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The Date of Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

John Livingston Lowes
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Extract

In the twenty-fifth stanza of the first book of the Troilus occurs a passage which is puzzling in more respects than one. The stanza is as follows:

      Among thise othere folk was Criseyda,
      In widewes habite blak; but nathelees,
      Right as our firste lettre is now an A,
      In beautee first so stood she, malcelees;
      Hir godly looking gladede al the prees.
      Nas never seyn thing to ben preysed derre,
      Nor under cloude blak so bright a sterre.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , 1908 , pp. 285 - 306
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1908

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References

page 285 note 1 Élude sur G. Chaucer, 1859, pp. 45–46.

page 285 note 2 Il Filoslrato, i, stanza 19.

page 285 note 3 He is illustrating his thesis that “comme les poëtes anciens, Boccaee excelle à assortir les sentiments et les images; Chaucer néglige les plus gracieuses comparaisons ou les altère” (op. cit., p. 45). Professor Skeat also notes (Oxford Chaucer, 2. 468) that “Boccaccio's image is much finer.”

page 286 note 1 Even Professor Skeat's apt citation (Oxford Chaucer, 2. 462) of Henryson's reference to Criseyde as “the flower and A-per-se Of Troy and Greece” (suggested as it probably was by Chaucer's phrase) does not, as will be seen, offer a precise parallel.

page 286 note 2 There is no question of the text. Except for purely orthographic variations (oure, Cl., Harl. 2280, Gg., Cp., Harl. 1239, Add. Ms. 12044; first, Cl., Cp., Jo.; fyrst, Gg., Harl. 1239; furste, Harl. 2280; ferste, Add. Ms. 12044; letter, Gg., Jo.; nowe, Harl. 2280) the six mss. of the Parallel-Text Print and the Three More Parallel Texts, together with Add. Ms. 12044 (Brit. Mus.), agree throughout. Nor is any variation noted in the collation of Harl. 2392 (now in the Harvard College Library) used by Professor Skeat in the Oxford Chaucer. The only exception is Harl. Ms. 3943 (in Rossetti's Parallel-Text Edition of T. and C. and the Filostrato), in which the line reads: “Right as our chef lettre ys now A.” The bearing of this variant will be noted later.

page 287 note 1 A. 2125.

page 287 note 2 Moreover, it is not quite clear why Chaucer, if the comparison is with A merely as A, should say “Eight as our firste lettre is now an A.” “An A, ” it is to be noted, has the effect of seeming to individualize the letter, as if the reference were to some A, a certain A.

page 287 note 3 I. 55, 169 (the passage under discussion), 459, 874, 1010; II. 877, 1235, 1417, 1550, 1603; III. 1054, 1112, 1173, 1420, 1473; IV. 138, 149, 177, 195, 212, 231, 347, 378, 666, 829, 875, 962, 1147, 1165, 1214, 1252, 1436, 1655; V. 216, 508, 523, 687, 735, 872, 934, 948, 1031, 1113, 1123, 1143, 1241, 1264, 1422, 1437, 1674, 1712, 1732, 1833.

page 288 note 1 The situation is very closely paralleled in the Knight's Tale. In the Tale, Emily's name occurs 29 times in rhyme (A. 871, 1077, 1273, 1419, 1567, 1588, 1594, 1731, 1749, 1833, 2273, 2341, 2571, 2578, 2658, 2679, 2699, 2762, 2773, 2780, 2808, 2816, 2836, 2885, 2910, 2956, 2980, 3098, 3107). In every instance except one (A. 1077) it is spelled Emelye, with final -e. But in 1. 1077, through the influence of a following “a,” it becomes Emelya, with final -a:

He caste his eye upon Emelya,
And there-with-al he bleynte, and cryde “a!”

For other instances of rhymes in -a see A. 161–2 (crowned A, omnia); Bk. of Duchesse 1071–2 (Polixena, Minerva), H. F. 401–2 (Medea, Dyanira), 1271–2 (Medea, Calipsa); A. 867–8 and 881–2 (Ipolita, Scithia); B. 71–2 (Ladomea, Medea); F. 1455–6 (Bilia, Valeria).

page 288 note 2 Life Records, pp. 203–4.

page 288 note 3 Walsingham, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Series), ii, 46; Rymer's Foedera (ed. Holmes), Vol. iii, Pt. iii, p. 84.

page 289 note 1 Tatlock, The Development and Chronology of Chaucer's Works (Chaucer Soc., 1907), p. 42; Dict. Nat. Biog., xlviii, 147; “Wallon, Richard II, i, 454–5.

page 289 note 2 Froissart, Chroniques, ed. Raynaud (Paris, 1897), x, 166–67; Dict. Nat. Biog., i, 421.

page 289 note 3 Walsingham, Hist. Angl. (Rolls Series), ii, 46; cf. Stow, Annales (London, 1631), p. 294; Holinshed's Chronicles (London, 1807), ii, 753. For further references see Mod. Lang. Notes, vol. xix, pp. 240–43.

page 289 note 4 Walsingham, ii, 46.

page 289 note 5 See Wallon, i, 455, for references.

page 289 note 6 One must not forget, moreover, that almost at once the prevalence of high headdresses peaked like horns, of long trained gowns, of extravagantly pointed shoes, testified to the young queen's vogue; “also noble women … rode on side saddles, after the example of the Queene, who first brought that fashion into this land, for before, women were used to ride astride like men ” (Stow, Annales, London, 1631, p. 295).

page 290 note 1 Life Records, pp. xxviii, 203–4, 219, 230.

page 290 note 2 See my discussion of this point in Mod. Lang. Notes, vol. xix (December, 1904), pp. 240–43.

page 290 note 3 The specific dedication of the Legend of Good Women to the queen comes later; but it shows like the rest how definitely at this period Chaucer had the queen in mind.

page 291 note 1 The “ chef lettre” in Harl. Ms. 3943 (see p. 286, n. 2)—“ Right as our chef lettre ys now A”—almost looks as if the Harleian scribe (or some predecessor) had understood and tried to make even clearer the allusion.

page 291 note 2 Parlement of Foules, 1. 416,

page 291 note 3 Moreover, if the A referred to is not after all the mere first letter of the alphabet, but a specific A, the royal A, the now familiar initial of the queen, the problem of “ an A ” is also solved. “Whether, indeed, as may well be, the collocation is accidental, or whether Chaucer is designedly heightening the transparency of his allusion, the fact itself remains that ” an A,“ read with the fourteenth century pronunciation of the A, gives the familiar Latin form of the queen's name. It is the letter, to be sure, and not the name of which Chaucer is speaking; but double allusions would fare ill if they had to be rigidly logical, and a double allusion here can scarcely be said to be out of keeping with the context. The fact, in any case, is there, and must be reckoned with, despite Chaucer's disinclination to pun.

page 292 note 1 T. ii, 22–25.

page 292 note 2 One has only to recall, for example, the literature of the Flower and the Leaf, on both sides of the channel, to be satisfied on that score. Indeed, if an allusion had not been intended, it is hard to believe that one would not have been understood—if the dates allowed!

page 293 note 1 Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, “Observations on the Institution of the most noble Order of the Garter,” Archaeologia, xxxi, 120. See also John Gough Nichols, Archaeologia, xxix, 47: “Ashmole quotes from the Wardrobe Roll of the 21st Edw. III a charge for ‘forty of these clouds [from which the sun of the king's device was rising], embroidered with gold, silver, and silk, having in the middle the Saxon letter € of gold, provided to trim several garments made for the king, and garnished with stars.‘”

page 293 note 2 Archaeologia, xxxi, 352.

page 294 note 1 The italics are Sir Harris Nicolas's.

page 294 note 2 Archaeologia, xxxi, 353; see p. 377 for transcript.

page 294 note 3 Ib., p. 354.

page 294 note 4 Ib., p. 379.

page 294 note 5 I do not feel sure that the E and P which appear over the ostrich feathers in the Black Prince's Great Seal of the Duchy of Aquitaine (see Sandford's Genealogical History, p. 125, quoted in Archœologia, xxxi, 362) may not stand for Edwardus Princeps, rather than as the initials of the king and queen. But the latter seems to be a possible alternative.

page 294 note 6 Compare also Strutt, Dress and Habits of the People of England (1842), ii, 243, n. 7: “An old English chronicle ms. cited in the second volume of the horÐa Anзlcynnan, page 83, informs us, that in the reign of Edward the Third, ‘the Englishmenne clothede all in cootes and hodes peynted with lettres and with floures.‘”

page 295 note 1 After discussing the prohibitory statutes of 4 Henry IV (1403) relating to apparel, Strutt continues: “Four years after the establishment of these statutes, another was added; by which it was ordained, that no man, let his condition be what it might, should be permitted to wear a gown or garment, cut or slashed into pieces in the form of letters, rose-leaves, and posies of various kinds, or any such like devices, under the penalty of forfeiting the same” (ii, 108). See also Archaeologia, xx, 102: “Armorial devices were embossed and embroidered upon the common habits of those who attended the court [of Richard II]. Upon the mantle, the surcoat, and the just-au-corps or bodice, the charge and cognizance of the wearer were profusely scattered, and shone resplendent in tissue and beaten gold. The custom of embroidering arms upon the bodice was introduced by Richard II, but mantles of this kind had been worn long before” (Translation of a French Metrical History of the Deposition of King Richard the Second, written by a Contemporary … By Rev. John Webb). On the passion for finery in the reign of Richard II see also Shaw, Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, London, 1843, Introduction, under xiv century; also i, plate 33. The plates in Shaw and Strutt (as, for example, Plates xciii, xcvi, xcvii, in Strutt, and the plate in Shaw, vol. i, no. 33) are illuminating. Compare also An Alliterative Poem on the Deposition of Richard II, in Political Poems and Songs (Rolls Series), i, 398 ff.; or ed. Camden Soc., pp. 19 ff. More generally, one may recall the mottoes embroidered on the sleeves (1. 119) of the ladies in The Assembly of Ladies, ll. 88, 208, 308, 364, 489, 583, 590, 598, 616; see Skeat, Chaucerian and other Pieces, p. 536. Note also Gower's reference (Cronica Tripertita, i, 52) to the Earl of Derby as “Qui gerit S,” in allusion to his badge. In Anglia, xxx, 320, Miss Eleanor Prescott Hammond calls attention to the allusions, in Rondeaux et autres poésies du XVe siecle (Soc. des Anc. Textes franç.), pp. 72, 108, 135, to “her for whom I wear the M,” “the A,” etc. Miss Hammond interprets these letters as referring to Amor. But may it not be that the lover is wearing his mistress's initial?

page 295 note 2 London, [1742], i, opposite p. 62. It is described as “an antient Painting of that unhappy beautiful Prince Richard II, sitting in a Chair of Gold, dress'd in a Vest of Green flower'd with Flowers of Gold, and the initial Letters of his Name,” etc. In Shaw, plate 32, is given a print of the Wilton House portrait of Richard II (1377), in which the magnificent robes are covered with harts, beanpods, eagles, etc., in intricate devices. See also Strutt, ii, Plate lxxxiv (opp. p. 229).

page 296 note 1 For the directions to the masons, see Rymer's Foedera, III, Pt. iv, pp. 105–6 (April 1, 1395); for the directions for the metal work, see p. 106 (April 24, 1395). See Dart's Westmonasterium, ii, 42–46, for further account of the tomb.

page 296 note 2 Archaeobgia, xxix (1842), pp. 32–59. I am indebted for this important reference to Professor Charles H. McIlwain, of Princeton University.

page 296 note 3 P. 36.

page 296 note 4 See the account in Camden (Remaines, ed. 1629, p. 181), of the queen's device. Camden's authority, however, seems to have been this very effigy.

page 297 note 1 Archaeologia, xxis, p. 48.

page 297 note 2 This use of Anne's initial brings at once into question the “crowned A ” of the Prioress's brooch:

Of smal coral aboute hir arm she bar
A peire of bedes, gauded al with grene;
And ther-on heng a broche of gold ful shene,
On which ther was first write a crowned A,
And after, Amor vincit omnia (A. 158–62).

Is there a reference here also to the queen's initial? I think not. It is of course merely a coincidence that Anne and Amor begin with the same letter, and in this instance there seems to be no reasonable ground for ascribing any other significance than Amor vincens to the crowned A. The motto itself was of very frequent occurrence, (see, for example, Gower, Vox Cl., vi, 999; Cronica Tripertita, Prologue, 1. 7; Ecce patet tensus, 1. 3), often with a pious transfer of its reference from earthly love to the “ love celestiall.” This transfer is shown unmistakably by the fact—pointed out to me by Professor C. F. Brown—that the substitution of caritas for amor is not uncommon in mediaeval religious literature; as, for instance, in the Miraculum S. Nicolai Andegavensis (Bib. Nat. Ms. lat. 12, 611, xii cent.): “Sed quia scriptum est: Caritas omnia vincit,” etc., (text printed in Catal. Codd. Hagiogr. Lat. Biblioth. Nat. Parisiensis, ed. Bollandists, Vol. iii, p. 159). The common use of the first word of the motto as a device—referring, however, to “love of kinde”—is clear from the well-known passage in The Squyr of Lows Degre (ed. Mead, ll. 211–16; cf., also, Miss Hammond's interesting remarks on the crowned letters in certain Shirley mss., Anglia, xxx, 320; and see, too, the cut of the A-brooch in Fairholt, Costume in England, third ed., 1885, ii, 95). Is it not simply one of the Prioress's engaging foibles that she wears the device of the heavenly love as earthly lovers had set the mode? The Amor alone gives ample explanation for the crowned A; so understood, the characterization is of a piece throughout; whereas a reference to the queen seems here not only quite uncalled for, but even to strike a discordant note.

page 298 note 1 Political Poems and Songs (Rolls Series), i, 282–300.

Hos sequitur phalerata cohors cujuslibet artis;
Secta docet sortem quaeque tenere suam.
Hic argentarius, his piscarius, secus ilium
Mercibus hic deditus, venditor atque meri.
Hic apothecarius, pistor, pictor, lathomusque;
Hic cultellarius, tonsor, et armifaber.
Hic carpentarius, scissor, sartor, ibi sutor;
Hic pelliparius, fulloque, mango, faber.
Hic sunt artifices, ibi carnifices, ibi tector;
Hic lorinarius, pannariusque simul.
Ibi vaquinator, hie zonarius, ibi textor;
Hic candelarius, cerarius pariter.
Hic pandoxator, ibi streparius, ibi junctor;
Est ibi pomilio, sic anigerulus hic.
A super r gratis stat in artibus hie numeratis,
* * * * * * (pp. 284–85.)

Unluckily there seems to be just here a break in the ms., but the essential point is clear.

page 299 note 1 It may be suggested that the line under discussion belongs to the revision of the Troilus, for which Professor Tatlock suggests the date “ 1380, or somewhat later” [Chronology, p. 15). In that case, the reference to the queen would not be found in Phillipps 8252. Through the courtesy of Dr. Furnivall and of Mr. T. Fitzroy Fenwick I am able to give the reading of the Phillipps MS., which is as follows:

Among ye which was Criseida
In wydewes habite blak but netheles
Eight as our lettre is now a
In beute ferst so stood she makeles.

The line, then, has been in the Troilus from the first. As it stands in the Phillipps ms., the reference seems even more unmistakable, for it is “ our lettre” par excellence which “is now a.” But a word (in all likehood “firste” itself) has probably dropped out.

page 300 note 1 See my discussion of these considerations in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc., xx, 819-23, 833-41.

page 300 note 2 Modern Philology, i, 317 ff.

page 300 note 3 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc., xx, 823–33.

page 300 note 4 Chaucer Soc., 1907, pp. 26–33.

page 300 note 5 Chronology, pp. 28–29.

page 300 note 6 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc., xx, 833.

page 301 note 1 H. F., 1197–98.

page 301 note 2 Tatlock, Chronology, p. 26; cf. pp. 220–25.

page 301 note 3 Poèsies, ed. Scheler, i, 29, ll. 971 ff, esp. 1. 974; cf. Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc., xx, 825; Tatlock, Chronology, p. 29.

page 302 note 1 Chronology, p. 28.

page 302 note 2 Ib., p. 30.

page 302 note 3 See especially, on this point, Karl Young, The Origin and Development of the Story of Troilus and Criseyde (Chaucer Soc., 1908), pp. 105–139. Dr. Young's brilliant study reached me only after this article was in page-proof.

page 303 note 1 Chronology, p. 31; cf. Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc., xx, 826–29.

page 303 note 2 Chronology, p. 31.

page 303 note 3 Vox Clamantis, vi, 1328.

page 303 note 4 Confessio, ii, 2456.

page 303 note 5 Chronology, p. 30.

page 304 note 1 vi, 1328.

page 304 note 2 See, for example, the long extract from Guido's fortieth chapter in Sommer's edition of the Recuyell, i, cxlix–elv; cf. also Hamilton, Chaucer's Indebtedness to Guido delle Colonne, pp. 84–88, 124–26; Young, p. 127.

page 304 note 3 Hamilton, p. 124; Young, pp. 135–36.

page 305 note 1 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc., xx, 823–24.

page 305 note 2 Chronology, p. 221.

page 305 note 3 See l. c., n. 2, for other verbal parallels.

page 306 note 1 Note also Tatlock's suggestion (Chronology, p. 221, n. 3) that the anecdote of Dante in CA., vii, 2329*ff., probably came through Chaucer, and that the reference to the tyrants of Lombardy in the Mirour, 23233-68, was also due to Chaucer's report (op. cit., p. 222, n. 1).

page 306 note 2 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc., xx, 833.