The Prologue, the Knightes Tale, the Nonne Prestes Tale from The
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to TfixBstntsb tEhc library of ilje Pmtarsttg of tHormttn Mrs. Harold L. Hunter IB fli BWIi Cktrnvbon |lrcss Scrus CHAUCER HE PROLOGUE, THE KNIGHTES TALE, THE NONNE PRESTES TALE FROM THE CANTERBURY TALES EDITED BY R. MORRIS Author of * Specimens of Early English* Editor of HampoU's ' Pricke of Conscience? ' Early English Alliterative Poems* * ' The Story of Genesis and Exodus,' The Ayenbite of Inwyt,' &c. Member of the Council of the Philological Society , AT THE CLARENDON PRESS it MDCCCLXVII r PR Mb l«47 INTRODUCTION Eventful as the early life of Chaucer must have been, we have no sources of information from which we can gather even the simplest facts concerning his birth, birthplace, parentage and education, which are thus involved in much obscurity and uncer- tainty. If the Testament of Love be allowed to have any weight a as an authentic autobiography, London may claim the honour of being the place of the poet's birth. The name Chaucer, though not belonging to any noble or distinguished family, was of some antiquity, and seems to have been borne by persons of respect- ability and wealth, some of whom were connected with the city and in the local records of the of of London ; period (23rd year Edward III), mention is made of a certain Richard Chaucer, ' ' a vintner of London, who,' says Speght, might well be Geoffrey Chaucer's father V For want of historical evidence to settle the exact year of the poet's birth, we are obliged to follow the ordinary traditionary account which places it at the commencement of the reign of Edward III, somewhere about the year 1328, a date which is per- haps not far wrong, inasmuch as it agrees with many better-known periods of his life. According to the inscription on his tomb, erected to his memory in 1556 by Nicholas Brigham, Chaucer died in the year 1400, and, having attained to the ripe age of three score and ten, would justly be entitled to the epithets old ' Also the citye of London, that is to me so dere and swete, in which I and love have I to that than was forthgrowen ; more kindly (natural) place to to any other in yerth (earth), as every kindly creture hath full appetite that place of his kindely engendrure and to wilne reste and peace in that ttede to abyde.' (Test of Love, Book I. § 5.) b See Morley's English Writers, vol. ii. p. 142. rVI INTRODUCTION. and reverent, applied to him by his contemporaries Gower and c Occleve . Whether Chaucer studied at Oxford or at u whether Cambridge , he was educated for the Bar or the Church, we have now no means of determining. Nor do we even know when or what he or his education was carried on but it is studied, how long ; quite certain that he was a diligent student, and a man of the most ' extensive learning. The acquaintance he possessed with the classics, with divinity, with astronomy, with so much as was then known of chemistry, and indeed with every other branch of the scholastic learning of the age, proves that his education had been particularly attended to; and his attainments render it impossible to believe that he quitted college at the early period at which persons destined for a military life usually began their career. It was not then the custom for men to pursue learning for its own sake; and the most natural manner of accounting for the extent of Chaucer's acquirements is to suppose that he was educated for a learned profession. The knowledge he displays of divinity would make it more likely that he was intended for the Church than for the Bar, were it not that the writings of the Fathers were generally read by all classes of e students .' For what is known of the latter half of Chaucer's life we are indebted to records still in existence f in which the public , poet appears in close connection with the court, and as the recipient of royal favours. c ' Leland says that Chaucer lived to the peridd of grey hairs, and at length found old age his greatest disease.' In Occleve's portrait of the poet he is represented with grey hair and beard. d In one of his early poems, The Court of Love, Chaucer is supposed to make reference to his residence at Cambridge— ' My name ? Philogenet I cald am, fer and nere. Of Cambrige clerke.' Leland thinks that Chaucer studied at both Universities. e Life of Chaucer by Sir H. Nicolas. i Issue Rolls of the Exchequer and the Tower Rolls. The details lure 11. life of are from Sir Nicolas' Chaucer, prefixed to Chaucer's poetical walks in the Aldinc series of the Poets. INTRODUCTION. Vll The first important record. of Chaucer is his own statement, in a deposition made by him at Westminster in October 1386, at the famous trial between Richard Lord Scrope and Sir Robert Gros- venor, when we find that the poet had already borne arms for twenty-seven years. His military career therefore did not com- mence until the year 1359, at which time he must have joined Edward the Third's army, which invaded France in the begin- ning of November of that year. After ineffectually besieging Rheims the English army laid siege to Paris (1360), when at length, suffering from famine and fatigue, Edward made peace ' at Bretigny near Chartres. This treaty, called the Great Peace,' was ratified in the following October, and King John was set at liberty. Jn this expedition Chaucer was made prisoner, and most probably obtained his release after the ratification of the treaty. We have no means of ascertaining how he spent the next six years of his life, as we have no further record of his history until 1367. In this year the first notice of the poet occurs on the Issue Rolls of the Exchequer, where a pension of twenty marks? ' for life was granted by the king to Chaucer as one of the valets of the king's chamber;' or, as the office was sometimes called, ' valet of the king's household,' in consideration of former and future services. About the same time, or perhaps a little earlier, he married h of Sir Paon de Roet native of Philippa , daughter (a Hainault and King of Arms of Guienne) and sister to Katherine, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford, successively governess, mistress, and wife to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. 8 A mark was 13s. 4<f. of our money, but the buying power of money was nearly ten times greater than at present. In 1 350 the average price of a horse was 18s. ; of an ox 1/. 6c?. of a 1 2d. of a 2s. 4c/. 4s. ; cow 7s. ; sheep of a of a hen 2d. of a In (>d.; goose 9c?.; ; day's labour in husbandry 3c?. Ox- in ford, 13 10, wheat was 10s. a quarter; in December 7s. 8c?., and in Octo- ber 131 1, 4s. \od. h Philippa was one of the ladies in attendance on Queen Philippa, and in 1366 a pension of ten marks was granted to her. After the death of the queen she appears to have been attached to the court of Constance of Castile, second wife of John of Gaunt. f viii INTRODUCTION. During the years 1368 and 1369, Chaucer was in London, and received his pension in person. In 1369 the death of Queen Philippa took place, and two or three months later Blanche, the wife of John of Gaunt, died at the age of twenty-nine. Chaucer did honour to the memory of his patron's wife in a funeral poem entitled the Boke of the Duchesse '. In the course of the next ten years (1370— 1380) the poet was attached to the court and employed in no less than seven diplomatic services. In 1370 he was abroad in the king's service, and received letters of protection, to be in force from June till Michaelmas. Two years after this (Nov. 12, 1372) Chaucer was joined in a commission with two citizens of Genoa to treat with the doge, citizens and merchants of Genoa, for the choice of an English port where the Genoese might form a commercial establish- ment. He appears to have left England before the end of the year, having on the 1st of December received the sum of 63/. 1 is. \d. in aid of his expenses. He remained in Italy near twelve months and went on the king's service to Florence as well as to Genoa. His return to England must have taken place before the 22nd of k Nov. 1373, as on this day he received his pension in person . This was Chaucer's first important mission. It was no doubt skilfully executed, and gave entire satisfaction to the king, who on the 23rd of April, 1374, on the celebration of the feast of St. George at Windsor, made him a grant of a pitcher of wine ' ' And goode faire white she hete (was called), That was my lady name righte. She was therio bothe faire and bryghte, She hadde not hir name wronge.' (Boke of the Duchesse, 11. 947— 950.) k In this embassy Chaucer is supposed to have made acquaintanceship with Petrarch, who was at Arqua, two miles from Padua, in 1373, from January till September, and to have learned from him the tale of the patient Griselda. But the old biographers of Chaucer are not to be trusted in this matter.