Wapping

Medieval English Poetry

Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tale of the Wife of Bath

14th century, Middle English. Numerous printed copies.

In the days of King Arthur, whose memory is held in such high esteem, Britain was filled with the magic of an Otherworld.

One again, a throwaway line, in this instance from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury tale from the Wife of Bath, hints at the significance of trees and vegetation as places where the gates to the Otherworld may once have lain open.

‘In the days of King Arthur, whose memory is held in such high esteem, Britain was filled with the magic of an Otherworld. The Queen of elves, with her jolly company, could often be seen dancing in the meadows, or so people thought; I speak of many hundreds of years ago, for there are no elves to be found anywhere now. Friars and churchmen have seen to that, spreading across the land as thickly as flecks of dust in a sunbeam, blessing everything in sight - halls and chambers, kitchens, bedrooms, towns and cities, castles, towers, woods and streams, ships, even dairies - so that now the Otherworld has vanished away entirely! Where once there was an elf, now there is a friar, chanting his Matins - Wommen may go saufly [safely] up and doun, in every bush, or under every tree; ther is noon other incubus but he... - ladies in orchards have only him to fear now, and he can only dishonour them!’