branch of
chemistry), is borne out by the technical knowledge displayed in the
Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale.
We may add here--to defend our great man’s character--that alchemy was
believed in by many men of exceptional mental power. Roger Bacon,
discoverer of gunpowder and the magnifying glass, is perhaps the greatest
name among them; and vain as seemed much of their toil with crucibles and
furnaces, alembics and aludels, we owe a great deal to the first
meritorious alchemists, who really paved the way to modern chemistry.
There is no reason to suppose Chaucer had any vice likely to affect his
pocket; but alchemy was the scientific mania of the day, and high and low
were ready to risk fortune and health in pursuit of the philosopher’s
stone, the elixir of life, the way to manufacture gold. And, at the same
time, there is no other sufficient reason for the extreme poverty which
the poet had fallen into.
The two Roundels and the Virelai have been asserted and denied to be the
work of Chaucer, but there is no clear evidence for either side. They may
well be a portion of those many lost ‘ditties and songs glad’ with which
Gower said ‘the land fulfilled is over all,’ written ‘in the floures of
his youth.’ The second Roundel seems, on the other hand, to belong to his
later life, when he so often alluded to his corpulence. As to the Virelai,
this species of lyric was nery fashionable in Chaucer’s time. It is
skilful work, each stanza rhyming six lines together (which I have failed
to follow in the translation).
Good Counsel of Chaucer.
Fle fro the pres, and duelle with sothfastnesse, mob, honesty
Suffice the thy good, though hit be smale, thee, it
For horde hath hate, and clymbyng tikelnesse, hoards,
uncertainty
Pres hath envye, and wele is blent over alle. deceived
everywhere
Savour no more then the behove shalle; taste
Rede[199] well thy self, that other folke canst rede,
And trouthe the shal delyver, hit ys no drede. without fear
Peyne the not eche croked to redresse,
In trust of hire that turneth as a balle,[200]
Grete rest stant in lytel besynesse. great peace lies,
meddling
Bewar also to spurne ayein an nalle,[201] awl
Stryve not as doth a croke[202] with a walle: crock
Deme[203] thyselfe that demest others dede,
And trouthe the shal delyver, hit ys no drede.
That the ys sent receyve in buxomnesse,
The wrasteling of this world asketh a falle;
Her is no home, her is but wyldyrnesse. here
Forth, pilgrime!--forth, best, out of thy stalle! beast
Loke up on hye, and thonke God of alle!
Weyve thy lust, and let thy goste the lede, give up, desire
And trouthe shal the delyver, hit ys no drede.
Fly from the crowd, and dwell with truthfulness
Contented with thy good, though it be small;
Treasure breeds hate, and climbing dizziness,
The world is envious, wealth beguiles us all.
Care not for loftier things than to thee fall;
Counsel thyself, who counsel’st others’ need,
And truth thee shall deliver, without dread.
Pain thee not all the crooked to redress,
Trusting to her who turneth as a ball,
For little meddling wins much easiness.
Beware lest thou do kick against an awl,
Strive not as doth a clay pot with a wall:
Judge thou thyself, who judgest others’ deed,
And truth thee shall deliver, without dread.
All that is given take with cheerfulness,
To wrestle in this world is to ask a fall;
Here is no home, here is but wilderness.
Forth, pilgrim, forth!--forth, beast, out of thy stall!
Look up on high, and thank thy God for all!
Cast by ambition, let thy soul thee led,
And truth thee shall deliver, without dread.
Notes by the Way.
We have Mr. F. J. Furnivall’s authority, as well as internal evidence, for
believing that this pathetic little poem expresses Chaucer’s feelings at
the time of his expulsion from the Customs offices, the beginning of his
period of misfortunes, and was written immediately after the calamity. We
seem to gather scattered hints of recent ‘wrestlings’ before the blow
came--vain attempts to elevate, and purify, and carry out reforms, to make
straight crooked paths. Lost labour--_pain thee not all the crooked to
redress!_--trusting to fortune (money being requisite to reform): for
those who value peace of mind should let sleeping dogs lie. We seem to
catch the echoes of stormy times, of personal recrimination, envy, hatred,
and malice, against a ‘climbing’ man, protected by Court favour for many
prosperous years, but at length within the reach of foes when that
protection waxed powerless. Chaucer may, like many another man, have made
no enemies till he was high enough to stand in some one’s light,
prosperous enough to be dangerous; but his month of power in Parliament
ruined him. It is pretty certain that some vote of his, while sitting for
Kent, caused his dismissal from office. It was a case of win all or lose
all, and he lost. To fight against such odds were as idle as undignified:
surely, indeed, but courting worse injuries, ‘kicking against an awl.’
When the weak and the strong strive together, it is the weak who suffers.
The criticism upon others, which had failed to do good, were now best
turned philosophically upon himself. That which the fountain gave forth
returns again to the fountain, as a poet 500 years later has said. It is
impossible, in reading these melancholy and stately lines, not to feel
that they ring true, and betray the half-sarcastic disappointment of a
well-meaning man, the resignation of a religious man, and the faith in
right-dealing bringing its own reward of a thoroughly honest man.
It is probable that the loss to Chaucer in a pecuniary sense was very
severe; and the suddenness of the blow may account for much of his after
poverty.[204] The loss may have come at a time when he had debts which it
would be very hard to pay out of a diminished income--debts which may have
hampered his whole after-life. His appointment of a deputy to the office
of Clerk of the King’s Works, in 1391, and his subsequent resignation of
the office, appear to me to hint at ill-health, as may his death a year
after getting his lease for fifty-three years of the tenement in
Westminster, where he died.
The last verse of this poem is the most remarkable of the three. Full of
just contempt for his enemies’ aspersions, and of hearty trust in the
power of truth to set things right, he rises suddenly into a passion of
aspiration. Trying to be content with adversity, he is angry with himself
for feeling it so deeply. To wrestle in this world is but courting an
overthrow. But this is not our Home, this is but a desert leading to a
higher state. Forth, pilgrim! gird up thy loins with fresh vigour to
journey on. Forth, pilgrim! _forth, beast, out of the stall_ of narrow
hopes and interests! look higher, and thank thy God for all. To cast by
all the soul’s lets and hindrances--to be led by the higher self--that is
the pilgrim’s longing, and that is the sublimest hope of the human heart.
NOTES ON THE PICTURES.
I.--FRONTISPIECE.
The costumes of the Knight, Squire, Prioress and Nun, Monk, Friar, Clerk
(represented by Chaucer himself), Franklin, the Wife of Bath, the
Summoner, and his friend the smart Pardoner, Mine Host and the boy, have
been respectively studied from MSS. of the period. The attire of the
Knight is open to criticism, for the amount of armour he wears is
certainly more than he need wear on so peaceful an errand; but a portion
of his well-used plate may be permitted him if only to distinguish the man
of war from the numerous men of peace in the train.
The chain-mail, worn under the plate, would, I think, most probably have
been retained by the Knight during his pilgrimage. The numerous miniatures
of mailed knights journeying for no sinister purpose, appear to me to
prove that it was very constantly worn. Unlike the mail which preceded it,
the Asiatic kind which came into use in the twelfth century was
comparatively light, being formed of slight rings interlaced, and not
riveted upon leather. The hood of mail, which hangs on his shoulders,
would have been no inconvenience at all. It joined the habergeon of mail,
over which was his gipon, ‘stained,’ probably, by the rubbing of his
mailed arms.
If, however, it be objected that the gipon was often an under garment
(_vide_ Meyrick, vol. ii. pp. 20 and 21), we may suppose him to have left
a heavy hauberk of plate behind him in London ‘till called for.’
Prioresses and nuns are often depicted in violet, in the contemporary
MSS.; I therefore preferred that colour as more agreeable than black.
Gloves such as the Nun’s, were occasionally worn in the fourteenth
century; the present example is taken from the effigy of William of
Colchester, Abbot of Westminster, d. 1420. Gloves of fur, for winter wear,
were common in the reign of Henry III.
The harness of the horses, bells and saddles, the Nun’s chest, the
Summoner’s cake (probably ornamental gingerbread), and other details, have
also been carefully studied from MSS. and tapestries of the time.
The boy’s whip is taken from several fourteenth century and earlier
drawings of horse-whips and whips for tops, and was therefore probably a
common form.
The distant city is not necessarily London, as I failed to find a
contemporary view of old London. The present sketch is borrowed from a
fine MS. of Lydgate’s poem, the ‘Storie of Thebes’ (MS. Reg. 18 D. ii.),
and gives a good notion of the general look of a mediæval town.
Chaucer’s portrait here was originally from the painting in the Harl. MS.
4866. I have no excuse to offer for changing the colour of Chaucer’s gown
from the grey or black in which Occleve always represented him to green, a
very common colour at the time, except that it looked better in the
picture, and we have no right to assume that Chaucer, even in his poorest
days, had only one gown.
II.--DINNER IN THE OLDEN TIME.
The ordinary dinner-table or ‘festive _board_’ in a Franklin’s or
burgher’s house has been taken from numerous fourteenth century
illustrations. (_Vide_ MS. Reg. 2 B. viii., and MS. Imp. Lib. Paris, No.
7210, &c.)
The carver, cupbearer, the fishbones left on the table in the absence of
plates, the trenchers or slices of stale bread or buns used in lieu of
them, and the other objects upon the table, are faithful copies from the
MSS.
A minstrel was constantly employed to make music during the repast. The
instrument here introduced is the cittern, played with or without a
plectrum or quill. Behind are the servitors bringing in a pasty, some
small birds on spits, and the nef or ship, containing salt, liqueurs,
spices, or towel, &c., for washing the hands--or, if you like, it is a
_sotelté_ in the form of a ship. A subtlety was an ornamental dish that
usually closed each course, made in some fanciful form, such as a castle,
ship, or animal.
The dogs are munching the waste victuals under the table--such dogs being
usually admitted during meals.
The pattern on the tablecloth is derived from a hunting-horn of the
fourteenth century.
The peculiar folds at the sides of the tablecloth, which appear in many
MSS., must, I think, have been purposely made for ornament, as we
sometimes still see waiters crease cloths in various devices.
The sweet herbs strewn on the floor denote summer-time, in
contradistinction to straw, which was used in the winter.
III.--LADY CROSSING STREET.
The background of shops and other buildings is borrowed mainly from the
decapitation of G. de Pommiers at Bordeaux in 1377 (Froissart’s Chronicle,
No. 2644, Bibl. Imp. de Paris).
The costumes are those of middle-class persons. The clogs were in vogue
with the long-toed boots.
Some of the streets were paved with large round stones, as in many French
towns at the present day; others were not paved at all, and were, during
wet weather, many feet deep with mud. An open channel or sewer ran along
the midroad, which did not greatly add to the felicity of ‘a walk down
Fleet Street.’
IV.--FAIR EMELYE.
Emelye’s garb is that common to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries--a
simple form with double sleeves. It will be remembered that Palamon
mistook Emelye at first sight for a goddess; Arcite perceived her to be
human. I have endeavoured to give the two men’s views of her--each quite
possible according to her position in the garden. Palamon may have caught
sight of her just at a turn where the dazzle of sunrise behind the tree
would be certain to lend a kind of halo to the outline of a head against
it. An instant afterwards Emelye may have moved aside, the false halo
disappearing, and she would seem what she truly was, simply an attractive
maiden.
It is disappointing to find how very few were the flowers that adorned a
mediæval garden. Our handsomest flowers were of course unknown--_e.g._,
the immense catalogue of plants introduced from America and elsewhere.
Many that ‘have had their day and ceased to be’ in fashion, were as yet
unknown too; such as the sunflower, which was imported about the sixteenth
century. The red and white may, the dogrose, primrose, and the flowers
that we banish to the kitchen garden or admire only in the fields, formed
the chief ornaments. We find nettles and nightshade reckoned among garden
plants; the dandelion, which appears in the place of honour in many old
tapestries, was then counted as a flower.
The big round tower is one of the chain of fortresses linked by a solid
wall running around the domain, from one of which the captive knights saw
Emelye, her garden being within the walls, and, as the castle was
generally built on an eminence, on higher ground than the flat country
beyond.
Shining yellow in the sun-rise light is a conventional view of a city--the
city of Athens, which Palamon and Arcite could see from their prison
window.
V.--GRISELDA’S MARRIAGE.
The huts where poor persons lived were, of course, very rude, and lacked
windows, doors, or chimneys. Orifices in the roof or sides served these
purposes. The dirt from the smoke upon walls and ceiling was consequently
considerable. The draught beasts dwelt with their owners, much as the
Hibernian pig resides with Pat and his family.
The hairy hat surmounting the hood came into use during the fourteenth
century, and was made of skins, dressed fur outward.
Griselda’s raggedness must not be construed into slovenliness. Needles
were not as accessible to the mass of the poor as they are now; and
moreover, the poor not being then compulsorily educated, an honest,
industrious girl who could work in the fields and spin, was not always
able to darn.
VI.--GRISELDA’S BEREAVEMENT.
It is expressly stated that when her child was taken from her Griselda
controlled her feelings, and did not so much as sigh. The sergeant finds
her in her chamber, or bower, more private than the hall, and more
luxuriously furnished. She is sitting in one of the high-backed chairs
which usually stood near the bed’s head (_vide_ various fourteenth century
MSS.)--possibly a _Prie-Dieu_--raised on a dais.
Her dress is simple, but that of the upper classes in Edward III.’s reign,
lined with vair, and having long tippets from the sleeves knotted for
convenience; her hair adorned with ‘bends’ or silken straps, and a gold
head-dress. Her distaff is still at hand, and the full basket betokens her
continued industry. Floor-carpets or mats, embroidered or woven, were rare
at this time, and could only have been in use in a wealthy house; but they
are occasionally spoken of in early MSS. In ‘Gautier d’Aupais’ an old lady
is described as sitting on a richly-worked counterpoint, by a coal fire;
but this may have been a cloth flung over a chair; and in the romance of
‘Queen Berthe’ three persons are said to sit on carpets (_sur les tapis_).
It will be remembered that the dagger was frequently used with the left
hand.
VII.--DORIGEN AND AURELIUS.
The parti-coloured dress worn by Aurelius, similar to the Squire’s in the
frontispiece, was common in Edward III.’s reign, and was peculiarly
obnoxious to the satirists of the day. The cote-hardie or close-fitting
tunic sometimes matched in colour one of the legs, sometimes was divided
into halves of opposing colours; the shoes were very rich and of contrary
hues also.
The ladies’ gowns were long and of very rich materials, the arms bound
with gold, and further adorned by fantastic streamers or tippets. Chess
was the fashionable pastime of old and young. The pieces in this picture
are from some ivory Icelandic chessmen of the twelfth century.
Behind is the lawn where Dorigen’s _meinie_, or pages and household
attendants, are amusing themselves with dancing and ball-playing among the
enclosed flower-beds peculiar to the mediæval pleasure-garden.
The coat of arms repeated upon Aurelius’ dress is that attributed to
Chaucer. The instrument, on which he doubtless accompanied his mournful
love-songs, is a form of cittern. The carved design upon the settle or
seat is Anglo-Saxon; the _fleur de lys_ on the curtain of the tent beside
them was a common ornament.
I have not been able to discover at what precise date ‘shot’ materials
came into use. There are many singular terms applied to the colours of
dress throughout the middle ages, such as _pourpre-gris_,
_ecarlate-blanche_, &c. In the ‘Fabliau de Gautier d’Aupais’ there is
mention of ‘_un vert mantel porprine_’ (a mantle of green crimson). In my
own mind I am persuaded that these terms, explicable easily in no other
way, refer to shot materials. Mediæval miniatures and pictures also bear
out this theory, dresses being depicted of certain colours shaded with
certain others in strong contrast. The commonest is blue or red shaded
with gold. There have been many conjectures with regard to the above
terms. M. le Grand supposes that rare dyes, being chiefly used to dye rich
cloths, gave at last their names to those cloths, irrespective of colour.
The _Saturday Review_ once accused the old masters of “sporting with
pigments prismatically” when they used red as the shadow of green, &c.,
oblivious of the fact that if the early masters had a fault it was
adhering too blindly to nature in their works. It is clear that in Quentin
Matsys’ day (fifteenth century) shot materials were quite common, for
there is scarcely one of his pictures without a study of the kind. In his
‘Dead Christ’ at Antwerp several unmistakable examples occur; in his
‘Virgin’ at Amsterdam is introduced a curtain of green and brown shot.
This being so, we have no reasonable ground for believing that shot silks,
though not yet common, were unknown a century earlier.
I have therefore given two marked examples of similar silks, in the robes
of Griselda and Dorigen, both wealthy enough to import such fabrics if in
existence at all.
VIII.--THE RIOTER.
The ordinary cheap wine used in the middle ages was often carried in
‘bottles’ or pitchers of this form.
A longish gown was the dress of the commoner people in the fourteenth
century. The Rioter is intended to represent a man of decent position, but
not noble, who has come to the end of his tether, in a pecuniary sense,
and whose slovenly hose and young but debauched and cruel face indicate
with what facility he has been degraded by his elder companions.
PORTRAIT OF CHAUCER.
Chaucer’s portrait is copied from a drawing by Occleve the poet (Brit.
Mus. Harl. MS. 4866). Occleve made, or caused to be made, shortly after
Chaucer’s death, several portraits of him, of which two remain; and on
these are founded the many now scattered over the country. The same
features recur in all. The peculiar aquiline nose, mouth a little
drooping, eyes downcast, the forked beard and fair complexion, the broad
round jaw, are the same in all. Occleve always depicted Chaucer with a
rosary in his hand, and his penner, containing his pen and inkhorn,
hanging to his vest. His hands are small and well-shapen, his form is
portly, his air calm, benevolent, almost pathetic.
These lines run beside the miniature in Occleve’s MS.:--
Al thogh his lyfe be queynt, the resemblaunce extinguished
Of him hath in me so fressh lyflynesse liveliness
That to putte othir men in remembraunce
Of his persone I have heere his lyknesse likeness
Do make, to this end in sothfastnesse, had made (_faire
faire_), truth
That thei that have of him lest thought and mynde lost
By this peynture may ageyn him fynde. painting
Although his life be quench’d, so clear doth lie
Within my mind the living look of him,
That to put other men in memory
Of his appearance, here his face I limn,
That they to whom his image groweth dim,
And they that have of him lost thought and mind,
By this poor portrait may again him find.
The portraits by Occleve, his personal friend and disciple, whose deep
affection for Chaucer is touchingly reiterated in his ‘Lament’ for him,
maybe relied on as most conscientious pictures from memory of the great
poet’s habitual appearance.
Notes on the Woodcuts.
THE TOURNAMENT. (See Title-page.)--There must always have been, to some
extent, a grotesque element in the Tournament. The desire to be
conspicuous forced the combatants to assume the gayest and the biggest
decoration. At a later date the tilting helmets sprouted into the most
preposterous sizes and shapes. Figures and ‘favours’ assumed for the
occasion, the gifts of enthusiastic lady-loves, as well as hereditary
devices, surmounted the helm and glittered on coat-armour and harness. In
Edward III.’s reign the beauty and _éclat_ of the tourney was in its
zenith; in Richard II.’s the beautiful began to be overpowered by the
grotesque. I have tried to tone down the grotesque as much as may be, but
a general dazzle and confusion of colour is inseparable from the scene,
vivid, violent, and exciting as it was. Tents were often erected within
the pale of the lists for the convenience of those awaiting or _hors de
combat_. Shields or targets, for _peace_ or _war_, were suspended in
couples before them, emblazoned with the arms of each lord; and whoso sent
to touch the targets was tilted with according to his wish--_i.e._, with
sharp or blunt lances.
The end of Theseus’ tourney was clearly a riot, but I have preferred to
represent the orderly onset of the first combatants, guided by a MS.
Froissart of the fifteenth century. It has been suggested to me that it
would be impossible to tilt across the bar unless the spear-arm were next
the bar, as the horse’s neck would impede the stroke, and the rider’s own
spear would unhorse him: in tent-pegging and all sports with the lance the
rider brings his spear-arm next the mark. But having found several early
miniatures in which the spear is aimed as here given, I considered myself
justified in trusting to contemporary MSS. in spite of modern theories.
The horses were the chief sufferers in these mimic frays. The heavy
beasts, protected as they were by a great weight of armour, were often
injured. The best-trained dreaded the shock of encounter, and, as we read
in Froissart, their restiveness and swerving at the last moment frequently
spoiled the ‘course,’ despite the most violent spurring, to their masters’
deep chagrin and disappointment, and the disgust of the lady-loves.
The high saddles, sometimes locking the rider in his seat all round, were
constructed to retain him on his horse, however violent the push; but they
were the cause of many an unhappy accident. Death like Arcite’s, from
crushing against the saddle-bow, was by no means uncommon. So died William
the Conqueror himself four hundred years before; when, riding down the
steep street of Mantes, his horse stumbled among the embers he had
kindled. (See Green’s Short History of the English People, p. 85.)
Suffocation in the dust was a still more frequent cause of death; as
thrown riders could not rise, nor rid themselves of their ponderous
casques.
Skill rather than strength was needful in tilting. The spear, as in
pig-sticking in India, was thrust rather by the weight of the horse than
by the weight of the arm. Strength of back and arm were necessary to avoid
being bent backwards or driven over the crupper; but extreme skill was
requisite to hit one’s slippery foe with anything like force. When both
knights hit their mark so that fire flew from their helmets, without
either falling, it was reckoned a ‘handsome course.’
A word about the allans, as big as bullocks, which went leaping around
Lycurgus’ car. They were undoubtedly a kind of mastiff, large and
powerful; they wore gold collars filled with _torettz_. This word is
variously explained. _Torete_, ring-turret (Morris), ring or terret
(Bell). ‘_Toret_, a small wimble (or auger, big gimblet). Touret, a drill,
&c.’ (Cotgrave). ‘_Gros clou dont la tête arrondie est arrêtée dans une
branche d’un mors_’ (Suppl. to Fr. Acad. Dict.).
I have ventured on translating ‘toret’ _spike_, after vainly seeking for
authority for a collar filled with rings; though a single ring often hung
beneath the throat. Contemporary illustrations of dogs’ collars filled
with long spikes are common enough--_e.g._ the fine fourteenth century
tapestry now in the museum at Chartres, &c.
In India dogs are furnished with spiked collars in tiger and boar hunting:
the allans were clearly hunting dogs, and such spiked collars would thus
be almost indispensable.
JOHN OF GAUNT, Royal Coll. 20 B. 6. (See page 7.)--This portrait has an
air of truth about it; in the MS. it is very carefully and delicately
worked. The gown is of a reddish murrey colour, with ermine or miniver
lining to skirt and sleeves, the under sleeves being blue. His hose are
red, and he wears a golden circlet, necklace, and belt. One can trace some
resemblance to Edward III., his father, in the long, narrow, but not
unpleasing face. Other portraits of John of Gaunt have the same features.
The hair and beard are grey. He appears to be respectfully lecturing the
young King Richard, who is seated on his throne, receiving a book
presented by a monk, in the presence of his three royal uncles.
SHIP. (See page 8.)--How such ships could sail is a mystery, but this is
the most usual anatomy for a man-of-war, or for a ‘subtlety’ at dinner in
the form of a ship. I copied the present example from a MS. in the British
Museum: it is one of a royal fleet. There is a Nef introduced in the
famous ‘Nancy’ tapestry (fifteenth century) of precisely the same
construction.
STYLUS. (See page 10.)--The stylus was used for writing on waxen tablets.
No doubt wax was cheaper and more easily procured than parchment or paper;
paper made from rags being then quite a recent invention, and probably
what was made was not white but brown, and imported from abroad. Wax could
be dissolved and used again. Hence we find, in the romance of ‘Flor and
Blanchflor,’ the king putting children to school, where they learned to
write
Letres et vers d’amors en cire,
Lor greffes sont d’or et d’argent.
Letters and verses of love on the wax.
Their styles are of gold and silver.
THE YEOMAN. (See page 21.)--The term ‘not-head’ used by Chaucer may mean
that he had his hair closely cropped--a head like a nut--as suggested by
Tyrwhitt, &c.; but I think, on the contrary, it refers to his hood having
the liripipe knotted around it, as there are numerous instances of such
hoods worn by foresters, hunters, and others, to whom a long tail would be
a nuisance, if not actually dangerous. The woodcut of a knotted hood, on
p. 2, is that of a forester, in the Book of Gaston Phœbus, fourteenth
century, in the National Library of Paris. Chaucer says the miller wore
his ‘typet ybounde about his heed’ (‘Reeve’s Tale,’ line 33).
THE PRIORESS. (See page 22.)--Her costume (same as in Frontispiece) is
borrowed from an Abbess or Prioress in a MS. of the History of the
Emperors (Lib. of the Arsenal), fifteenth century.
THE MONK. (See page 24.)--From Royal MS. 14 E. 4, temp. Ed. IV.: too late,
indeed, but it appears that the clerical costume had suffered no great
change.
THE CLERK. (See page 27.)--The figure of the Clerk possesses peculiar
interest, as it represents one of those ancient artists whose paintings in
mediæval MSS. are so valuable to us now. His name is Alan Strayler, a
designer and painter, and his dress is that of an ordinary middle-class
man; it will be seen to be precisely similar to Chaucer’s, who was himself
a ‘clerk.’
THE SERJEANT AT LAW. (See page 28.)--It is curious that the mantle of this
figure, whose dress is taken from two effigies of Chief Justices of the
King’s Bench in the fourteenth century, should recall the Roman toga,
being apparently fastened over the hood, on the right shoulder, so as to
leave that arm completely free: an instance of the conservatism of
official dress, which alters very little with the fluctuations of fashion,
whilst those persons whose costume denotes no position are constantly
undergoing protean changes.
THE DOCTOR. (See page 29.)--The medical man is as much too early as the
monk is too late, but it was the most characteristic one I could find, and
I preferred thirteenth century to fifteenth century costume. The mantle
recalls the Roman toga. (Copy from Sloane Coll. No. 1975.)
THE PARSON. (See page 30.)--See a brass of John Islyngton, vicar of
Islington, in Norfolk, in 1393. The dress of a plain parish priest is not
often represented: it will be seen to be not dissimilar to that of a
modern French priest.
THE PLOUGHMAN.--(See page 31.)--Studied from figures in a very ancient
Anglo-Saxon MS. It appears to me that the liripipe (evidently then worn)
is in this case twisted around the head.
THE PARDONER. (See page 31.)--The Pardoner may have worn the ordinary
clerkly gown, or, as in the Frontispiece, a close-fitting garb. Chaucer
does not describe his attire, but says he thought himself ‘al of the newe
get’ (_i.e._, fashion).
PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES CONSULTED IN THIS BOOK.
Sir S. Meyrick, ‘Antient Armour.’
Lacroix, ‘Manners, Customs, and Dress during the Middle Ages,’ &c., &c.
Skeat, ‘Chaucer,’ &c.
Morris, ‘Chaucer’ (Aldine edition), 1866, and ‘Chaucer’ (Clarendon Press),
1874.
Tyrwhitt’s ‘Chaucer.’
Bell’s edition of ‘Chaucer’s Poetical Works.’
Fairholt, ‘Costume in England.’
Wright, ‘Domestic Manners during the Middle Ages,’ and ‘Womankind in
Western Europe.’
Froissart’s ‘Chronicles.’
Planché, ‘British Costume.’
Shaw, ‘Dresses and Decorations,’ ‘Ornaments,’ &c.
Furnivall, ‘Babee’s Book,’ and ‘Trial Forewords’ (Chaucer Society), &c.
‘Arthur of Britayn.’
Six-Text Edition of Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales.’
Bonnard & Mercurj, ‘Costumes des XIIIe, XIVe, et XVe Siècles,’ 1840.
Le Grand, ‘Fabliaux et Contes du XIIe et du XIIIe Siècle,’ 1781.
Barbazan, ‘Fabliaux et Contes,’ 1808.
Printed by McCorquodale & Co. Limited, “The Armoury,” Southwark.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I use the word ‘emphasis’ in the same sense as one might speak of a
_crotchet_ in music, to which you count two, being more emphatic than a
_quaver_, to which you count one.
[2] Those who wish to study systematically the grammar, and construction
of the metre, I can only refer to the best authorities, Dr. R. Morris and
Mr. Skeat, respectively. It would be superfluous to enter on these matters
in the present volume.
[3] “No better MS. of the ‘Canterbury Tales’ could be found than the
Harleian MS. 7334, which is far more uniform and accurate than any other I
have examined; it has therefore been selected, and faithfully adhered to
throughout, as the text of the present edition. Many clerical errors and
corrupt readings have been corrected by collating it, line for line, with
the Lansdowne MS. 851, which, notwithstanding its provincial
peculiarities, contains many excellent readings, some of which have been
adopted in preference to the Harleian MS.” (Preface to Morris’s Revised
Ed. 1866.) This method I have followed when I have ventured to change a
word or sentence, in which case I have, I believe, invariably given my
authority.
[4] Roger Ascham.
[5] Mr. Furnivall, among some of his recent interesting researches anent
Chaucer, has discovered with certainty his father’s name and profession.
[6] The position of Chaucer, and his wife, in the King’s service, and that
of the latter in the service of Constance, Duchess of Lancaster, shared
with two ladies of rank, be well as their lifelong interest at Court,
prove, I think, that neither of them was of mean parentage, and that they
occupied a very good social _status_.
[7] See also p. 19, note 34.
[8] It must not be forgotten, in reading praises of warm and sunny May,
often now a bleak and chilly month, that the seasons were a fortnight
later at that time, May-day coming therefore in the middle of the month,
and May ending in the middle of June. The change in the almanac was made
in Italy in 1582, in England in 1752.
[9] Dr. Morris writes--“The old supposition that the Philippa whom Chaucer
married was the daughter of Sir Paon de Roet (a native of Hainault and
King of Arms of Guienne), and sister to Katherine, widow of Sir Hugh
Swynford, successively governess, mistress, and wife of John of Gaunt,
Duke of Lancaster, was founded on heraldic grounds. The Roet arms were
adopted by Thomas Chaucer. Then Thomas Chaucer was made (without the
slightest evidence) Geoffrey’s son, and Philippa Roet was then made
Geoffrey’s wife.” And again, “It is possible that Philippa Chaucer was a
relative or namesake of Geoffrey, and that he married her in the spring or
early summer of 1374.” It is, however, much less likely that there were so
many Chaucers about the Court, unconnected with each other, than that the
common supposition is correct. At any rate, _until there is any evidence
to the contrary_, this tradition may be fairly accepted. The recent
discovery, in the Record Office, of Thomas Chaucer’s deed, by Mr. Hunter,
sealed with a seal bearing the legend, ‘S Ghofrai Chaucer,’ seems to
support the tradition.
[10] A mark was 13_s._ 4_d._ of our money, but the buying power of money
was eight or ten times greater than at present. So that, although ten
marks was only £6 12_s._ of our currency, it was fully equal to £50.
[11] There are entries mentioning Philippa Chaucer in 1366, 1372, and
1374. The former names her as one of the ladies of the bedchamber to Queen
Philippa, who conferred the annuity of ten marks in September, 1366. In
1372 John of Gaunt conferred on Philippa Chaucer an annuity of £10 (equal
to £100). Her name is mentioned when the grant to Chaucer of a pitcher of
wine daily is commuted into money payment, June 13, 1374, by John of Gaunt
(again a pension of £10), for good services rendered by the Chaucers to
the said Duke, his consort, and his mother the Queen.
[12] Green was the favourite colour of the time.
[13] _Astrolabe_: a machine used at sea to measure the distances of stars.
The quadrant now in use has superseded the astrolabe.
[14] Thomas Chaucer was born in or about 1367, and died in 1434. Elizabeth
Chaucer’s noviciate was paid for by John of Gaunt in 1381. If Elizabeth
Chaucer was about 16 in 1381 she would have been born about 1365; and,
therefore, as far as dates are concerned, either Thomas or Elizabeth may
well have been elder children of the poet: the chances being that he
married in 1361-64. Moreover, John of Gaunt’s interest in both of these
persons, Thomas Chaucer and Elizabeth Chaucer, gives this a colour of
probability. At the same time Chaucer seems to have been no uncommon name.
Chaucer’s exceptional notice of his little son Lewis who must have been
born in 1381, the year of Elizabeth’s novitiate, since Chaucer describes
him as being ten years old in his treatise on the astrolabe in 1391, may
have been due to the appearance of a ‘Benjamin’ rather late in life.
[15] On the hypothesis, of course, that Chaucer married a Roet.
[16] For many new and curious facts about Chaucer, see my _Chaucer for
Schools_, “Chaucer’s Court Life and Position.”
[17] In these cases, the sum received on the marriage of the ward was
legally a fine on the marriage.
[18] See Chambers’s Encyclopædia, ‘Chaucer’.
[19] See _Chaucer for Schools_, p. 22, for further details.
[20] I have assumed that Thomas Chaucer was Geoffrey Chaucer’s son, as
there is no proof to the contrary, and a probability in point of dates
that he was.
[21] See ‘Notes by the Way,’ p. 103.
[22] See _Chaucer for Schools_.
[23] Remembering the discussion raised as to the year of Chaucer’s birth,
coupled with the tradition of his venerable looks, we may suggest that in
those days men were older at sixty than now. The average duration of life
was shorter, and the paucity of comforts probably told on appearance.
[24] Author of the ‘Testament of Love.’
[25] Alluding to the numerous dialects in use in England at the time.
[26] The mother should here read to the child some lines with the proper
pronunciation: see Preface, pp. x., xi.
[27] _Zephyrus_, or Zephyr: the god of the west wind. It is become a name
for the wind of summer.
[28] Pilgrims who have brought a palm branch from the Holy Land.
[29] _Kouthe_: past participle of the verb conne, to know, or to be able.
It was used much as _savoir_ is in French--to be able to do, to know how
to do a thing. The verse means ‘To serve the saints they could, or they
knew of, or knew how to serve.’
[30] Thomas Beket, Chancellor of Henry II. He was Archbishop of Canterbury
for eight years, and was murdered by servants of the King in 1170. He was
canonized, or made a saint, by the Pope, after his death, and pilgrimages
were then constantly made to his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral. In those
days it was usual in sickness or peril to vow a pilgrimage to the shrine
of some saint who was supposed to be able to help people by interceding
with God, when pilgrims prayed him to. Erasmus alludes to the quantities
of offerings on Thomas Beket’s shrine, given by those who believed the
saint had healed or helped them.
[31] A tabard was an outer coat without sleeves, worn by various classes,
but best known as the coat worn over the armour (see p. 48), whereon there
were signs and figures embroidered by which to recognize a man in war or
tournament: for the face was hidden by the helmet, and it was easier to
detect a pattern in bright colours than engraved in dark steel. So, of
course, the pattern represented the arms used by him. And thus the tabard
got to be called the _coat of arms_. Old families still possess what they
call their coat of arms, representing the device chosen by their ancestors
in the lists; but they do not wear it any more: it is only a copy of the
pattern on paper. A _crest_ was also fastened to the helmet for the same
purpose of recognition, and there is usually a ‘crest’ still surmounting
the modern ‘coat of arms.’ The inn where Chaucer slept was simply named
after the popular garment. It, or at least a very ancient inn on its site,
was recently standing, and known as the Talbot Inn, High Street, Borough:
Talbot being an evident corruption of Tabard. We may notice here, that the
Ploughman, described later on, wears a tabard, which may have been a kind
of blouse or smock-frock, but was probably similar in form to the knight’s
tabard.
[32] People were glad to travel in parties for purposes of safety, the
roads were so bad and robbers so numerous.
[33] Probably all or many occupied but one bedroom, and they became
acquainted on retiring to rest, at the ordinary time--sunset.
[34] The word Knight (knecht) really means _servant_. The ancient knights
attended on the higher nobles and were their _servants_, fighting under
them in battle. For as there was no regular army, when a war broke out
everybody who could bear arms engaged himself to fight under some king or
lord, anywhere, abroad or in England, and was paid for his services. That
was how hundreds of nobly born men got their living--the only way they
could get it. This is what the knight Arviragus does in the ‘Franklin’s
Tale;’ leaving his bride, to win honour (and money) by fighting wherever
he could.
The _squire_ waited on the knight much as the knight did on the earl--much
in the position of an aide-de-camp of the present day. The _page_ served
earl, knights, ladies. But knight, squire, and page were all honourable
titles, and borne by noblemen’s sons. The page was often quite a boy, and
when he grew older changed his duties for those of squire, till he was
permitted to enter the knighthood. The present knight is described as
being in a lord’s service, and fighting under him ‘in his war,’ but he was
a man held in the highest honour.
[35] See p. 48 and Appendix, p. 107.
[36] “On nommait _Bacheliers_ les chevaliers pauvres, les _bas Chevaliers_
... quand ceux-ci avaient reçu la chevalerie, on les appelait
Chevaliers-Bacheliers ... quant à l’Ecuyer (Squire) c’était le prétendant
à la Chevalerie.”--LE GRAND, _Fabliaux & Contes_.
[37] _Chivachie_: military expeditions.
[38] See page 45, note 96.
[39] Mr. Bell considers that these two lines refer to the squire’s
complexion of red and white. Speght thinks it means freckled. But there is
little doubt that the material of his dress is what Chaucer means, for
there is no other instance of Chaucer calling a complexion _embroidered_,
and gorgeously flowered fabrics embroidered with the needle were peculiar
to the period and in common use.
[40] As it was the custom for sons to do.
[41] Peacocks’ feathers on them instead of swans’.
[42] It was a sign of the yeoman’s carefulness in his business that they
stuck out from the shaft instead of drooping.
[43] _Bracer_: a leathern defence for the arm: a similar shield is now
worn in archery.
[44] _Bokeler_--buckler: a small shield--used chiefly for a warder to
catch the blow of an adversary. Some pictures show the buckler to have
been only the size of a plate, but it varied. In comparing the Wife of
Bath’s hat to a buckler, Chaucer could not have meant so small a one. It
was usual for serving men of noble families to carry swords and bucklers
when in attendance on them.
[45] _Bawdrik_--baldrick: ornamented strap to suspend the horn or dagger.
[46] Oaths were only too common among ladies as well as men. It was an
exceptional refinement to use only a small oath. Tyrwhitt prints the name
of the saint, Eloy, contraction of Eligius--a saint who, having been a
worker in metals, was often invoked by smiths (see ‘Friar’s Tale’), &c.;
but Dr. Morris says St. Loy is the old spelling of St. Louis of France, by
whom the Prioress swore.
[47] Bell approves reading _voice_ for nose, as Speght has actually done.
It has not struck either of them that Chaucer is all the way through
laughing at the fastidious and rather over-attractive nun!
[48] Knives and forks were not in use--people had to use their fingers;
but some used them more agreeably than others.
[49] At meals one cup for drinking passed from guest to guest, instead of
each having his own glass, as now. It was considered polite to wipe one’s
mouth well before drinking, so that the next drinker should find no grease
in the wine. The great stress Chaucer lays on the pretty nun’s courtesy
seems to hint at very dirty habits among ordinary folk at meals!
[50] Mr. Bell naïvely points out the innocence and ‘ignorance of the ways
of the world,’ which pervade the whole of the ‘simple Prioress’s
character;’ but you will notice that in laughing at the cheerful nun’s
affectation of court manners, Chaucer never once gives her credit for very
high or noble character, though he does not speak ill-naturedly. I have
ere now alluded to his dislike of the Church, friars, nuns, and all
included: and here he shows that her charitableness and compassion were
spent on wholly inadequate objects. She is extravagant to the last degree
in feeding her dogs, and weeping for dead mice; but nothing is said of
charity to the poor, or any good works at all. She is too intent on
fascinating everybody, and dressing smartly. There is sharp sarcasm in all
this.
[51] _Wastel breed_--a kind of cake--the most expensive of all bread.
[52] _Wimple_: a loose covering for the neck, close up to the chin,
plaited daintily; worn especially by nuns.
[53] A rosary, the coral beads of which were divided by smaller ones, or
gauds, of a green colour.
[54] ‘Love conquers all things.’ The Prioress might have twisted this
device to refer to the text, ‘The greatest of these is charity;’ but the
_double entendre_ is apparent.
[55] From a French phrase, _bone pur la maistrie_ = good to excel all
others. The monk bids fair to excel all others or outstrip the rest in
promotion, on account of his worldliness.
[56] “The custom of hanging small bells on the bridle and harness of
horses is still observed on the Continent for the purpose of giving notice
to foot-passengers to get out of the way; but it was no doubt often used
for ostentation. So Wicliffe inveighs against the clergy in his Triologe
for their ‘fair hors, and jolly and gay sadels, and bridels ringing by the
way.’”
[57] A bird more commonly eaten in those days than it is now, but
expensive even then.
[58] _Lymytour_: a friar licensed to beg within a certain district or
limit. This friar, no very pleasing character, is described as making such
a good thing out of his begging, that he bribed his fellow friars not to
come within his particular haunt, and interfere with his doings: an
unprincipled dandy who is another instance of Chaucer’s sarcasm against
the Church.
[59] There were four orders of mendicant friars--Dominicans, Franciscans,
Carmelites, and Augustins.
[60] _Frankeleyns_: a franklin was a rich landholder, free of feudal
service, holding possessions immediately from the king. See p. 28.
[61] Confession, absolution, and penance: sacraments in the Roman Catholic
Church.
[62] The rotta was an ancient instrument of the guitar tribe.
[63] _Clerk_: a scholar probably preparing for the priesthood. In many
Roman Catholic countries it was the custom till very lately for poor
scholars to ask and receive contributions from the people for the expenses
of their education. They were often extremely indigent, coming from the
labouring classes. The parson, for instance, spoken of later, is said to
be brother of the ploughman travelling with him. The poor scholar and the
good parson are ‘birds of a feather.’
[64] Or, _abounded_: the O. E. _snewe_, like the Prov. Eng. _snee_,
_snie_, _snive_, _snew_, signifies _to swarm_.
[65] The table dormant was a permanent table, not a board on trestles such
as the ordinary one, mentioned on p. 2. It was only used by very rich
people, for it was a new fashion, and expensive. See drawing of table
dormant in 14th century, on page 28.
[66] Well-to-do.
[67] Chaucer speaks, you see, in very different terms of the poor and
conscientious parish priest (who was supported only by his benefice and
tithes of the people--a small income) from what he does of the monastic
orders, corrupted by the wealth they had accumulated. Bell says--“It was
quite natural that Chaucer, the friend of John of Gaunt, should praise the
parochial clergy, who were poor, and therefore not formidable, at the
expense of the rich monastic orders who formed the only barriers which
then existed against the despotic power of the aristocracy.” But, however
that may be, there is no doubt that these parish parsons actually were a
much better and more honest class of men than the monks, and the begging
friars, and all the rest, were at this time. They were drawn, like the
Roman Catholic secular clergy of the present day, from the labouring
classes.
[68] No one of good position rode on a mare in the middle ages.
[69] _Summoner_: an officer employed by the ecclesiastical courts to
summon any persons who broke the law to appear before the archdeacon, who
imposed what penalty he thought fit. The Summoners found it to their
interest to accept bribes not to report offences: therefore bad people who
could afford to pay got off, whilst those who could not afford to pay were
punished with rigour. Many Summoners extorted bribes by threatening to say
people had transgressed the law who had _not_; and so they got to be
detested by the masses, and Chaucer’s hideous picture gives the popular
notion of a Summoner.
[70] A face as red as the fiery cherubin: a rather profane simile! In many
ancient pictures we find the cherubin painted wholly scarlet; and the term
had become a proverb. ‘Sawceflem’ is from _salsum flegma_, a disease of
the skin.
[71] See note, p. 92, note 175.
[72] _Pardoner_: Seller of the Pope’s indulgences.
[73] A vernicle--diminutive of _Veronike_--was a small copy of the face of
Christ, worn as a token that he had just returned from a pilgrimage to
Rome.
[74] The Pardoner’s eloquence and musical gifts account, perhaps, for the
exquisite story he afterwards tells.
[75] Mr. Wright says this place was situated at the second milestone on
the old Canterbury road.
[76] Tyrwhitt. Hyppolita, Smith’s Dic.
[77] Feste in this place means rather festival than feast, as Theseus was
only on his way to the city.
[78] At this period, the personal pronoun _you_ was used only in the
plural sense, or in formal address, as on the Continent now; whilst _thou_
implied familiarity. The Deity, or any superior, was therefore addressed
as _you_: intimates and inferiors as _thou_. Throughout Chaucer the
distinction is noticeable: but as the present mode reverses the order, I
have in my lines adhered to no strict principle, but have used the
singular or plural personal pronoun according as it seemed most forcible.
[79] Thebes, in Greece.
[80] A garment worn over the armour, on which the armorial bearings were
usually embroidered, for the purpose of recognition. See _tabard_, p. 48.
[81] The rites and ceremonies, observed on the approach of spring, from
the earliest times in many countries, but which have now died out in
England, are among the most natural and beautiful of all popular fêtes. I
have already in the preface alluded lo the custom of riding out into the
fields at daybreak to do honour to May, the month which was held to be the
symbol of spring-time. Rich and poor, the court and the commoners, all
rode out with one impulse. Boughs of hawthorn and laburnum were brought
home to decorate all the streets, and dancing round the maypole, and
feasting, and holiday-making, were observed almost like religious rites.
It was a great privilege to be elected queen of May, and one which every
young maiden coveted. At a later time we read of Henry VIII. and Queen
Catherine of Aragon formally meeting the heads of the corporation of
London, on Shooter’s Hill, to ‘go a maying.’
But one thing should be remembered when we see how many pleasures were
referred to May, and how much more people seemed to count on the weather
of a month nowadays proverbially disappointing. The seasons were not the
same then as they are now. Not because the climate of the land has altered
so much, though that may be fairly surmised; but because the seasons were
actually arranged otherwise. In Chaucer’s time, May began twelve days
later than our May, and ended in the midst of June, and therefore there
was a much better chance of settled weather than we have. This fact also
accounts for the proverbial connection of Christmas and hard weather,
snow, and ice, which _we_ get as a rule in January, while December is
foggy and wet. Twelfth Day was the old Christmas Day. (See page 4.)
[82] At point devise--with exactness.
[83] The love of the Anglo-Saxons and the early English for flowers is
very remarkable. The wearing of garlands of fresh flowers was a common
practice with both sexes: a beautiful custom, followed by the Romans, and
previously by the Greeks.
[84] Formal compacts for the purpose of mutual counsel and assistance were
common to the heroic and chivalrous ages.--_B._
[85] The words _court_ and _royal_, now applied only to the sovereign of
the land, were applicable then to the domains of the great nobles, who
were to all intents and purposes kings. Their pride, and wealth, and
immense power, made them very formidable to the sovereign, as we
constantly find in following the history of England or any other country.
They often mustered as big an army as the king, because they could afford
to pay the knights (see note, p. 19), and were invincible in their
strongholds, surrounded by their serfs dependent on them.
[86] Tyrwhitt.
[87] _Crop_, the top of the wood; _briars_, the thorny brushwood and weeds
growing on the ground. This pretty metaphor well expresses the fluctuating
moods of an overwrought state of feeling.
[88] Tyrwhitt.
[89] Harness was a technical term for the complete armour or equipment, as
opposed to portions, which were equally _armour_.
[90] Even these similes separate the two characters: the lion may be mad
with rage; the tiger, which is a cat, is crafty as well as fierce.
[91] An exaggeration simply for picturesque effect, such as many have
indulged in since Chaucer.
[92] The helmet entirely concealing the face.
[93] _Ho_ was the word by which the heralds or the king commanded the
cessation of any action.
[94] What were called the ‘lists’ were the places built and enclosed for
combats on horseback, and tournaments. These combats got sometimes very
serious, and many knights and horses were wounded, or even killed.
[95] A form of torture to extort confession. Theseus’ grim humour at this
juncture implies how far lightlier human life was held then than now. But
he was naturally in a great rage when he knew who the knights were.
Palamon’s insolent address in the _singular_ personal pronoun was not
likely to mollify him, coming as it did from a captive, though an equal by
birth.
[96] How idealized, and how idolized, the passion of love had crown to be
with the new elevation of woman’s condition in these times is well known.
Love literally covered a multitude of sins: the malefactor was pardoned
whose offences were caused by love; the rough was made smooth for the feet
of love to tread upon. There was a reason for this. It is but too true
that the morals of the people will not bear the light of modern times; but
it would be unfair to judge them by that light. Those were rough days,
when laws were often feeble, narrow, or ill-enforced. The want of legal
organization placed a great refining and ennobling power in the hands of
woman. Many a knight, who was coarse or cowardly, was pricked to courteous
ways and deeds of courage by his love of some fair woman, when without it
he would have sunk lower and lower in vice and degradation. The arts were
ofttimes cultivated to win a woman’s ear or eye; knowledge itself was
sought for her sake, for knowledge is power. Of course the love of
courtesy, valour, and learning were deeply rooted in the age, or the
woman’s sympathy could not have existed. But her encouragement of all that
was æsthetic, her influence over men, and therefore the impetus she gave
to the higher life, must never be underrated, however we may reprove the
errors of that day. The institution of actual ‘Courts of Love’--tribunals
for the judgment of love-matters, bearing a definite recognition, and
which seem so strange, almost repulsive to us, presided over as they were
by ladies only--was the result of the worship of physical beauty and the
passion which it inspired, and the proof, however grotesque, of the real
value seen to lie in it. This will be better understood when we observe
that even children were encouraged to cultivate somewhat of this ideal
love, and the childish education of boys and girls consisted to a very
large extent in learning the art of writing love-letters. Thus Palamon’s
and Arcite’s adoration of fresh Emelye are seen to be neither exaggerated
nor futile.
[97] ‘To pipe in an ivy leaf:’ A proverbial expression, similar to ‘go
whistle’--meaning to be engaged in any useless employment.
[98] The tournament, great as the loss of life often was, seems to have
been the greatest delight of the people in the middle ages. The ladies
especially loved them, as they were often in homage to themselves. The
victor in the mimic battle received a crown from the queen of the
tournament. In this case, Emelye is not asked whether she likes to be
disposed of thus coolly! but she could not fail to be touched by the great
compliment paid her.
[99] There are no portraits, otherwise, of these two princes, whose
characters are so clear and forcible all through that some physical
description is sorely needed. The portraits of the two sovereigns fit
singularly well the fierce, passionate nature of Palamon, and the cooler
but equally noble one of Arcite.
[100] _Kemped heres_: Dr. Morris rejects the usual rendering of the word
kemped as combed, and asserts that it means the very reverse, and,
“instead of smoothly combed, means bent, _curled_, and hence rough,
shaggy.” A similar term occurs a few lines farther on, describing the hair
‘kempt behind his back,’ where Dr. Morris reads combed. It seems, however,
contrary to the rule of courtesy observed by lovers, that a noble knight
should appear at a festival like a wild man of the woods. If, on the other
hand, the shaggy hairs were on the _eyebrow_, it certainly adds to the
ferocity of his look. I prefer the former reading for Emelye’s bridegroom.
[101] See page 42, note.
[102] _Alauns._ A species of dog used for hunting the boar, &c. Sp.
_alano_. Speght says they were greyhounds, Tyrwhitt mastiffs, much
esteemed in Italy in the 14th century. See Cotgrave--‘_Allan_, a kind of
big, strong, thick-headed, and short-snowted dog--the brood whereof came
first out of Albania.’
[103] See Appendix, p. 111.
[104] A kind of rich silk.
[105] The ‘mantelet’ was at first devised to protect the burnished helmet
from becoming inconveniently heated by the sun: it became afterwards
fantastic in form, and is the origin of the ‘mantling’ seen in modern
coats of arms.
[106] This fair countenance is oddly assigned to an Indian monarch: but
some of the details of his appearance are poetic embellishments and must
not be relied upon. The white eagle carried for his pleasure is probably
one of the many exaggerations for picturesque effect, and is only a
magnified falcon, a bird which was at this time the constant companion of
the noble: hawking was in high favour, and the bird’s tameness depended on
its habituation to its owner’s voice and touch. A little later on the
hawks are mentioned as sitting on perches during the festival; such
perches were in every room and hall in common life; so provision had to be
made for their accommodation on the grandest occasions. In Wright’s
‘Womankind,’ we read: “Different species of the hawk were allotted to
persons of the different grades and ranks of society. Thus we are told
that the eagle and the vulture belonged to the emperor, from which we must
understand that the emperor was not expected to go often a-hawking.”
Evidently Chaucer was well read in his books on falconry.
[107] _Carole_ (Tyrwhitt--the other editions have _dance_) was a round
dance.
[108] The term for the whole panoply of knight or steed--armour and
coat-armour included.
[109] A knight in armour was in very little danger from a cut of a
broadsword, or even from the blow of a mace; but a thrusting sword might
easily pierce through the joints of his armour.--_Bell._
[110] Tyrwhitt’s and Bell’s editions read, ‘Farwel, my swete, farwel, myn
Emelye!’
[111] Tyrwhitt. _Overnome_ is participle past of _overnimen_ (Sax.), to
overtake. The following, and the sixth line further on, are also
Tyrwhitt’s reading.
[112] See _Chaucer for Schools_, p. 86, for some curious details.
[113] The Summoners and the Friars were naturally always at variance, both
deriving their money from the same Source: both belonged to the Church,
but the Summoner was legally qualified to _extort_, whilst the Friar was
only permitted to _beg_. Thus, if the Summoner had been to a house first,
the Friar was likely to suffer.
[114] Houses of ill-fame were exempted from ecclesiastical interference on
the ground that they were a necessary evil, and might be thus better
_surveillé_.
[115] _Gale_--sing: it means here, ‘If the Summoner likes to squeak when
he feels the shoe pinch, let him!’
[116] “A dog trained for shooting with the bow, part of whose education
consisted in following the stricken deer only, and separating it from the
herd.”--_Bell._
[117] _Ribibe_: a shrill musical instrument--metaphorical for a shrill old
woman.
[118] Tyrwhitt.
[119] The hell of the Teutonic race, before they were Christians, was in
the north, and after their conversion, as their converters adopted their
name, only giving the place a Christian character, it was natural that the
people should retain their original notion of its position.--_Bell._
[120] Tyrwhitt.
[121] Money forced out of people by threats or ill-usage.
[122] A proverbial expression.
[123] Tyrwhitt.
[124] Tyrwhitt; more forcible.
[125] The first quarter of the artificial day: _i.e._ 9 o’clock.
[126] Tyrwhitt. Morris has ‘nothing for to leere.’
[127] This verse means, ‘You shall hereafter understand this subject so
well, as to be able to give lectures on it, as a professor in his chair;’
_chayer_ being the term for pulpit or professor’s chair; _conne_ part of
the verb conne, to know or be able; and _rede_, to counsel. The evil one
is sarcastic on the special wickedness of the Summoner.
[128] Alluding to Eneas’ visit to infernal regions (6th book of ‘Eneid’)
and Dante’s ‘Inferno.’
[129] The text has ‘Heit, Scot, heit, brok, what spare ye for the stones?’
and it is singular that ‘hayt’ is still the word used by waggoners in
Norfolk to make their horses go on; while Scot remains one of the
commonest names for a horse in Norfolk and Suffolk. The Reeve’s horse in
the Prologue is called Scot also. Brock means a badger, hence applied to a
grey horse. The carter presently calls this horse ‘myn oughne lyard (grey)
boy.’
[130] The value of twelve pence may be estimated by the relative value of
food and labour. _Bell_ says, “Twelve pence would have bought two dozen
hens, or three gallons of red wine, or hired a _dozen_ common labourers
for _twelve_ days,” but surely he means a _dozen_ labourers for _one_ day,
or one labourer for twelve days.
[131] There was then no means of conveyance for people who could not walk
except horseback.
[132] A libel, a copy of the information or indictment. A libel is still
the expression in the ecclesiastical courts.--_Bell._ The abuses, we see,
have led to another interpretation of the word libel--as _libellous_.
[133] This singular (to us) term as applied to Christ, was of course
borrowed from the popular notion of warfare, when each knight, inspired by
some fair inciter, was the more valiant for her sake. The term is both
picturesque and forcible as an appeal to the common understanding, in
which the Friars were naturally adepts.
[134] Tyrwhitt.
[135] The Summoner’s Tale (omitted) follows here.
[136] Students then entered the university at a far younger age than at
the present day, almost indeed when boys now enter the public schools, so
that the Clerk of Oxford may have been but a boy, which would account for
his diffident demeanour: yet his education and knowledge might warrant
mine host’s fear of his being too learned for them.
[137] Table: a board upon trestles.
[138] These are the lines on which the supposition is based that Petrarch
and Chaucer had met.
[139] “Joannes of Lignano, near Milan, a canonist and natural philosopher,
who flourished about 1378.”--_B._
[140] Saluzzo, a marquisate near Mount Viso: Lat. Vesulus.
[141] _Corage_ is used in several senses: impulse (as in the opening lines
of the Prologue), feeling, or disposition may be implied. The word is
derived from the Latin _cor_, the heart.
[142] See note 144 below.
[143] The courtsey of modern times is all that remains of the old custom
of kneeling.
[144] The house without. In these early times, dwelling-places were
usually built within a court. The court was, among the poor, a spot
enclosed by a hedge or fence of sticks, and often a dry ditch; in the
middle of this enclosure or house, the _hall_ in which they lived stood--a
mere covered room. The chamber or _bower_, for sleeping and privacy, was a
second erection within the court; but, in the case of so poor a man as
Janicula, probably there was but one covered room, hall _or_ chamber, used
for any purpose of shelter. So when the guests came into the _house_
without, the enclosure is meant, within which a single hut stood, built of
planks. Janicula’s ox (used for draught, as now in Italy) inhabited the
hut with them, and Griselda sets down her can in the stall when she enters
the hut. In and around Naples we may still see the turkeys, pigs, and
donkeys sharing the hovels with the peasants in this miserable way.
[145] On the Continent, even at the present day, the bride is _expected_
to assent to the bridegroom chosen by her parents. Walter treated Griselda
with especial consideration and respect by consulting her. Skeat quotes
the legal formula of refusal, _Le roy s’avisera_, to show that Walter’s
question, “Wol ye assent, or elles yow avyse?” gave her the chance to
refuse.
[146] In the 14th century it was the custom for everybody to go to bed
with the sun. They rose in the morning at 4 or 5, had breakfast at 6,
dinner at 10 or 11, and supper about 6.
[147] Sergeant and servant are doublets.--_Skeat._ Probably he was a cross
between a highwayman and a soldier. Sergeant at one time meant squire to a
prince or nobleman.
[148] Tyrwhitt.
[149] It was common, nay usual, in mediæval times for noble children to be
put out to nurse in the family of some equal or dependent, for purposes of
security. The removal of Walter’s children from the mother was _not_ an
outrage: but concealing their fate from her was.
[150] _Panico_, Petrarch; _Panigo_, Boccace. I cannot be sure of the
situation of this place, but there is a certain Paganico near Urbino,
marked in old maps as a castle or fortress, which is not too far from
Bologna to be possibly the place referred to. A river Panaro flows between
Modena and Bologna.
[151] Tyrwhitt.
[152] It was not uncommon in olden times for girls to be married at twelve
years of age.
[153] Skeat.
[154] The smock, or shift, was a high garment with long sleeves, often
embroidered with black stitchery.
[155] “A jane is a small coin of Genoa (Janua); the meaning is, your
praise is dear enough at a farthing.”--_B._ Or the verse may be taken to
mean, the smallest coin is dear enough to you when you are tired of
better--for novelty’s sake.
[156] Skeat; also second line beyond.
[157] Tyrwhitt and Skeat.
[158] Tyrwhitt.
[159] Skeat.
[160] Skeat and Tyrwhitt.
[161] For the analysis of these two remarkable and elaborately worked-out
characters, see _Chaucer for Schools_, p. 111.
[162] Basse Bretaigne in France, called anciently Britannia Armorica.
[163] See Notes to this tale, p. 91, touching the homage paid to women
during the middle ages.
[164] Penmark is placed on the maps on the western coast of Brittany,
between Brest and Port l’Orient.
[165] The only means of subsistence a knight had was fighting--of course
for hire.
[166] Backgammon.
[167] About the 20th of May by our almanac.
[168] _Clerk_ at that time denoted a man of learning, and a student at the
universities--generally in holy orders.
[169] _Natural Magic_, Chaucer.--All kinds of conjuring were very popular
at this time. The minstrels or _jougleurs_ added to their other
accomplishments marvellous skill in sleight of hand (derived from the
East): hence the modern signification of the word _juggler_. It is quite
clear that many of their tricks were due to electro-biology, a science
known to those mighty cultivators and preservers of learning, the Arabs.
For some knowledge of what we owe to the Arabs, and of their influence
upon mediæval European literature, I refer the reader to the ‘Literary
Remains of Emanuel Deutsch’ (published by John Murray), containing two
articles on Arabic Poetry; and to Draper’s popular ‘History of the
Conflict between Religion and Science.’
[170] This and the following line are not in Morris’s edition.
[171] Bell’s edition. This and the next six lines are not in Morris’s
edition.
[172] Equal to eight or ten times the amount now.
[173] Equivalent to ‘What is done cannot be undone.’
[174] I could not resist inserting the vigorous old words.
[175] The ale-stake was a stake set up as a sign before the inn, generally
adorned with a bush. This custom prevails in Normandy still, where you may
see a goodly bunch of mistletoe hanging out wherever wine or cider is
sold.
[176] “A small bell used formerly to be rung before the corpse as it was
carried to the grave, to give notice to those who were charitably disposed
that they might pray for the soul of the deceased. Our ‘passing bell’ has
the same origin, though the reason for it has ceased.”--_Bell._
[177] “Perhaps an allusion to the great pestilence which devastated Europe
during the 14th century. _This pestilence_ means _during_ this pestilence,
as _this_ year means _during_ this year.”--_Bell._
[178] “This is still the ceremony used in taking an oath in courts of
justice in Prussia.”--_Bell._ Notice the emphasis laid on their close
friendship, and their constant allusion to their being all ‘one,’ over and
above the solemnity of the profane vow they make.
[179] The kindly custom of greeting passers-by, now rapidly going out even
in our country districts, was more common in days when passers-by were
infinitely rarer. Probably half a mile from the inn the road was lonesome
enough, wherefore the old man’s anticipation of rough treatment from three
reckless and half-tipsy ruffians was not unreasonable. His calm and
fearless answer was the wisest as well as the most dignified course to
pursue with such assailants, being calculated to sober them as well as to
save himself.
[180] Making a jest of the close coverings and wraps of old age.
[181] _Caitif_, wretch, wretched. Italian--_cattivo_, captive.
Fr.-_chétif_, poor, wretched, paltry, pitiful, &c. _Captive_ seems to give
the most pathetic meaning, as though death were a looked-for freedom by a
restless prisoner in the body. Fugitive is the next best for the sense, as
the old man may be supposed to be flying to the gate for safety and
comfort.
[182] Hair-shroud, sackcloth, the roughest cloth.
[183] Tyrwhitt’s edition has the less bloody threat, ‘Tell wher he is, or
thou shalt it abie!’
[184] The old man probably saw that the young men were scarcely
responsible for their actions, and determined to wreak violence on some
one, and therefore he played on their mood to avert their violence from
himself to some other object.
[185] Tyrwhitt.
[186] Probably in the vessels, &c., which had contained the food, thus
avoiding the appearance of transporting treasure.
[187] Shall counsel he kept between us? literally, in schoolboys’
language, ‘Mum’s the word--eh?’
[188] Bell’s edition.
[189] Games which we now leave to children were formerly as popular with
grown-up people. Hunt-the-slipper and blind-man’s-buff were 200 years ago
the common recreation of ladies and gentlemen, and wrestling and other
romping was indulged in far more commonly than now by young men. Playing
at ball was a favourite pastime.
[190] Tyrwhitt. _Outrely_, utterly, beyond all things. _Vide_ the
French--_outre mesure_, beyond measure. The common mediæval expressions,
‘_out of_ measure,’ ‘_out of_ doubt,’ were probably from the same word,
_outre_ = beyond.
[191] Tyrwhitt.
[192] Cast, as in ‘_cast_ a nativity,’ means fix upon, arrange, discover.
[193] Tyrwhitt.
[194] Avicen, Ebn Sina, an Arabian physician of the 10th century. _Fen_,
apparently an Arabic word, is the name given to the sections of Avicenna’s
great work on physic, entitled _Canun_.--_Tyrwhitt._
[195] A play on the word: light meant also fickle or untrue.
[196] Tyrwhitt has treasure; Morris has _tresorere_, treasurer. The former
seems the most appropriate to a lady-love. A similar expression is found
in ‘Li Congiés Adan d’Aras’ (MS. de la Vallière, No. 2736 Bibl. Imp.), ‘De
mon cuer serós tresoriere.’
[197] Bereft of money as a friar’s tonsure is of hair.
[198] Bell’s edition reads _tene_, taken.
[199] Tyrwhitt’s and Bell’s editions. Morris has ‘Do wel.’
[200] Fortune with her wheel.
[201] ‘Kick against the pricks.’
[202] For the clay pot is the weaker of the two.
[203] Tyrwhitt. Morris has _daunte_ and _dauntest_ (Fr., _dompter_),
meaning control.
[204] See ‘Notes by the Way,’ p. 103.
End of Project Gutenberg's Chaucer for Children, by Mrs. H. R. Haweis