34. _Linian_; 'the canonist Giovanni di Lignano, once illustrious, now
forgotten, though several works of his remain. He was made Professor of
Canon Law at Bologna in 1363, and died at Bologna in 1383'; Morley's
English Writers, v. 339. Tyrwhitt first pointed out the person here alluded
to, and says--'there is some account of him in Panzirolus, de Cl. Leg.
Intrepret. l. iii. c. xxv:--Joannes, a Lignano, agri Mediolanensis vico,
oriundus, et ob id _Lignanus_ dictus,' &c. One of his works, entitled
Tractatus de Bello, is extant in MS. Reg. 13 B. ix [Brit. Mus.]. He
composed it at Bologna in the year 1360. He was not however a mere lawyer.
Chaucer speaks of him as excelling in _philosophy_, and so does his epitaph
in Panzirolus. The only specimen of his philosophy that I have met with is
in MS. Harl. 1006. It is an astrological work, entitled Conclusiones
Judicii composite per Domnum Johannem de Lyniano super coronacione Domni
Urbani [343] Pape VI. A.D. 1387,' &c. Lignano is here said to be near
Milan, and to have been the lawyer's birthplace. In l. 38, Chaucer speaks
of his death, showing that Chaucer wrote this prologue later than 1383.
43. _proheme_, proem, introduction. Petrarch's treatise (taken from
Boccaccio's Decamerone, Day x. Novel 10) is entitled 'De obedientia ac fide
uxoria Mythologia.' It is preceded by a letter to Boccaccio, but this is
not here alluded to. What Chaucer means is the first section of the tale
itself, which begins thus:--'Est ad Italiae latus occiduum Vesulus, ex
Apennini iugis mons unus altissimus.... Padi ortu nobilissimus, qui eius a
latere fonte lapsus exiguo orientem contra solem fertur, mirisque mox
tumidus incrementis.... Liguriam gurgite uiolentus intersecat; dehinc
Aemiliam, atque Flaminiam, Venetiamque discriminans ... in Adriaticum mare
descendit.' _Pemond_, Piedmont. _Saluces_, Saluzzo, S. of Turin. _Vesulus_,
Monte Viso. See the description of the route from Mont Dauphin to Saluzzo,
by the Col de Viso, in Murray's Guide to Switzerland and Piedmont. Cf.
Vergil, Aen. x. 708.
51. _To Emelward_, towards Aemilia. Tyrwhitt says--'One of the regions of
Italy was called Aemilia, from the _via Aemilia_, which crossed it from
Placentia [Piacenza] to Rimini. Placentia stood upon the Po. Pitiscus, Lex.
Ant. Rom. in v. _Via Aemilia_. Petrarch's description ... is a little
different.' See note above. _Ferrare_, Ferrara, on the Po, not far from its
mouth. _Venyse_, rather the Venetian territory than Venice itself.
54. 'It seems to me a thing irrelevant, excepting that he wishes to impart
his information.'