RPO -- Geoffrey Chaucer : The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue

1] Bold-faced vowels indicate syllables that, though frequently silent today, may have been sounded in Chaucer's time. (In the original printed edition of RPO, these vowels had a dot accent over them.)
THE CANTERBURY TALES are extant in 84 MSS., of which 55 are complete or nearly so. The earliest were written near the beginning of the 15th century. The two earliest editions are those of Caxton (ca. 1478 and ca. 1484). The Canterbury Tales are a series of twenty-four stories, supposed to be related by members of a band of pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury. A general Prologue and a number of head-links and end-links describe the pilgrims and narrate the effect of the tales and the events of the journey; but there are gaps in the sequence, and the number of stories planned is not completed. For the gallery of portraits in the General Prologue no literary parallel has been found. Some of them have been shown pretty clearly to be in some measure drawn from actual persons; others are rather representatives of a class; taken in all they give a broad and vivid picture of contemporary society. There is some evidence that the Prologue was written in 1387. Some of the tales were written previously and some considerably later.
shoures soote: showers sweet.

3] And bathed the veins of every plant in such moisture, by the power of which the flower is brought forth.

7] croppes: shoots.
the yonge sonne: the sun which has recently entered on its annual course through the signs of the zodiac. The year was then said to begin at the vernal equinox.

8] Has run through his half-course in the sign of Aries. In the introduction to the Man of Law's Tale (C.T., B, 5, 6) we are told that the date was April 18. The present passage must mean that the sun had completed the second half of his course in Aries, which sign he entered on March 12 and left on April 11.

14] ferne-halwes: distant or ancient shrines (O.E. halga, a saint. Cf. hallowe'en). kowthe: known.

17] martir: Thomas A Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered 1170, canonized 1173.

18] Who has helped them when they were sick. Note the identical rhyme, allowable in Middle English and in French.

20] As I lodged at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (on the south bank of the Thames, opposite London).

24] Wel nyne and twenty: fully twenty-nine. Including Chaucer but not the Host, thirty-one pilgrims are mentioned in the Prologue. It has been suggested that Preestes thre, at line 164, is a scribe's mistake. If there was only one Nun's Priest the number of the pilgrims would be just twenty-nine.

47] his lordes werre: his feudal lord's war, i.e. the king's service in the French wars.

52] He had often sat at the head of the table above the representation of all nations among the knights of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, during their campaigns against the heathen.

57] Algezir: Algeciras, taken from the Moors in 1344. Belmarye: Benmarin, Moorish kingdom in Africa.

58] Lyeys: Ayas in Armenia, taken from the Turks in 1367. Satalye. Adalia on coast of Asia Minor, taken from the Turks in 1361.

60] armee: armed expedition, armada. The reading of some MSS., aryve, translated as "landing," is doubtful, since the word occurs nowhere else.

65] lord of Palatye: ruler of Balat in Asia Minor; probably a Turk in league with the Christians.

72] He was a true, perfect, noble knight. verray is an adjective modifying knight, not an adverb modifying perfect.

77] For he had lately come from his journey (and had not taken time to procure fresh clothes before going on pilgrimage, perhaps as the result of a vow made in peril. The squire, who was in gay clothes, had perhaps met him in London).

86] Artoys, Pycardie: provinces of northern France. The Bishop of Norwich had led an expedition into these districts in 1382.

87] as of so little space: considering that his time of service had been so short.

100] carf: carved. Carving was a gentleman's accomplishment and a regular duty of a squire.

101] Yeman: yeoman, servant of the next degree above a groom. he: the Knight. namo: no more.

107] fetheres lowe: feathers of which the pinnules lie so close to the rib (low) that they do not properly support the arrow in the air but cause it to droop and fall short.

111] bracir: arm-guard. A heavy leather glove to protect the arm and sleeve from the friction of the bow-string.

115] Christophere: image of St. Christopher, used as a protection against danger. sheene: bright.

116] bawdryk: baldric, a belt worn over one shoulder and under the opposite arm, supporting the horn.

120] seinte Loy: St. Eligins or Eloi, Bishop of Noyon. He was a skilled goldsmith and noted for his beauty and courtesy.

123] Entuned in hir nose. The recitative parts of the church service were nasally intoned to avoid straining the throat. (Manly). semely: becomingly.

125] Strafford atte Bowe: the reference is to the Benedictine nunnery of St. Leonards at Bromley, near Stratford at Bow, east of London. Manly has shown the probability that Madame Eglentyne was drawn from one of the nuns of this convent.

126] The implication is clearly that her French was provincial. French of Paris was considered the standard French.

136] raughte: reached. These are the points of good table manners emphasized in the rules of deportment.

151] wympul: cloth covering forehead, neck, and sides of the face. semyly ... pynched: neatly pleated.

159] peire of bedes: set of prayer-beads. gauded al with grene: having every eleventh bead or gaud green. The other beads (O.E. bed, prayer) marked the Ave Marias, the gauds (L. gaudia), the Paternoster.

162] Amor vincit omnia: Love conquers all things (cf. Vergil, Eclogues, X, 69). But nothing in the description of the Prioress or in her subsequent tale indicates that earthly love is meant.

164] chapeleyne: a sort of private secretary. Preestes thre. See 1. 24 and note.

165] a fair for the maistrie: an extremely fine one; for the maistrie is an adverbial phrase modifying fair.

166] outridere: an officer whose duty it was to inspect the estates of the monastery. venerie: hunting.

173] St. Benedict founded the Benedictine order in 529 in Italy. St. Maurus, his disciple, introduced it into France. The reule is the famous Benedictine rule for the conduct of monasteries.

175] ilke: same. leet: let. olde thynges: in loose apposition with 1. 173. pace: pass by.

178] St. Jerome says that we do not find in the Bible a single pious hunter. (Manly).

187] Austyn: St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430), and author of a famous monastic rule. hit: biddeth. How ... served? Who shall carry on the business of the world?

200] in good poynt: in good condition (from French en bon point, cf. embonpoint, plumpness).

209] limitour: licensed to beg within certain limits. solimpne: important, impressive.

220] licenciat: licensed by the Pope, through his order, to hear confession and give absolution in all places.

253] Lines 253-54 are found only in a few MSS., one of which, the Hengwrt, is among the best. The lines sound like Chaucer's and fit their context, but he may have cancelled them. They mean that the Friar paid a certain rent for the exclusive privilege of begging within his assigned limits.

256] In principio: the first fourteen verses of the Gospel of St. John, beginning In principio erat verbum, popularly regarded as having a magical power and often recited by friars on their rounds.

258] What he got irregularly (picked up by begging) was much more than his regular income. This was a proverbial expression with a suggestion of dishonesty; or the line may possibly mean: "What he got by begging was much more than the rent which he paid for that privilege" (with reference to 252a and 252b).

278] He wished that the sea should be guarded, whatever might happen, between Middelburgh (in the Netherlands) and Orwell (near Harwich, in Essex). Middelburgh was the staple port for wool between and 1388, a fact which has helped scholars to date this Prologue.

280] He could sell French crowns (icus, i.e. shields) at a profit. This was, however, forbidden by law to private traders.

283] So dignified was he in his behaviour when making bargains and gains or arrangements for borrowing or lending money.

286] I noot: I do not know. Chaucer professes ignorance because of his insinuations against the merchant's character; or, perhaps, through the condescension of a court poet.

296] Twenty bookes. This is rather his desire than a fact. Few wealthy persons owned as many, and the Clerk was poor.

300] In this line Chaucer jestingly takes the word philosophre in the sense of alchemist.

311] A Sergeant of the Lawe: one of the highest rank in the legal profession below that of judge, specially appointed by the king after at least 16 years of study and practice of the law. There were only about twenty of these sergeants when Chaucer wrote, and Manly has found some evidence that he was here describing one Thomas Pynchbek. war: wary.

312] Parvys: perhaps the porch of St. Pauls where the lawyers met their clients.

316] Justice in assise: special temporary judge in the assizes or county courts. Pynchbek often held this position between 1376 and 1388.

317] By letters patent and by full commission, giving him authority over all kinds of cases.

321] He was able to make his title as absolute as if it were held in fee simple (unrestricted possession).

325] He had (in mind) accurately all the cases and judgments since the Norman Conquest.

333] Frankeleyn: a large landholder, ranking next below a baron. If the Sergeant of the Law is Thomas Pynchbek, the Frankeleyn, who was in his compaignye, may be John Bussy or Bushy, who lived in Lincolnshire, near Pynchbek, and held the offices here said to have been held by the Frankeleyn.

335] complexioun: temperament, physical and mental make-up, which was thought to depend on the combination of the four humours -- blood, phlegm, choler (red bile), melancholy (black bile). sangwyn: characterized by the predominance of blood, hence ruddy, vigorous, fond of pleasure, optimistic.

338] Epicurus: the Greek philosopher (d. 270 B.C.), in popular legend an advocate of sensual pleasure.

351] muwe: mew, coop for fattening fowls. Originally a cage where hawks were confined while moulting.

362] vauasour: at this time, a substantial landholder (sometimes defined as one who holds land not of the king but of one of his vassals).

366] Of a distinguished and large gild. Since they were of different trades this would be one of the purely social and religious gilds.

381] for the nones: for the occasion (to cook their meals). Originally for then anes or (ones), "for the once", from O.E. dat. Þæm and adverb {a_}nes, treated as a noun in dat. case. Later, for the nonce.

383] poudre-marchant tart: sharp flavouring powder. galyngale: spice made from root of an English sedge.

390] wonynge fer by weste: dwelling far westward. Dertemouthe: Dartmouth, in Devonshire, then an important sea-port.

398] He had stolen many a draught of wine while on the way home from Bordeaux or he had carried off many a load of Bordeaux wine while the merchant was asleep.

405] herberwe: harbour. moone: phases of the moon, which determine the tides. lode-manage: pilotage. Cf. lode-star, lodestone.

412] Maudelayne: a vessel from Dartmouth called the Magdaleyne paid customs duties in 1379 and 1391.

417] He cared for his patient very diligently in the astrological hours by means of his knowledge of natural magic. He could well predict or determine a favourable ascendant (the time when any heavenly body is rising above the horizon) for making talismans to cure his patient.

422] By whichever one of the four humours it was caused. Illness was thought to arise from excess of one of the four humours. See the note on 1. 335.

425] The cause yknowe: the cause being known, i.e. when he had diagnosed the case.

432] De{"y}scorides: Dioscorides, Greek writer on materia medica c. 50 A.D. Rufus of Ephesus wrote on the parts of the human body (2nd century A.D.).

433] Ypocras: Hippocrates of Cos, born c. 460 B.C., founder of Greek medicine. Haly: Persian physician, d. 994. Galyen: Galen, famous Roman physician of 2nd century A.D.

434] Serapion, Razis, Avycen: Arabian physicians, the last-named author of the Canon of Medicine (11th century).

435] Averrois: famous Arab physician and philosopher (12th century). Damascien: perhaps John of Damascus (A.D. 676-754). Constantyn: Constantinus Afer, monk of Carthage, founder of medical school at Salerno.

436] Bernard Gordon, a Scot, professor of medicine at Montpellier ca. 1300. Gatesden (John) of Merton College, Oxford, physician to Edward II, died 1361. Gilbertyn: Gilbertus Anglicus (end of 13th century).

440] Apparently in reference to the saying: "Ubi tres medici, duo athei." Cf. the beginning of Sir Thomas Browne's Religio Medici (1642), where he refers to "the general scandal of my profession".

444] pestilence: the Black Death of 1348-9 or the later plagues of 1362, 1369, and 1376.

445] cordial: remedy for the heart (because gold is the most precious metal). Gold was actually used in prescriptions.

447] biside Bathe: "Just outside the north gate of the city ... lay the church and parish known as 'St. Michael's Without' or 'St. Michael's juxta Bathon', a suburb largely given over to weaving." (Manly).

448] som-deel deef: somewhat deaf (on account of a blow on the ear received in a quarrel with her fifth husband. See the Wife of Bath's Prologue, C.T., D, 666 ff.). scathe: a pity.

461] at chirche dore: the marriage ceremony was held in the church-porch, the nuptial mass at the altar.

468] At the shrine of St. James of Compostella in Galicia (Spain) and at that of the three kings at Cologne.

470] Gat-tothed: with gaps between her teeth. Either a sign that she would be a great traveller or that she was bold and lascivious.

478] She knew all the tricks of the game. From a common French phrase of the time. Elle sçait toute la vielle danse is said of an old duenna in the Roman de la Rose, 3946.

491] offrýng: voluntary contributions of the parishioners. substaunce: income from his benefice.

512] chaunterie for soules: an endowment for a priest to sing mass daily for the repose of a soul. Cf. Piers the Plowman, 80-83.

525] snibben: snub, rebuke. for the nonys: to suit the occasion. See note on 1. 381.

528] spiced conscience: a conscience that is highly seasoned, i.e. over-sophisticated, insincere.

536] thogh him gamed or smerte: though he felt pleasure or pain (impersonal construction with dative), i.e., in all circumstances.

543] tabard: labourer's loose coat, smock. mere: mare. Persons of quality usually did not ride on mares.

547] for the nones: here apparently used as an intensive, very, exceedingly. Contrast lines 379, 523, 547-8. That proved fortunate, for wherever he came he would win the prize (a ram) at wrestling.

564] tollen thries: take thrice the amount of corn to which he was entitled for grinding it. He had a a thumb of gold: he was an honest miller (who, according to the proverb, has a thumb of gold) -- an ironical remark. But Pollard suggests that the meaning is "And yet he did not need to cheat, for he was so skilful in testing flour with his thumb that he could make a fortune honestly."

573] At all events he was so watchful in his buying that he always came out ahead and in good condition.

588] jette hir aller cappe: set the caps of them all, made fools of them. Altering the tilt of a man's hat may make him look ridiculous. hir aller: of them all (aller, gen. plu., O.E. ealra).

589] Reve: officer of a manor, often exercising the functions of bailiff or steward. colerik: characterized by predominance of choler or red bile; hot tempered. See note on 1. 335.

591] Close-cropped hair was a sign of servile station. Cf. 1. 109. A reeve was originally a representative of the serfs of a manor.

596] No auditor of the estate could get the better of him (detect him in dishonesty).

605] bailiff: originally a superior officer to a reeve, here his subordinate. hierde: shepherd (the word is Old English. Cf. Scottish herd). hyne: hind, servant.

607] adrad: afraid. the deeth: death. Cf. French la mort. But possibly the reference is to the Black Death, the plague.

615] myster: trade (Old French mestier, Modern French métier, Lat. ministerium).

616] carpenter: this is the occasion of a quarrel with the Miller, who tells a tale at the expense of a carpenter.

618] pomely grey: dappled gray. Scot: a common name for horses in Norfolk, where the reeve lived (I. 619).

621] Baldeswelle: modern Bawdswell in Norfolk. This village belonged to the estate of the Earl of Pembroke. The second earl went abroad in 1369, soon after he came of age (cf. line 601) and remained there most of this time until his death in 1375. During the minority of his heir some of his estates were mismanaged and an investigation was held in 1386. Chaucer had been surety for the custodian of others of the estates since 1378 and was probably familiar with the details. It seems likely that this Reeve was drawn from an actual official of the Pembroke estate who was suspected of dishonesty.

623] Tukked: his long coat was tucked into his girdle. as is a frere: it is thought that Friar Tuck in the Robin Hood ballads derived his name from this method of dress.

624] hyndreste of our route: hindmost of our company (owing to cowardice, craftiness, or dislike of the Miller, who "broghte us out of towne" with a bag-pipe, doubtless riding first).

625] Somonour: Summoner, apparitor or constable of an ecclesiastical court, which dealt with cases of adultery, witchcraft, slander, sacrilege, usury, simony, neglect of tithes, contracts and the sacraments, and wills. These officers were often reputed to be corrupt blackmailers.

627] sawcefleem: afflicted with salsum phlegma, a skin disease; pimpled. eyen narwe: because the eyelids were swollen.

629] scaled: scabby. piled: scanty, with hair falling out. Possibly he was afflicted with a form of leprosy.

646] If anyone should test him further, then his philosophy (learning) was all spent.

648] Questio quid juris: the question is, what portion of the law applies in this case -- a phrase often heard by the Summoner in court.

652] Goodfelawe: this term was so often applied to priests who broke the law of celibacy that it came to mean a rascal, a disreputable person.

657] erchedekenes curs: the excommunication pronounced by the archdeacon, the head of the ecclesiastical court.

663] Excommunication will damn just as absolution will save. If ironical, this would imply agreement with Wycliffe's opinion that excommunication and absolution are of no importance in themselves. But if that is the implication it is very covertly expressed.

664] war him: let the sinner beware. Significavit: a writ of excommunication ordering the offender to be imprisoned by the civil authorities.

665] In daunger: in his control. at his owene gise: in his own way, at his mercy.

669] ale-stake: a pole projecting above the door of an ale-house. A garland or bush hanging from it was the sign of a drinking-place.

671] Pardoner: a dispenser of papal indulgences or commutations of penance in return for a money payment for charitable purposes. Some unauthorized pardoners carried forged papal licenses, exhibited bogus relics, and offered to sell absolution.

672] Rouncivale: the hospital of the Blessed Mary of Rouncivalle, near Charing Cross, a cell or subordinate house of the convent of Our Lady of Roncesvalles in Navarre. In 1382 and 1387 unauthorized sales of pardons were made by persons professing to collect for the hospital.

687] vernycle: a copy of the handkerchief of St. Veronica preserved in St. Peter's at Rome. Said to have been lent to Christ as he was going to Calvary and to bear the impress of his face.

694] Berwyk, in Northumberland at Scottish border, extreme northern English town. Ware, in Hertfordshire, first town of importance north of London.

703] relikes. In his cynical confession, Pardoner's Prologue, C.T., C, 345-390, the Pardoner describes his bogus relics more fully and explains how he wins money by exhibiting them to the people.

705] Pope Urban V in a bull of 1369 declared that some pardoners made their collections at church on feast-days, thus depriving the priests of the offerings usually made to them.

710] ecclesiaste: preacher. The Pardoner's Tale is a specimen of one of his sermons.

711] lessoun: an appointed portion of the Bible. storie: a series of extracts covering a story of the Bible or the life of a saint.

712] alderbest: best of all (O.E. ealra betst). offertorie: that part of the Mass that follows the creed and precedes or accompanies the collection.

739] althogh he were his brother: although the original speaker were his brother.

743] whoso kan hym rede: if anyone can read him. "Few scholars in western Europe in the Fourteenth Century could read Greek" (Manly).

744] cosyn: cousin. Quoted from Plato's Timaeus, 29 B. He doubtless obtained it from Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, III, prose 12. See his translation.

746] Al: although. hir degre: their due order of precedence (which, of course, would have been dull and monotonous; in irony).

753] The Host's name was Herry Bailey (C.T.,A,4358). Henri Bayliff, ostyler, was a controller of the subsidy for Southwark in 1380-81. Henry Bailly, probably the same person, represented Southwark in parliament in 1376-7 and 1378-9 and was often tax collector, assessor, or coroner between 1377 and 1394.

786] Conseil: intention. for to seche: to be sought, lacking. It did not take us long to make up our minds.

793] to shorte with oure weye: to shorten our way with. oure: implying that he will accompany them. The reading your in some MSS. is probably a scribal change.

794] tales tweye: that this plan was changed is evident from C. T., line 25, when the pilgrims are approaching Canterbury and the Host says to the Parson "For every man, save thou, hath toold his tale" (not "his tales"). After The Parson's Tale the work ends without any account of the arrival at Canterbury or of the return journey.

828] the wateryng of Seint Thomas: a brook used for watering horses, about a mile and a half from the Tabard Inn.

846] aventure, or sort, or cas: "Perhaps the three nearest equivalents that we can propose for these words are 'luck, fate, and chance'" (Pollard).

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Based on The Canterbury Tales, ed. John Matthews Manly (London: Harrap, 1929), to judge from the annotations. PR 1866 M3 Robarts Library. The Poetical Works of Chaucer, ed. F. N. Robinson (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1933), may also be an influence.
First publication date: 1478
Publication date note: Caxton's print.
RPO poem editor: N. J. Endicott
RP edition: 2000
Recent editing: 1:2002/6/5

Composition date: 1387
Rhyme: couplets

Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400)

The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue