For general remarks on this tale, see vol. iii. p. 389.
It is only possible to give here a mere general idea of the way in which
the Knightes Tale is related to the Teseide of Boccaccio. The following
table gives a sketch of it, but includes many lines wherein Chaucer is
quite original. The references to the Knightes Tale are to the lines of
group A (as in the text); those to the Teseide are to the books and
stanzas.
_Kn. Tale._ | _Teseide._
|
865-883 | I. and II.
893-1027 | II. 2-5, 25-95.
1030-1274 | III. 1-11, 14-20, 47, 51-54, 75.
1361-1448 | IV. 26-29, 59.
1451-1479 | V. 1-3, 24-27, 33.
1545-1565 | IV. 13, 14, 31, 85, 84, 17, 82.
1638-1641 | VII. 106, 119.
1668-1739 | V. 77-91.
1812-1860 | V. 92-98.
1887-2022 | VII. 108-110, 50-64, 29-37.
2102-2206 | VI. 71, 14-22, 65-70, 8.
2222-2593 | VII. 43-49, 68-93, 23-41, 67, 95-99,
| 7-13, 131, 132, 14,
| 100-102, 113-118, 19.
2600-2683 | VIII. 2-131.
2684-2734 | IX. 4-61.
2735-2739 | XII. 80, 83.
2743-2808 | X. 12-112.
2809-2962 | XI. 1-67.
2967-3102 | XII. 3-19, 69-83.
The MSS. quote a line and a half from Statius, Thebaid, xii. 519, 520,
because Chaucer is referring to that passage in his introductory lines to
this tale; see particularly ll. 866, 869, 870.
There is yet another reason for quoting this scrap of Latin, viz. that it
is also quoted in the Poem of Anelida and Arcite, at l. 22, where the
'Story' of that poem begins; and ll. 22-25 of Anelida give a fairly close
translation of it. From this and other indications, it appears that Chaucer
first of all imitated Boccaccio's Teseide (more or less closely) in the
poem which he himself calls 'Palamon and Arcite,' of which but scanty
traces exist in the original form; and this poem was in 7-line stanzas. He
afterwards recast the whole, at the same time changing the metre; and the
result was the Knightes Tale, as we here have it. Thus the Knightes Tale is
not derived _immediately_ from Boccaccio or from Statius, but _through the
medium_ of an older poem [61] of Chaucer's own composition. Fragments of
the same poem were used by the author in other compositions; and the result
is, that the Teseide of Boccaccio is the source of (1) sixteen stanzas in
the Parliament of Foules; (2) of part of the first ten stanzas in Anelida;
(3) of three stanzas near the end of Troilus (Tes. xi. 1-3); as well as of
the original Palamon and Arcite and of the Knightes Tale.
Hence it is that ll. 859-874 and ll. 964-981 should be compared with
Chaucer's Anelida, ll. 22-46, as printed in vol. i. p. 366. Lines 882 and
972 are borrowed from that poem with but slight alteration.
859. The lines from Statius, Theb. xii. 519-22, to which reference is made
in the heading, relate to the return of Theseus to Athens after his
conquest of Hippolyta, and are as follows:--
Iamque domos patrias, Scythicae post aspera gentis
Proelia, laurigero subeuntem Thesea curru
Laetifici plausus, missusque ad sidera uulgi
Clamor, et emeritis hilaris tuba nuntiat armis.'
860. _Theseus_, the great legendary hero of Attica, is the subject of
Boccaccio's poem named after him the Teseide. He is also the hero of the
Legend of Ariadne, as told in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women. After
deserting Ariadne, he succeeded his father Aegeus as king of Athens, and
conducted an expedition against the Amazons, from which he returned in
triumph, having carried off their queen Antiope, here named Hippolyta.
861. _governour._ It should be observed that Chaucer continually accents
words of Anglo-French origin in the original manner, viz. on the _last_ or
on the _penultimate_ syllable. Thus we have here _governóur_ and
_conqueróur_; in l. 865, _chivalrý-e_; in l. 869, _contrée_; in l. 876,
_manére_, &c. The most remarkable examples are when the words end in _-oun_
(ll. 893, 935).
864. _cóntree_ is here accented on the _first_ syllable; in l. 869, on the
_last_. This is a good example of the unsettled state of the accents of
such words in Chaucer's time, which afforded him an opportunity of licence,
which he freely uses. In fact, _cóntree_ shows the _English_, and
_contrée_, the _French_ accent.
865. _chivalrye_, knightly exploits. In l. 878, _chivalrye_ means
'knights'; mod. E. _chivalry_. So also in l. 982.
866. _regne of Femenye_, the kingdom (Lat. _regnum_) of the Amazons.
_Femenye_ is from Lat. _femina_, a woman. Cf. Statius, Theb. xii. 578.
'Amazonia, womens land, is a Country, parte in Asia and parte in Europa,
and is nigh Albania; and hath that name of Amazonia of women that were the
wives of the men that were called Goths, the which men went out of the
nether Scithia, as Isidore seith, li. 9.'--Batman upon Bartholomè, lib. xv.
c. 12. Cf. Higden's Polychronicon, lib. i. cap. xviii; and Gower, Conf.
Amant., ii. 73:--
'Pentasilee,
Which was the quene of Feminee.'
[62]
867. _Scithea_, Scythia. Cf. _Scythicae_ in the quotation from Statius in
note to l. 859.
868. _Ipolita_, Shakespeare's _Hippolyta_, in Mids. Night's Dream. The name
is in Statius, Theb. xii. 534, spelt _Hippolyte_.
880. In this line, _Athenes_ seems to mean 'Athenians,' though elsewhere it
means 'Athens.' _Athénès_ is trisyllabic.
884. _tempest._ As there is no mention of a tempest in Boccaccio, Tyrwhitt
proposed to alter the reading to _temple_, as there is some mention of
Theseus offering in the temple of Pallas. But it is very unlikely that this
would be alluded to by the mere word _temple_; and we must accept the
reading _tempest_, as in all the seven MSS. and in the old editions.
I think the solution is to be found by referring to Statius. Chaucer seems
to have remembered that a tempest is there described (Theb. xii. 650-5),
but to have forgotten that it is merely introduced by way of _simile_. In
fact, when Theseus determines to attack Creon (see l. 960), the advance of
his host is likened by Statius to the effect of a tempest. The lines are:--
'Qualis Hyperboreos ubi nubilus institit axes
Iupiter, et prima tremefecit sidera bruma,
Rumpitur Aeolia, et longam indignata quietem
Tollit hiems animos, uentosaque sibilat Arctos;
Tunc montes undaeque fremunt, tunc proelia caesis
Nubibus, et tonitrus insanaque fulmina gaudent.'
885. _as now_, at present, at this time. Cf. the M. E. adverbs _as-swithe_,
_as-sone_, immediately. From the Rom. de la Rose, 21479:--
'Ne vous voil or ci plus tenir,
A mon propos m'estuet venir,
Qu' autre champ me convient arer.'
889. _I wol nat letten eek noon of this route_, I desire not to hinder eke
(also) none of all this company. _Wol_ = desire; cf. 'I _will_ have mercy,'
&c.
890. _aboute_, i. e. in his turn, one after the other; corresponding to the
sense 'in rotation, in succession,' given in the New English Dictionary.
This sense of the word in this passage was pointed out by Dr. Kölbing in
Engl. Studien, ii. 531. He instanced a similar use of the word in the
Ormulum, l. 550, where the sense is--'and ay, whensoever that flock of
priests, being twenty-four in number, had all served once _about_ in the
temple.'
901. _crëature_ is here a word of three syllables. In l. 1106 it has _four_
syllables.
903. _nolde_, would not: the A. S. _nolde_ is the pt. t. of _nyllan_,
equivalent to _ne willan_, not to wish; cf. Lat. _noluit_, from _nolle_.
_stenten_, stop. 'It _stinted_, and said aye.'--Romeo and Juliet, i. 3. 48.