Tales told on the way to Canterbury

It’s mediaeval literature time!  I’ve been a fan of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales ever since I was introduced to them by one of my first-year university English profs.  In case you’re not familiar with the Tales atall, here’s the basics.

My favourite character in all this crowd is the Yeoman.  He’s a servant of the Knight and is one of the fellowship who does not tell a tale. Here he is, from www.canterburytales.org:

101	A Yeman hadde he, and servantz namo
102	At that tyme, for hym liste ride soo;
103	And he was clad in cote and hood of grene,
104	A sheef of pecok arwes bright and kene
105	Under his belt he bar ful thriftily-
106	Wel koude he dresse his takel yemanly,
107	Hise arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe-
108	And in his hand he baar a myghty bowe.
109	A not -heed hadde he, with a broun visage,
110	Of woodecraft wel koude he al the usage.
111	Upon his arm he baar a gay bracer,
112	And by his syde a swerd and a bokeler,
113	And on that oother syde a gay daggere,
114	Harneised wel, and sharpe as point of spere.
115	A Cristophere on his brest of silver sheene,
116	An horn he bar, the bawdryk was of grene.
117	A Forster was he, soothly, as I gesse.

So here’s a pretty complete picture of a tough, competent fellow.  He’s heavily armed, with sword, dagger, buckler, bow and arrows. He knows how to care for his equipment and he’s expert in his craft.  The very model, not of a modern Major-General, but of a trusty companion to a knight-errant.  With these few lines, Chaucer captured an icon of English folklore and history: the Archer.  Men like this stood at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt, three battles of the Hundred Years’ War that infused the British conception of their place in history for centuries.  The notion of the common-born English longbowman defeating the steel-clad flower of French chivalry in a deadly arrow-storm stood all through English history as an integral part of the British national character.  See Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The White Company for details.

An equally fascinating cast of characters marches through the Tales.  Here’s another one, whom I have not read since I was admitted to the bar. . . . .the Man of Law:

311	A Sergeant of the Lawe, war and wys,
312	That often hadde been at the parvys,
313	Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.
314	Discreet he was, and of greet reverence,-
315	He semed swich, hise wordes weren so wise.
316	Justice he was ful often in assise,
317	By patente, and by pleyn commissioun.
318	For his science, and for his heigh renoun,
319	Of fees and robes hadde he many oon.
320	So greet a purchasour was nowher noon,
321	Al was fee symple to hym in effect,
322	His purchasyng myghte nat been infect.
323	Nowher so bisy a man as he ther nas,
324	And yet he semed bisier than he was;
325	In termes hadde he caas and doomes alle,
326	That from the tyme of Kyng William were falle.
327	Therto he koude endite, and make a thyng,
328	Ther koude no wight pynche at his writyng.
329	And every statut koude he pleyn by rote.
330	He rood but hoomly in a medlee cote
331	Girt with a ceint of silk, with barres smale;-
332	Of his array telle I no lenger tale.

It’s interesting to note that lawyers gathered as many flippant comments 600 years ago as they do today.  Seems somehow right and proper.