Medieval English Poetry

Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tale of the Man of Law

14th century, Middle English. Numerous printed copies.

This sorry creature drifted throughout the Aegean Sea and on through the Straits of Gibraltar, waiting for death to claim her.

To cut a long story short, the Christians and the Sultan, everybody, were hacked to pieces and stabbed at the table; and only Constance alone was spared. Not one of those who had received Christianity managed to get to his feet before he was cut down. Constance was quickly bundled out of the hall and put into a ship without a rudder – and in a shippe al sterelees, god woot [knows], they haf hir set – and told to learn quickly how to sail if she wished to get back to Italy again!

With a little money and some clothes they had given her, she was cast upon the salty sea. Oh Constance! Daughter of an emperor and the very model of virtue. May he who is the lord of fortune guide you.

"Yeres and dayes fleet this creature thurghout the see... – Years and days passed. Years! This sorry creature drifted throughout the Aegean Sea and on through the Straits of Gibraltar, waiting for death to claim her; for she harboured no hope of surviving to see her boat cast onto a shore.

At last she was washed ashore on the coast of Northumberland, where she claimed to remember nothing of her past, nor how she came to be in the boat.

Story fragment recounted from: Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1340–1400. Canterbury Tales. The Man of Law's Tale.

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