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[[File:The Man of Law from the EllsMan of Law from the “Ellesmere Chaucer” (Huntington Library, San Marino).jpg|The Sergeant of Law|thumb]]
[[File:The Man of Law from the EllsMan of Law from the “Ellesmere Chaucer” (Huntington Library, San Marino).jpg|The Sergeant of Law|thumb]]
"'''The Man of Law's Tale'''" is the fifth of the ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'' by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], written around 1387. [[John Gower]]'s "Tale of Constance" in ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'' tells the same story and may have been a source for Chaucer.<ref>{{ cite book
"'''The Man of Law's Tale'''" is the fifth of the ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'' by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], written around 1387. [[John Gower]]'s "Tale of Constance" in ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'' tells the same story and may have been a source for Chaucer.<ref name="Nicholson1991"/> [[Nicholas Trivet]]'s ''Les chronicles'' was a source for both authors.<ref name="Bäckström1845"/>
|  title=Chaucer & Gower: Difference, Mutuality, Exchange
| chapter=Chaucer Borrows from Gower: The Source of the ''Man of Law's Tale''
| author=Peter Nicholson
| publisher=English Literary Studies  | editor=Robert F. Yeager | year=1991
}}
</ref> [[Nicholas Trivet]]'s ''Les chronicles'' was a source for both authors.<ref name=Backstrom>{{ cite book
| title=Svenska Folkböcker  | author=P. O. Bäckström
| year=1845 | volume=I | page=221ff | language=Swedish
| location=Stockholm
}}</ref>


Wurtele provides a detailed compilation of the differences between Trivet's Chronicle and the poems of Gower and Chaucer.<ref name= Wurtele>{{cite thesis
Wurtele (1968) provides a detailed compilation of the differences between Trivet's Chronicle and the poems of Gower and Chaucer.<ref name= Wurtele>{{cite thesis
| title=Chaucer's Man of Law and Clerk as Rhetoricians | author=Douglas James Wurtele |date=1968 |publisher=McGill University |type=PhD}}</ref>{{rp|56–82}} Gower strove for vividness and shortened the tale in places. Chaucer expanded the tale and emphasizes the holiness of Constance and how she was favoured by heaven.
| title=Chaucer's Man of Law and Clerk as Rhetoricians | author=Douglas James Wurtele |date=1968 |publisher=McGill University |type=PhD}}</ref>{{rp|56–82}} Gower strove for vividness and shortened the tale in places. Chaucer expanded the tale and emphasizes the holiness of Constance and how she was favoured by heaven.


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==Synopsis==
==Synopsis==
(References here are to line numbers in both Man of Law's Tale (MLT) and Confessio Amantis (CA).)
(References here are to line numbers in the Man of Law's Tale (MLT)<ref name=MLTT>{{cite web |title=Canterbury Tales |author=[[Geoffrey Chaucer]] |url=http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore/murphy/canterbury/6manolaw.pdf}}</ref> and ''Confessio Amantis'' (CA).<ref name=CAT>{{gutenberg|no=266|name=Confessio Amantis |bullet=none}} (Middle English, based on Macaulay 1901)</ref>)


Constance (Custance in Chaucer) is the daughter of the emperor in Rome. Syrian merchants report her great beauty to the Sultan. A marriage contract is negotiated by her father which requires the Sultan and his subjects to convert to Christianity.MLT<ref name=MLTT>{{ cite web
Constance (in Chaucer, "Custance") is the daughter of the emperor in Rome. Syrian merchants report her great beauty to the Sultan. A marriage contract is negotiated by her father which requires the Sultan and his subjects to convert to Christianity. (MLT 134–245; CA II.587–639.)
| title=Canterbury Tales  | author=Geoffrey Chaucer |language=
| url=http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/webcore/murphy/canterbury/6manolaw.pdf
}}</ref>{{rp|134–245}} or CA<ref name=CAT>{{gutenberg|no=266|name=Confessio Amantis}} (Middle English, based on Macaulay 1901)</ref>{{rp|II.587–639}}


The Sultan's mother, enraged that her son would turn his back on Islam, connives to prevent this by massacring her son and the wedding party and having Constance set adrift on the sea. MLT<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|386–504}} or CA<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|II.665–715}} Constance's adventures and trials continue after she is shipwrecked on the [[Northumberland]] coast. The validity of her Christian faith is proved by two miracles. Her companion Hermengyld heals a blind man.MLT<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|547–574}} or CA<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|II.759–775}} A wicked knight who wishes to seduce Constance murders Hermengyld and attempts to frame Constance using the bloody dagger. He perjures himself and is mysteriously struck dead. MLT<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|582–686}}  or CA<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|II.792–885}} Northumberland is a nominally pagan country where the King, Alla (based on Chaucer's understanding of the historical [[Ælla of Deira]]<ref>Rossignol, Rosalyn. 2006. ''Critical companion to Chaucer: a literary reference to his life and work.'' New York: Facts on File, 169. [https://jgoldberglaw.ca/ personal injury lawyer toronto]</ref>) converted to Christianity after learning of the two miracles. Alla's evil mother intercepts and falsifies letters between the Alla and his constable, which results in Constance's being banished. MLT<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|386–875}} or CA<ref name=CAT/> {{rp|II.665–1036}}
The Sultan's mother, enraged that her son would turn his back on Islam, connives to prevent this by massacring her son and the wedding party and having Constance set adrift on the sea. (MLT 386–504; CA II.665–715.) Constance's adventures and trials continue after she is shipwrecked on the [[Northumberland]] coast. The validity of her Christian faith is proved by two miracles. Her companion Hermengyld heals a blind man. (MLT 547–574; CA II.759–775.) A wicked knight who wishes to seduce Constance murders Hermengyld and attempts to frame Constance using the bloody dagger. He perjures himself and is mysteriously struck dead. (MLT 582–686; CA II.792–885.) Northumberland is a nominally pagan country where the King, Alla (based on Chaucer's understanding of the historical [[Ælla of Deira]]<ref>Rossignol, Rosalyn. 2006. ''Critical companion to Chaucer: a literary reference to his life and work.'' New York: Facts on File, 169.</ref>) converted to Christianity after learning of the two miracles. Alla's evil mother intercepts and falsifies letters between the Alla and his constable, which results in Constance's being banished. (MLT 386–875; CA II.665–1036.)


Constance is forced to go to sea again and encounters one final antagonist. She runs aground in Spain; a would-be rapist (Thelous in CA) boards her ship but mysteriously falls overboard. MLT<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|911–945}} or CA<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|II.1090–1122}} She is found by a Senator of Rome, who is returning from a mission to Barberie (Syria) where he revenged the slaughter of Christians by the Sultan's mother. MLT<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|953ff}} or CA<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|II.1179ff}} The Senator takes Constance (and her child) back to Italy to serve as a household servant. King Alla, still heartbroken over the loss of Constance, goes to Rome on a pilgrimage, and fortunately finds Constance. The couple returns to Northumberland. Alla dies a year later, Constance returns to Rome, and their son becomes the Emperor of Rome. MLT<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|876–1150}} or CA<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|II.1077–1612}}
Constance is forced to go to sea again and encounters one final antagonist. She runs aground in Spain; a would-be rapist (named "Thelous" in CA) boards her ship but mysteriously falls overboard. (MLT 911–945; CA II.1090–1122.) She is found by a senator of Rome, who is returning from a mission to Barberie (Syria) where he had revenged the slaughter of Christians by the Sultan's mother. (MLT 953ff; CA II.1179ff.) The senator takes Constance (and her child) back to Italy to serve as his household servant. King Alla, still heartbroken over the loss of Constance, goes to Rome on a pilgrimage, and by luck finds Constance. The couple returns to Northumberland. Alla dies a year later, Constance returns to Rome, and their son becomes the Emperor of Rome. (MLT 876–1150; CA II.1077–1612.)


==Character of the Man of Law==
==Character of the Man of Law==
The Man of Law may have been based upon a real character. Two candidates are Thomas Pynchbek and Gower. Pynchbek "served as a justice of assize between 1376 and 1388 and was known for his acquisition of land, as well as for his learning; in 1388, as chief baron of the Exchequer, he signed a writ for GC's arrest in a case of debt".<ref>{{ cite book
The Man of Law may have been based upon a real character. Two candidates are Thomas Pynchbek and Gower. Pynchbek "served as a justice of assize between 1376 and 1388 and was known for his acquisition of land, as well as for his learning; in 1388, as chief baron of the Exchequer, he signed a writ for GC's arrest in a case of debt".<ref name="Manly1926"/><ref name="Lindeboom2007"/>{{rp|124}} Accepting the latter requires accepting the debatable claim that Gower was a practiced lawyer.<ref name="Fisher1964"/>{{rp|55}}
| author=John Matthews Manly
 
| title=Some New Light on Chaucer  | location=New York
Yeager asserts that Gower had a "lawyerly habit of mind," but there is no evidence that he ever received formal training in the law. Chaucer himself is another candidate.<ref name="Yeager2015"/> Yet another view is taken by David (1967), who sees the Man of Law as "a representative of the self-appointed poetry critics with whom Chaucer disagreed.<ref name="David1967"/>{{rp|219}}
| publisher=Henry Holt  | year=1926 |pages=131–57
| url=https://www.questia.com/read/815997/some-new-light-on-chaucer
|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=Lindeboom>{{ cite book
| title=Venus' Owne Clerk: Chaucer's Debt to the Confessio Amantis
| author=Benjamin Willem Lindeboom
| publisher=Rodopi  | year=2007
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udOR2JwV0YUC&q=%22man+of+Law%22+Pynchbek&pg=PA124
| isbn=978-9042021501
}}</ref>{{rp|124}} Accepting the latter requires accepting the debatable claim that Gower was a practiced lawyer.<ref>{{ cite book
|title=John Gower: Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer |url=https://archive.org/details/johngowermoralph00fish |url-access=registration | isbn=978-0814701492
| author=John H. Fisher  |author-link=John Hurt Fisher| year=1964 | publisher=New York University Press
}}{{rp|55}}
</ref>  Yeager asserts that Gower had a "lawyerly habit of mind" but there is no evidence that he received formal training in the law. Chaucer himself is another candidate.<ref>{{ cite book
| chapter=John Gower's Poetry and the 'Lawyerly Habit of Mind'
| author=R.F. Yeager | isbn=978-9004280410 | year=2015
| title=Theorizing Legal Personhood in Late Medieval England
| publisher=Brill Academic Pub
| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pf8CQAAQBAJ&q=Gower+%22legal+training%22&pg=PA72
}}</ref> Yet another view is taken by David who sees the Man of Law as
"a representative of the self-appointed poetry critics with whom Chaucer disagreed.<ref name=David>{{ cite journal
| title=The Man of Law vs. Chaucer: A Case in Poetics
| author=Alfred David
| journal=PMLA | volume=82 | issue=2 | date=May 1967 |pages= 217–225
| doi=10.2307/461291
| jstor=461291
| s2cid=170640735
}}</ref>{{rp|219}}


==Man of Law as narrator==
==Man of Law as narrator==
[[File:ChaucerMS42131f16r.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] from the [[Bedford Psalter and Hours]] ({{circa|1414–1422}})]]
===Introduction===
===Introduction===
The Man of Law (referred to here as 'A Sergeant of the Lawe') is a judicious and dignified man, or, at least, he seems so because of his wise words. He is a judge in the court of assizes (civil procedures), by letter of appointment from the king, and has many goods and robes. He can draw up a legal document, the narrator tells us, and "no wight pinchen at his writing". The Man of Law rides in informal, silk-adorned clothes. GP {{rp|311–330}} The Host addresses the Man of Law with more respect than he does the Miller and the Reeve.<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|33–38}} The Man of Law's response to the host includes "behest [promise] is debt" which is a quotation from [[Justinian]].<ref name=Grennan>{{ cite journal
The Man of Law (referred to here as 'A Sergeant of the Lawe') is a judicious and dignified man, or, at least, he seems so because of his wise words. He is a judge in the court of assizes (civil procedures), by letter of appointment from the king, and has many goods and robes. He can draw up a legal document, the narrator tells us, and "no wight pinchen at his writing". The Man of Law rides in informal, silk-adorned clothes (GP 311–330). The Host addresses the Man of Law with more respect than he does the Miller and the Reeve.<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|33–38}} The Man of Law's response to the host includes "behest [promise] is debt" which is a quotation from [[Justinian]].<ref name="Grennan1985"/>{{rp|499}}
|title=Chaucer's Man of Law and the Constancy of Justice
 
| author = Joseph E.Grennan  | date= October 1985 | pages=498–514
The most debated passage in the Introduction is:
| journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=84 | issue=4}}</ref>{{rp|499}}
 
{{blockquote|<poem>
But certeinly no word ne writeth he
Of thilke wikke [wicked] ensample of [[Canace|Canacee]],
That loved [[Macareus (son of Aeolus)|hir owene brother]] synfully –
Of swiche cursed stories I sey fy! –
Or ellis of [[Apollonius of Tyre|Tyro Appollonius]],
How that the cursed kyng Antiochus
Birafte his doghter of hir maydenhede,
That is so horrible a tale for to rede,
Whan he hir threw upon the pavement.<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|77–83}}
</poem>}}


Whatever the identity of the narrator, his knowledge of literature is erratic. Some of the Chaucerian works have not been 'published', which suggests he is part of Chaucer's literary circle.  He confuses the Muses with the Pierides.<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|92}}  Antiochus did not throw his daughter to the ground. The most debated passage in the Introduction is: [[File:ChaucerMS42131f16r.jpg|thumb|ChaucerMS42131f16r]]
Gower retold these two stories in Confessio. David observes that MLT is placed after somewhat immoral tales told by the Miller, the Reeve and the Cook.<ref name="David1967"/>{{rp|220}} After Gower became aware of this passage, the Epilogue of Confessio was altered to remove praise of Chaucer. The three common interpretations are:
:But certeinly no word ne writeth he
* Gower was offended by this criticism and deliberately excised the praise of Chaucer which appears<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|8.2941}} in the first recension of CA.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
:Of thilke wikke [wicked] ensample of Canacee,
* [[George Campbell Macaulay|Macaulay]] (1900) argues the excision was an editing error, which was corrected in a subsequent recension of ''Confessio''.<ref name="Macaulay1900"/>{{rp|xxviii}}
:That loved hir owene brother synfully –
* [[John Hurt Fisher|Fisher]] (1964) took the view that "moral Gower" was offended by the immoral tales found in the Canterbury Tales.<ref name="Fisher1964"/>{{rp|286ff}}
:Of swiche cursed stories I sey fy! –
:Or ellis of Tyro Appollonius,
:How that the cursed kyng Antiochus
:Birafte his doghter of hir maydenhede,
:That is so horrible a tale for to rede,
:Whan he hir threw upon the pavement.<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|77–83}}
Gower retold these two stories in Confessio. David observes that MLT is placed after somewhat immoral tales told by the Miller, the Reeve and the Cook.<ref name=David/>{{rp|220}} After Gower became aware of this passage, the Epilogue of Confessio was altered to remove praise of Chaucer. The three common interpretations are:
* Gower was offended by this criticism and deliberately excised the praise of Chaucer which appears in the first recension of CA.<ref name=CAT/>{{rp|8.2941}}
* [[George Campbell Macaulay|Macaulay]] argues the excision was an editing error, which was corrected in a subsequent recension of Confessio.<ref>{{ cite book
|title=The English Works of John Gower Vol I  | chapter=Introduction
| chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/englishworksjoh01macagoog
| author=Macaulay, G.C.  | year=1900 | publisher=Early English Text Society | author-link=George Campbell Macaulay
}}</ref>{{rp|xxviii}}
* [[John Hurt Fisher|Fisher]] took the view that "moral Gower" was offended by the immoral tales found in the Canterbury Tales.<ref name=FisherMP>{{ cite book
|title=John Gower: Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer |url=https://archive.org/details/johngowermoralph00fish |url-access=registration | isbn=978-0814701492
| author=John H. Fisher  | year=1964 | publisher=New York University Press
}}</ref>{{rp|286ff}}


===Tale===
===Tale===
The narrator of the tale is less materialistic than the Sergeant of the Introduction (the description of the merchants' wealth is an exception <ref name=wood>{{ cite journal
The narrator of the tale is less materialistic than the Sergeant of the Introduction (the description of the merchants' wealth is an exception<ref name="Wood1967"/>{{rp|157}}). "The tale, on the other hand, quite clearly reveals its narrator to be a devotee of justice in some ideal order, rather than a legal technician grown wealthy through sharp practices."<ref name="Grennan1985"/>{{rp|501}} The events of the tale are the crimes discussed in [[Henry de Bracton|Bracton's]] De legibus. "Simply from this point of view, and with respect to both style and substance, the received story as an aggregation of incidents is well suit for retelling by a Sergeant of the Law."<ref name="Grennan1985"/>{{rp|509}} "Tortuous" (MLT 302), an astrological term, may be confused with "tortious," which is a legal term.<ref name="Grennan1985"/>{{rp|504}} [[Apostrophe (figure of speech)|Apostrophe]] is used in several places.<ref name="Block1953"/>{{rp|584}} Another marked stylistic trait is his use of those rhetorical questions which punctuate with the regularity of a refrain the two passages (MLT 470–594 and 932–945) emphasizing at some length the dangers that beset Constance when she is at the sultaness' feast, when she is drifting from Syria to Northumberland, and when the second miscreant assaults her.<ref name="Block1953"/>{{rp|585}}
| title=Chaucer's Man of Law as Interpreter |year=1967
  | author=Chauncey Wood | journal=Traditio |volume=23 |pages=149–190
  | publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S036215290000876X
|s2cid=151558123
}}</ref>{{rp|157}}). "The tale, on the other hand, quite clearly reveals its narrator to be a devotee of justice in some ideal order, rather than a legal technician grown wealthy through sharp practices."<ref name=Grennan/>{{rp|501}} The events of the tale are the crimes discussed in [[Henry de Bracton|Bracton's]] De legibus. "Simply from this point of view, and with respect to both style and substance, the received story as an aggregation of incidents is well suit for retelling by a Sergeant of the Law."<ref name=Grennan/>{{rp|509}} "Tortuous"MLT{{rp|302}}  an astrological term may be confused with "tortious" which is a legal term.<ref name=Grennan/>{{rp|504}} [[Apostrophe (figure of speech)|Apostrophe]] is used in several places.<ref name=Block/>{{rp|584}} Another marked stylistic trait is his use of those rhetorical questions which punctuate with the regularity of a refrain the two passages (<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|470–594}}and <ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|932–945}}) emphasizing at some length the dangers that beset Constance when she is at the sultaness' feast, when she is drifting from Syria to Northumberland, and when the second miscreant assaults her.<ref name=Block>{{ cite journal
| title=Originality, Controlling Purpose, and Craftsmanship in Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale
| author=Edward A. Block |volume=68 |issue=3 | date=June 1953 |pages=572–616  |journal=PMLA | doi=10.2307/459871 | jstor=459871 | s2cid=159612754 }}</ref>{{rp|585}}


Some scholars disagree with the arguments given above.
Some scholars disagree with the arguments given above. Spearing (2001) downplays the notion that the narration is the voice of a lawyer.<ref name="Spearing2001"/> [[Derek Pearsall|Pearsall]] (1985) found nothing specific to a lawyer other than the response to the Host in the Introduction.<ref name="Pearsall1985"/>
Spearing downplays the notion that the narration is the voice of a lawyer.<ref name=Spearing>{{ cite journal
| title=Narrative Voice: The Case of Chaucer's "Man of Law's Tale"
  | author=A. C. Spearing | journal=New Literary History
  | volume=32 |issue=3 | date=Summer 2001
| pages=715–746 | publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press| doi=10.1353/nlh.2001.0047 | s2cid=144375030 }}</ref> [[Derek Pearsall|Pearsall]] found nothing specific to a lawyer other than the response to the Host in the Introduction.<ref name=Pearsall>{{ cite book
| title=The Canterbury Tales | editor=Derek Pearsall |year=1985 |page=257}}</ref>


==Sources==
==Sources==
The tale is based on a story within the ''Chronicles'' of [[Nicholas Trivet]]<ref name=Backstrom/> but the major theme in the tale, of an exiled princess uncorrupted by her suffering, was common in the literature of the time.<ref name=hibbard>Laura A. Hibbard, ''Medieval Romance in England'' New York Burt Franklin,1963</ref>{{rp|24–25}} Her tale is also told in [[John Gower]]'s ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'', and both are similar to the verse [[Romance (heroic literature)|Romance]] ''[[Emaré]]'', and the cycle is generally known as the "Constance" cycle.<ref name=hibbard/>{{rp|24–25}} The oldest known variant of this particular type is ''[[Vitae duorum Offarum]]''.<ref name=hibbard/>{{rp|23}} More distantly related forms of the persecuted heroine include ''[[Le Bone Florence of Rome]]'', and ''[[Griselda (folklore)|Griselda]]''.<ref>Carol Falvo Heffernan, ''Le Bone Florence of Rome'', p 3 {{ISBN|0-7190-0647-3}} {{OCLC|422642874}}</ref> An incident where Constance is framed for murder by a bloody dagger appears to be a direct borrowing from ''[[Crescentia (romance)|Crescentia]]''.<ref>{{ cite book
[[File:GowerexMS42131f46v.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[John Gower]] from the [[Bedford Psalter and Hours]] ({{circa|1414–1422}})]]
| title=Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens
The tale is based on a story from the ''Chronicles'' of [[Nicholas Trivet]]<ref name="Bäckström1845"/> but the major theme in the tale, of an exiled princess uncorrupted by her suffering, was common in the literature of the time.<ref name="Hibbard1963"/>{{rp|24–25}} Her tale is also told in [[John Gower]]'s ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'', and both are similar to the verse [[Romance (heroic literature)|Romance]] ''[[Emaré]]'', and the cycle is generally known as the "Constance" cycle.<ref name="Hibbard1963"/>{{rp|24–25}} The oldest known variant of this particular type is ''[[Vitae duorum Offarum]]''.<ref name="Hibbard1963"/>{{rp|23}} More distantly related forms of the [[Calumniated Wife|persecuted heroine]] include ''[[Le Bone Florence of Rome]]'' and ''[[Griselda (folklore)|Griselda]]''.<ref name="Heffernan1976"/> An incident where Constance is framed for murder by a bloody dagger appears to be a direct borrowing from ''[[Crescentia (romance)|Crescentia]]''.<ref name="Schlauch1969"/>
| author=Margaret Schlauch  | author-link=Margaret Schlauch
|location=New York |publisher= Gordian Press |year=1969  |page=75}}</ref>


<!--  material from older version moved or abandoned.
<!--  material from older version moved or abandoned.
Line 122: Line 62:
==Analysis==
==Analysis==
===Saints' lives genre===
===Saints' lives genre===
The tale is meant as a morally uplifting story and is similar to [[hagiography]], or stories of the saints' lives, which were common popular literature of the time. Custance, as her name suggests, is constant to her Christian religion despite the attacks and testing it receives from the evil mothers of the Sultan and Alla. Hagiographic motifs are most abundant in MLT, e.g. “the miracles God works though Custance and the way she is miraculously fed while at sea”.<ref>{{ cite book
The tale is meant as a morally uplifting story and is similar to [[hagiography]], or stories of the saints' lives, which were common popular literature of the time. Custance, as her name suggests, is constant to her Christian religion despite the attacks and testing it receives from the evil mothers of the Sultan and Alla. Hagiographic motifs are most abundant in MLT, e.g. "the miracles God works though Custance and the way she is miraculously fed while at sea."<ref name="Sisk2015"/>
| chapter=Chaucer and Hagiographic Authority
| author=Jennifer L. Sisk |page=131
| title=Sanctity as Literature in Late Medieval Britain
| editor1=Eva von Contzen | editor2= Anke Bernau
| publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2015
}}</ref>


===Rhetoric===
===Rhetoric===
The Man of Law tells his story in a pompous over-blown style as if he is defending Custance in a court of law. He also uses several [[Figure of speech|rhetorical figures]] such as “so as ye shal heere"<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|130}} taken straight from the manuals of rhetoric of the day, to emphasise Custance's noble character—as well as the teller's lawyerly skills—and state her case.
The Man of Law tells his story in a pompous overblown style, as if he is defending Custance in a court of law. He also uses several [[Figure of speech|rhetorical figures]], such as "so as ye shal heere,"<ref name=MLTT/>{{rp|130}} taken straight from the manuals of rhetoric of the day, to emphasize Custance's noble character — as well as the teller's lawyerly skills — and state her case.{{cn|date=October 2025}}


===John Gower===
===John Gower===
Although Chaucer receives some praise and also criticism from his own character with favourable mentions of ''[[The Book of the Duchess]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Good Women]]''; in the Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale he seems to spare most of his opprobrium for [[John Gower]].<ref name=Riverside>{{cite book
Although Chaucer receives some praise and also criticism from his own character with favourable mentions of ''[[The Book of the Duchess]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Good Women]]'', in the Introduction to the Man of Law's Tale he seems to spare most of his opprobrium for [[John Gower]].<ref name="Riverside"/>{{rp|856}}  Two of the tales which he dislikes, [[Canace]] and [[Apollonius of Tyre]], involve [[incest]], as did the some versions of the Constance story. Gower, though, had recorded all these stories. Chaucer is, perhaps, with friendly banter, trying to goad his friend and fellow writer into a storytelling challenge.{{cn|date=October 2025}}
| title=The Riverside Chaucer
| author=Geoffrey Chaucer
| editor=Larry Dean Benson
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4DXD7Sk7WcC&pg=PA856
}}</ref>{{rp|856}}  Two of the tales which he dislikes, [[Canace]] and [[Apollonius of Tyre]], involve [[incest]], as did the some versions of the story. Chaucer based this tale on the [[Nicholas Trivet]] story from his ''Chronicle''. Gower though had recorded all these stories. Chaucer is, perhaps, with friendly banter, trying to goad his friend and fellow writer into a storytelling challenge.


:But certeinly no word ne writeth he
:But certeinly no word ne writeth he
Line 149: Line 78:
:Birafte his doghter of hir maydenhede,
:Birafte his doghter of hir maydenhede,
:That is so horrible a tale for to rede,
:That is so horrible a tale for to rede,
:Whan he hir threw upon the pavement.-->
:Whan he hir threw upon the pavement.
[[File:GowerexMS42131f46v.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[John Gower]] (between {{circa}} 1414 – {{circa}} 1422)]]
 
-->


==Sequence with other tales==
==Sequence with other tales==
The tale is the first in Fragment 2. Fragment 1 contains tales told by the Knight, Miller, Reeve and Cook.  The various manuscripts of the ''Tales'' differ in the sequence of the tales.  35 manuscripts contain the Man of Law's [[epilogue]], while 22 others (including the [[Ellesmere Manuscript]]) do not.<ref name="Dinshaw">{{Cite book|title=Chaucer's Sexual Poetics|author=Carolyn Dinshaw|author-link=Carolyn Dinshaw|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|date=1989|isbn=9780299122744|page=[https://archive.org/details/chaucerssexualpo0000dins/page/240 240]|url=https://archive.org/details/chaucerssexualpo0000dins/page/240}}</ref> In the epilogue, the host invites the [[The Parson's Tale|Parson]] to speak next, but the Parson is interrupted before he can begin and a different speaker tells the next tale.  In the various manuscripts, the interrupter is [[The Summoner's Tale|Summoner]], the [[The Squire (Canterbury Tales)|Squire]], or the [[The Shipman's Tale|Shipman]],<ref name="Dinshaw" /> but it is the Shipman whose character best matches the rude remarks (although the mention of his "joly body" sounds closer to something the [[The Wife of Bath's Tale|Wife of Bath]] might say). What this probably shows is that Chaucer had not fixed his overall plan. There are also hints, with his claim he will talk in prose despite rhyming throughout, that the Man of Law originally told the [[The Tale of Melibee|Tale of Melibee]] before he was assigned Custance's tale late in the composition of the ''Tales''.<ref name=David/>{{rp|217}}
{{main|Order of The Canterbury Tales}}
The tale is the first in Fragment II. Fragment I contains tales told by the Knight, Miller, Reeve and Cook.  The various manuscripts of the ''Tales'' differ in the sequence of the tales.  35 manuscripts contain the Man of Law's [[epilogue]], while 22 others (including the [[Ellesmere Manuscript]]) do not.<ref name="Dinshaw1989"/> In the epilogue, the host invites the [[The Parson's Tale|Parson]] to speak next, but the Parson is interrupted before he can begin and a different speaker tells the next tale.  In the various manuscripts, the interrupter is [[The Summoner's Tale|Summoner]], the [[The Squire (Canterbury Tales)|Squire]], or the [[The Shipman's Tale|Shipman]],<ref name="Dinshaw1989"/> but it is the Shipman whose character best matches the rude remarks (although the mention of his "joly body" sounds closer to something the [[The Wife of Bath's Tale|Wife of Bath]] might say). This probably shows that Chaucer had not yet fixed his overall plan. There are also hints, with his claim he will talk in prose despite rhyming throughout, that the Man of Law originally told the [[The Tale of Melibee|Tale of Melibee]] before he was assigned Custance's tale late in the composition of the ''Tales''.<ref name="David1967"/>{{rp|217}}


==See also==
==See also==
Line 160: Line 91:


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
<references>
<ref name="Bäckström1845">{{ cite book |author=P. O. Bäckström |title=Svenska Folkböcker |volume=1 |location=Stockholm |year=1845 |page=221 ff. |lang=sv}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Block1953">{{cite journal |author=Edward A. Block |title=Originality, Controlling Purpose, and Craftsmanship in Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale |journal=PMLA |volume=68 |issue=3 |date=June 1953 |pages=572–616 |doi=10.2307/459871 |jstor=459871 |s2cid=159612754}}</ref>
 
<ref name="David1967">{{cite journal |author=Alfred David |title=The Man of Law vs. Chaucer: A Case in Poetics |journal=PMLA |volume=82 |issue=2 |date=May 1967 |pages=217–225 |doi=10.2307/461291 |jstor=461291 |s2cid=170640735}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Dinshaw1989">{{cite book |author=[[Carolyn Dinshaw]] |title=Chaucer's Sexual Poetics |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780299122744 |page=240 |url=https://archive.org/details/chaucerssexualpo0000dins/page/240}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Fisher1964">{{cite book |author=[[John Hurt Fisher]] |title=John Gower: Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer |publisher=New York University Press |year=1964 |isbn=978-0814701492 |url=https://archive.org/details/johngowermoralph00fish |url-access=registration}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Grennan1985">{{cite journal |author=Joseph E. Grennan |title=Chaucer's Man of Law and the Constancy of Justice |journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |volume=84 |issue=4 |date=October 1985 |pages=498–514}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Heffernan1976">{{cite book |author=Carol Falvo Heffernan |title=Le Bone Florence of Rome |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1976 |isbn=0-7190-0647-3 |oclc=422642874 |page=3}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Hibbard1963">{{cite book |author=Laura A. Hibbard |title=Medieval Romance in England |publisher=Burt Franklin |location=New York |year=1963}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Lindeboom2007">{{cite book |author=Benjamin Willem Lindeboom |title=Venus' Owne Clerk: Chaucer's Debt to the Confessio Amantis |publisher=Rodopi |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udOR2JwV0YUC&pg=PA124 |isbn=978-9042021501}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Macaulay1900">{{cite book |author=[[George Campbell Macaulay]] |chapter=Introduction |title=The English Works of John Gower |volume=1 |publisher=Early English Text Society |year=1900 |url=https://archive.org/details/englishworksjoh01macagoog}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Manly1926">{{cite book |author=[[John Matthews Manly]] |title=Some New Light on Chaucer |publisher=Henry Holt |location=New York |year=1926 |pages=131–57 |url=https://www.questia.com/read/815997/some-new-light-on-chaucer |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Nicholson1991">{{cite book |author=Peter Nicholson |chapter=Chaucer Borrows from Gower: The Source of the ''Man of Law's Tale'' |title=Chaucer & Gower: Difference, Mutuality, Exchange |editor=Robert F. Yeager |publisher=English Literary Studies |year=1991}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Pearsall1985">{{cite book |editor=Derek Pearsall |title=The Canterbury Tales |year=1985 |page=257}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Schlauch1969">{{cite book |author=[[Margaret Schlauch]] |title=Chaucer's Constance and Accused Queens |publisher=Gordian Press |location=New York |year=1969 |page=75}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Spearing2001">{{cite journal |author=A. C. Spearing |title=Narrative Voice: The Case of Chaucer's "Man of Law's Tale" |journal=New Literary History |volume=32 |issue=3 |date=Summer 2001 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |pages=715–746 |doi=10.1353/nlh.2001.0047 |s2cid=144375030}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Wood1967">{{cite journal |author=Chauncey Wood |title=Chaucer's Man of Law as Interpreter |journal=Traditio |volume=23 |date=1967 |pages=149–190 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S036215290000876X |s2cid=151558123}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Yeager2015">{{cite book |author=Robert F. Yeager |chapter=John Gower's Poetry and the 'Lawyerly Habit of Mind' |title=Theorizing Legal Personhood in Late Medieval England |publisher=Brill Academic Pub |year=2015 |isbn=978-9004280410 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8pf8CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA72}}</ref>
</references>


==External links==
==External links==
Line 166: Line 131:
*[http://www.librarius.com/canttran/manlawtrfs.htm "The Man of Law's Tale", middle-english hypertext with glossary and side-by-side middle english and modern english]
*[http://www.librarius.com/canttran/manlawtrfs.htm "The Man of Law's Tale", middle-english hypertext with glossary and side-by-side middle english and modern english]
*[https://archive.today/20120630230505/http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mlt-par.htm "The Man of Law's Prologue and Tale" with interlinear translation]
*[https://archive.today/20120630230505/http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/mlt-par.htm "The Man of Law's Prologue and Tale" with interlinear translation]
*[https://medievalit.com/home/echaucer/modern-translations/the-man-of-laws-tale-translation/ Modern Translation of "The Man of Law's Tale" and Other Resources at eChaucer]
*[http://eleusinianm.co.uk/redShalfleet/rs19themanoflaw.html "The Man of Law's Tale" &ndash; a plain-English retelling for non-scholars.]


{{Chaucer}}
{{Chaucer}}

Latest revision as of 17:49, 26 October 2025

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

File:The Man of Law from the EllsMan of Law from the “Ellesmere Chaucer” (Huntington Library, San Marino).jpg
The Sergeant of Law

"The Man of Law's Tale" is the fifth of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, written around 1387. John Gower's "Tale of Constance" in Confessio Amantis tells the same story and may have been a source for Chaucer.[1] Nicholas Trivet's Les chronicles was a source for both authors.[2]

Wurtele (1968) provides a detailed compilation of the differences between Trivet's Chronicle and the poems of Gower and Chaucer.[3]Template:Rp Gower strove for vividness and shortened the tale in places. Chaucer expanded the tale and emphasizes the holiness of Constance and how she was favoured by heaven.

Hagiographic motifs are most abundant in Chaucer's version, e.g. “the miracles God works though Custance and the way she is miraculously fed while at sea”.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Wurtele observes that Chaucer makes frequent use of the adjective "hooly" but Gower never uses this word.[3]Template:Rp

Synopsis

(References here are to line numbers in the Man of Law's Tale (MLT)[4] and Confessio Amantis (CA).[5])

Constance (in Chaucer, "Custance") is the daughter of the emperor in Rome. Syrian merchants report her great beauty to the Sultan. A marriage contract is negotiated by her father which requires the Sultan and his subjects to convert to Christianity. (MLT 134–245; CA II.587–639.)

The Sultan's mother, enraged that her son would turn his back on Islam, connives to prevent this by massacring her son and the wedding party and having Constance set adrift on the sea. (MLT 386–504; CA II.665–715.) Constance's adventures and trials continue after she is shipwrecked on the Northumberland coast. The validity of her Christian faith is proved by two miracles. Her companion Hermengyld heals a blind man. (MLT 547–574; CA II.759–775.) A wicked knight who wishes to seduce Constance murders Hermengyld and attempts to frame Constance using the bloody dagger. He perjures himself and is mysteriously struck dead. (MLT 582–686; CA II.792–885.) Northumberland is a nominally pagan country where the King, Alla (based on Chaucer's understanding of the historical Ælla of Deira[6]) converted to Christianity after learning of the two miracles. Alla's evil mother intercepts and falsifies letters between the Alla and his constable, which results in Constance's being banished. (MLT 386–875; CA II.665–1036.)

Constance is forced to go to sea again and encounters one final antagonist. She runs aground in Spain; a would-be rapist (named "Thelous" in CA) boards her ship but mysteriously falls overboard. (MLT 911–945; CA II.1090–1122.) She is found by a senator of Rome, who is returning from a mission to Barberie (Syria) where he had revenged the slaughter of Christians by the Sultan's mother. (MLT 953ff; CA II.1179ff.) The senator takes Constance (and her child) back to Italy to serve as his household servant. King Alla, still heartbroken over the loss of Constance, goes to Rome on a pilgrimage, and by luck finds Constance. The couple returns to Northumberland. Alla dies a year later, Constance returns to Rome, and their son becomes the Emperor of Rome. (MLT 876–1150; CA II.1077–1612.)

Character of the Man of Law

The Man of Law may have been based upon a real character. Two candidates are Thomas Pynchbek and Gower. Pynchbek "served as a justice of assize between 1376 and 1388 and was known for his acquisition of land, as well as for his learning; in 1388, as chief baron of the Exchequer, he signed a writ for GC's arrest in a case of debt".[7][8]Template:Rp Accepting the latter requires accepting the debatable claim that Gower was a practiced lawyer.[9]Template:Rp

Yeager asserts that Gower had a "lawyerly habit of mind," but there is no evidence that he ever received formal training in the law. Chaucer himself is another candidate.[10] Yet another view is taken by David (1967), who sees the Man of Law as "a representative of the self-appointed poetry critics with whom Chaucer disagreed.[11]Template:Rp

Man of Law as narrator

File:ChaucerMS42131f16r.jpg
Portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer from the Bedford Psalter and Hours (c. 1414–1422Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".)

Introduction

The Man of Law (referred to here as 'A Sergeant of the Lawe') is a judicious and dignified man, or, at least, he seems so because of his wise words. He is a judge in the court of assizes (civil procedures), by letter of appointment from the king, and has many goods and robes. He can draw up a legal document, the narrator tells us, and "no wight pinchen at his writing". The Man of Law rides in informal, silk-adorned clothes (GP 311–330). The Host addresses the Man of Law with more respect than he does the Miller and the Reeve.[4]Template:Rp The Man of Law's response to the host includes "behest [promise] is debt" which is a quotation from Justinian.[12]Template:Rp

The most debated passage in the Introduction is:

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

But certeinly no word ne writeth he
Of thilke wikke [wicked] ensample of Canacee,
That loved hir owene brother synfully –
Of swiche cursed stories I sey fy! –
Or ellis of Tyro Appollonius,
How that the cursed kyng Antiochus
Birafte his doghter of hir maydenhede,
That is so horrible a tale for to rede,
Whan he hir threw upon the pavement.[4]Template:Rp

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Gower retold these two stories in Confessio. David observes that MLT is placed after somewhat immoral tales told by the Miller, the Reeve and the Cook.[11]Template:Rp After Gower became aware of this passage, the Epilogue of Confessio was altered to remove praise of Chaucer. The three common interpretations are:

  • Gower was offended by this criticism and deliberately excised the praise of Chaucer which appears[5]Template:Rp in the first recension of CA.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  • Macaulay (1900) argues the excision was an editing error, which was corrected in a subsequent recension of Confessio.[13]Template:Rp
  • Fisher (1964) took the view that "moral Gower" was offended by the immoral tales found in the Canterbury Tales.[9]Template:Rp

Tale

The narrator of the tale is less materialistic than the Sergeant of the Introduction (the description of the merchants' wealth is an exception[14]Template:Rp). "The tale, on the other hand, quite clearly reveals its narrator to be a devotee of justice in some ideal order, rather than a legal technician grown wealthy through sharp practices."[12]Template:Rp The events of the tale are the crimes discussed in Bracton's De legibus. "Simply from this point of view, and with respect to both style and substance, the received story as an aggregation of incidents is well suit for retelling by a Sergeant of the Law."[12]Template:Rp "Tortuous" (MLT 302), an astrological term, may be confused with "tortious," which is a legal term.[12]Template:Rp Apostrophe is used in several places.[15]Template:Rp Another marked stylistic trait is his use of those rhetorical questions which punctuate with the regularity of a refrain the two passages (MLT 470–594 and 932–945) emphasizing at some length the dangers that beset Constance when she is at the sultaness' feast, when she is drifting from Syria to Northumberland, and when the second miscreant assaults her.[15]Template:Rp

Some scholars disagree with the arguments given above. Spearing (2001) downplays the notion that the narration is the voice of a lawyer.[16] Pearsall (1985) found nothing specific to a lawyer other than the response to the Host in the Introduction.[17]

Sources

File:GowerexMS42131f46v.jpg
Portrait of John Gower from the Bedford Psalter and Hours (c. 1414–1422Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".)

The tale is based on a story from the Chronicles of Nicholas Trivet[2] but the major theme in the tale, of an exiled princess uncorrupted by her suffering, was common in the literature of the time.[18]Template:Rp Her tale is also told in John Gower's Confessio Amantis, and both are similar to the verse Romance Emaré, and the cycle is generally known as the "Constance" cycle.[18]Template:Rp The oldest known variant of this particular type is Vitae duorum Offarum.[18]Template:Rp More distantly related forms of the persecuted heroine include Le Bone Florence of Rome and Griselda.[19] An incident where Constance is framed for murder by a bloody dagger appears to be a direct borrowing from Crescentia.[20]


Sequence with other tales

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The tale is the first in Fragment II. Fragment I contains tales told by the Knight, Miller, Reeve and Cook. The various manuscripts of the Tales differ in the sequence of the tales. 35 manuscripts contain the Man of Law's epilogue, while 22 others (including the Ellesmere Manuscript) do not.[21] In the epilogue, the host invites the Parson to speak next, but the Parson is interrupted before he can begin and a different speaker tells the next tale. In the various manuscripts, the interrupter is Summoner, the Squire, or the Shipman,[21] but it is the Shipman whose character best matches the rude remarks (although the mention of his "joly body" sounds closer to something the Wife of Bath might say). This probably shows that Chaucer had not yet fixed his overall plan. There are also hints, with his claim he will talk in prose despite rhyming throughout, that the Man of Law originally told the Tale of Melibee before he was assigned Custance's tale late in the composition of the Tales.[11]Template:Rp

See also

References

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b Template:Cite thesis
  4. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ a b Template:Gutenberg (Middle English, based on Macaulay 1901)
  6. ↑ Rossignol, Rosalyn. 2006. Critical companion to Chaucer: a literary reference to his life and work. New York: Facts on File, 169.
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

External links

Template:Wikisource/outer coreScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Template:Chaucer Template:The Canterbury Tales Template:Authority control

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