NOTES TO THE PROLOGUE
1. The Prologue here given was transferred by Tyrwhitt from
the place, preceding the Squire's Tale, which it had formerly
occupied; the Shipman's Tale having no Prologue in the best
manuscripts.
2. Lollard: A contemptuous name for the followers of
Wyckliffe; presumably derived from the Latin, "lolium," tares,
as if they were the tares among the Lord's wheat; so, a few lines
below, the Shipman intimates his fear lest the Parson should
"spring cockle in our clean corn."
3. Cockle: A weed, the "Agrostemma githago" of Linnaeus;
perhaps named from the Anglo-Saxon, "ceocan," because it
chokes the corn.
(Transcriber's note: It is also possible Chaucer had in mind
Matthew 13:25, where in some translations, an enemy sowed
"cockle" amongst the wheat. (Other translations have "tares"
and "darnel".))
NOTES TO THE TALE
1. In this Tale Chaucer seems to have followed an old French
story, which also formed the groundwork of the first story in
the eighth day of the "Decameron."
2. "He must us clothe": So in all the manuscripts and from this
and the following lines, it must be inferred that Chaucer had
intended to put the Tale in the mouth of a female speaker.
3. Dan: a title bestowed on priests and scholars; from
"Dominus," like the Spanish "Don".
4. Bruges was in Chaucer's time the great emporium of
European commerce.
5. The monk had been appointed by his abbot to inspect and
manage the rural property of the monastery.
6. Malvesie or Malmesy wine derived its name from Malvasia, a
region of the Morea near Cape Malea, where it was made, as it
also was on Chios and some other Greek islands. Vernage was
"vernaccia", a sweet Italian wine.
7. Contour-house: counting-house; French, "comptoir."
8. Under the yarde: under the rod; in pupillage; a phrase
properly used of children, but employed by the Clerk in the
prologue to his tale. See note 1 to the Prologue to the Clerk's
Tale.
9. Genelon, Ganelon, or Ganilion; one of Charlemagne's
officers, whose treachery was the cause of the disastrous defeat
of the Christians by the Saracens at Roncevalles; he was torn to
pieces by four horses.
10. Elenge: From French, "eloigner," to remove; it may mean
either the lonely, cheerless condition of the priest, or the strange
behaviour of the merchant in leaving him to himself.
11. Make a chevisance: raise money by means of a borrowing
agreement; from French, "achever," to finish; the general
meaning of the word is a bargain, an agreement.
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