{"id":14644,"date":"2021-11-01T17:13:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T17:13:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/?page_id=14644"},"modified":"2022-12-03T22:12:08","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T22:12:08","slug":"contes-de-canterbury-la-prieure-9","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/breton-mythology\/canterbury-tales-the-prioress-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Canterbury Tales: The Prioress"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/breton-mythology\/\" role=\"button\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBreton mythology<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Les_Contes_de_Canterbury\" role=\"button\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWiki<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Geoffrey Chaucer is an English writer and poet who was born in London in the 1340s and died in 1400 in that same city. His most famous work is <i>Canterbury Tales<\/i>. The <i>Canterbury Tales<\/i> are, with <i>Sire Gauvain and the Green Knight<\/i> (from an anonymous person) and <i>Peter the Plowman<\/i> (by William Langland), the very first great works of English literature. Here is the first tale: the prioress.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/cropped-AlphaOmega-e1602613368367.png\" alt=\"canterbury tales the prioress\" width=\"25\" height=\"25\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseprofile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/breton-mythology\/canterbury-tales-the-prioress-9\/#Contes-de-Canterbury-Le-conte-de-la-Prieure\" >Canterbury Tales: The Prioress&#039;s Tale<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Contes-de-Canterbury-Le-conte-de-la-Prieure\"><\/span>Canterbury Tales: The Prioress&#039;s Tale<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>\t\t<i>Hear the joyful words of the Host at Le Marinier,<\/i> then to Madame la Prioress<i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&quot;Well said, by the <i>corpus dominus<\/i>\u00a0! (the host shouted \ud83d\ude09<br \/>and may you long sail by our coasts,<br \/>Monsieur the nice master, and a nice sailor!<br \/>God yawn at the spindle cartloads of misfortunes!<br \/>Ah! companion, beware of such tricks!<br \/>1630 Ce moine a mis un singe en le bonnet de l\u2019homme<sup id=\"cite_ref-2\"><\/sup>,<br \/>and his wife too, from Saint Augustine!<br \/>Don&#039;t bring any more monks to your hostel!<br \/>But let&#039;s move on now, and search<br \/>who can be the first of all this gang<br \/>tell us another tale. And speaking on this<br \/>as courteously as a young girl would have done:<br \/>&quot;Madam Prioress, with your leave,<br \/>if I was sure that it should not bother you,<br \/>I would be of the opinion that you tell us<br \/>1640 le prochain conte, \u00e0 moins qu\u2019il ne vous en d\u00e9plaise.<br \/>Now, would you do me this favor, madame?<br \/>- &quot;Very willingly&quot;, she said, and said what you hear.<\/p>\n<p><i>Explicit<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p><i>Here follows the Prologue to the tale of the Prioress.<\/i><br \/><small><i>Dominates, dominus noster.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n<p>\u201cO Lord our God, how marvelously<br \/>your name is widespread in our wide world!<\/p>\n<p>(she said \ud83d\ude09 we don&#039;t see your precious praise<br \/>accomplished only by people of dignity,<br \/>but by the mouth of children themselves your kindness<br \/>is consumed; still suckling their mother,<br \/>they sometimes bear witness to your great glory<sup id=\"cite_ref-3\"><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>1650 C\u2019est pourquoi en louange, autant que sais et puis,<br \/>of you and the very white flower of this lily<br \/>who once carried you and always remained a virgin,<br \/>I want to try to tell a story here;<br \/>not that I can thus increase his honor,<br \/>for she herself is all honor, all root<br \/>of goodness - for her son - and all salvation of souls.<\/p>\n<p>O mother, always a virgin! O virgin good mother!<br \/>Burning bush unconscious before Moses!<br \/>You who delight in the Divinity,<br \/>1660par ton humblesse, l\u2019Esprit Saint qui vint en toi\u00a0;<br \/>whose virtue, when he came to set your heart ablaze,<br \/>thus conceived the Wisdom of the Father,<br \/>help me speak here in your honor!<\/p>\n<p>O Lady! your goodness and your magnificence,<br \/>your virtue and your great humility cannot<br \/>in no language to express oneself, by no science;<br \/>because sometimes, Our Lady, before we pray to you,<br \/>you warn us in your benignity<sup id=\"cite_ref-4\"><\/sup>,<br \/>and give us, praying yourself, the light<br \/>1670qui nous doit amener \u00e0 ton Fils tant aim\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p>My knowledge is so weak, O blessed Queen!<br \/>to declare your great dignity,<br \/>that I can in no way bear the weight;<br \/>but as a child of twelve months, or less still,<br \/>who hardly knows how to express a word,<br \/>so I behave, and therefore I beg you,<br \/>guide this song that of you I mean! &quot;<\/p>\n<p><i>Explicit.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Here begins the tale of Lady the Prioress.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>He was in Asia, in a big city,<br \/>among Christian people, some Jewry<sup id=\"cite_ref-5\"><\/sup><br \/>1680qu\u2019un seigneur soutenait de la dite contr\u00e9e,<br \/>for sordid usury and villainy for profit,<br \/>whom Christ and his Church hate greatly;<br \/>you could walk or ride through the street,<br \/>for it was open and free at each end.<\/p>\n<p>There was a little school of Christians,<br \/>at the far end of the street; and came there<br \/>crowds of children born of Christian blood,<br \/>who from year to year learned at school<br \/>such doctrines which of use were given there,<br \/>1690c\u2019est \u00e0 savoir\u00a0: chanter et lire,<br \/>as do children at a young age.<\/p>\n<p>Now among these children was a widow&#039;s son<br \/>little clergeon<sup id=\"cite_ref-6\"><\/sup>, being seven years old,<br \/>who usually came to school every day;<br \/>and also, whenever he saw a picture<br \/>of the mother of Christ, used to<br \/>as instructed, to kneel there,<br \/>then say Ave Marie, going her way.<\/p>\n<p>So the widow had learned from her young son<br \/>1700\u00e0 toujours honorer la Bienheureuse Dame,<br \/>dear mother of Christ, and he did not forget -<br \/>because good child quickly learns -<br \/>and whenever he remembers the material,<br \/>seems to me to see Saint Nicholas in my presence,<br \/>who also young, bowed to Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Now this little child, in front of his little <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/book-libraries\/\">book<\/a><br \/>sitting in this school, learning the abc,<br \/>suddenly heard singing <i>Alma redemptoris<\/i><br \/>that other children read their antiphonary;<br \/>1710et s\u2019enhardit \u00e0 s\u2019en venir pr\u00e8s et plus pr\u00e8s,<\/p>\n<p>and listened to the words and the notes too,<br \/>as long as he knew the entire first verse by heart.<\/p>\n<p>No one knew what Latin means,<br \/>for he was very young and tender in age;<br \/>but one day he prayed to one of his comrades<br \/>to say this song to him in his own language,<br \/>and to explain to him what was its use;<br \/>to translate it and enlighten it begged it<br \/>many times on his bare knees.<\/p>\n<p>1720Son compagnon qui plus que lui \u00e9tait \u00e2g\u00e9<br \/>answered him thus: &quot;This song, did I say yes,<br \/>was made of our happy and generous Lady,<br \/>so that we salute her, and so that the prayers<br \/>to be our help and deliverance when we die;<br \/>can not explain anything more in the matter;<br \/>i am learning singing, but know little grammar. &quot;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;And is this song done in reverence<br \/>of the mother of Christ? (then said this innocent).<br \/>But of course I will do all my diligence<br \/>1730\u00e0 tout entier l\u2019apprendre, avant que soit No\u00ebl,<br \/>when i get reprimanded for the abc,<br \/>and when I was beaten three times in an hour,<br \/>because I want to know it for the honor of Notre Dame! &quot;<\/p>\n<p>His friend secretly taught it every day,<br \/>as they returned, as long as he knew it by heart,<br \/>and now he sang it very boldly,<br \/>word for word, and following each note.<br \/>Twice a day the song in her throat passed,<br \/>as he was going to school or to his house;<br \/>1740tant il \u00e9tait d\u00e9vot \u00e0 la m\u00e8re de Christ.<\/p>\n<p>In this Jewry as I said<br \/>as our little child came and went,<br \/>happily sang and shouted<br \/><i>Alma Redemptoris Mater<\/i>\u00a0;<br \/>so much has pierced his heart the very great sweetness<br \/>of the mother of Christ, that in order to pray to her,<br \/>could not help singing along the way.<\/p>\n<p>Our great enemy, the serpent Satanas<br \/>which in the hearts of the Jews always has its nest.<br \/>1750s\u2019enfla soudain et dit\u00a0: \u00ab\u00a0H\u00e9las\u00a0! peuple h\u00e9bra\u00efque,<br \/>is it in accordance with your honor<br \/>may such a child go as he pleases,<br \/>to your chagrin, singing such stories<br \/>which are contrary to compliance with your law? &quot;<\/p>\n<p>And since that time the Jews conspired<br \/>to get this innocent out of the world.<br \/>And to do this they hired a homicide,<br \/>who went to hide in a certain alley;<br \/>as soon as the child came to pass through this place,<br \/>1760ce maudit Juif le prit et le tint bien serr\u00e9,<br \/>then cuts his throat and throws him into a hole.<\/p>\n<p>I say he was thrown into a closet<br \/>where these Jews there were getting drunk to purge their bowels.<br \/>O cursed nation! O new Herods!<br \/>What will your bad plot do to you?<br \/>Murder is published early; it will not be necessary;<br \/>the honor of God will be propagated thereby.<br \/>On your cursed act, the blood cries out for vengeance!<\/p>\n<p>Martyr thus dedicated to virginity,<br \/>1770ores tu peux chanter, suivant \u00e0 tout jamais<br \/>the white Celestial Lamb! (thus says the prioress);<br \/>you are one of those including John the great evangelist<br \/>wrote in Patmos<sup id=\"cite_ref-7\"><\/sup>, saying that those who go<br \/>before the Lamb, singing a new song,<br \/>there are those who have not known a woman fleshly.<\/p>\n<p>And this poor widow waits all night<br \/>his little child, but he does not come back;<br \/>1780et lors d\u00e8s que para\u00eet la lumi\u00e8re du jour,<br \/>all pale with fear and worry<br \/>she goes to school and elsewhere to look for him;<br \/>until at the end it comes to him new<br \/>that we saw him last in the rue de Juiverie.<\/p>\n<p>With mother&#039;s pity in her enclosed breast,<br \/>she goes, as if she was out of mind,<br \/>wherever she can guess<br \/>that his child will probably find;<br \/>and always to the gentle and good mother of Christ,<br \/>she goes crying out; and finally did so well<br \/>that she went to seek him from the accursed people.<\/p>\n<p>1790Et fort piteusement, elle demande et prie<br \/>each Jew residing in the aforesaid place<br \/>to admit if her child ever passed there.<br \/>They were saying &quot;no&quot;. But Jesus by his grace,<br \/>after a little while gave him the thought<br \/>to go and cry after his son in this place<br \/>where the Jews had thrown him aside in the pit.<\/p>\n<p>O great God who sometimes established praise<br \/>by mouths of innocent people, here is your power!<br \/>This gem of chastity, this emerald,<br \/>1800et du martyre aussi ce rubis tr\u00e8s brillant,<br \/>here he is lying with his throat cut,<br \/>began to sing again <i>Alma redemptoris<\/i>,<br \/>so loudly that the whole place echoed.<\/p>\n<p>And the Christian people who passed in the street<br \/>approached and the fact was greatly astonished<br \/>and sent for the provost in haste,<br \/>which soon, without delay, arrived,<br \/>and worshiped Christ, who is the king of heaven,<br \/>and then his mother too, honor of humanity,<br \/>1810et puis apr\u00e8s cela fit mettre aux fers les Juifs.<\/p>\n<p>And this child with pitiful lament<br \/>was reassembled, still singing his song,<br \/>and then with honor and great process,<br \/>was taken to the next abbey.<br \/>Her mother fainted near her coffin lying;<br \/>and people who were there had great difficulty<br \/>to remove the new Rachel from there.<\/p>\n<p>Each one in great torment and shameful death,<br \/>the Jews were put to death by this provost,<\/p>\n<p>1820ceux qui savaient ce meurtre \u2014 et vitement fut fait\u00a0;<br \/>showed no consideration for these cursed villains.<br \/>&quot;Those will go to evil who badly deserve&quot;<br \/>and therefore had them pulled by wild horses,<br \/>and then hang as the law commanded.<\/p>\n<p>And the innocent was still lying on his beer,<br \/>in front of the high altar, as long as mass lasted;<br \/>and then the abbot came with his convent<br \/>without delay to bury him quickly;<br \/>and as holy water was cast upon him,<br \/>1830l\u2019enfant parlait toujours, pendant qu\u2019on l\u2019aspergeait,<br \/>and sang <i>O Alma Redemptoris mater!<\/i><\/p>\n<p>This abbot was precisely a very holy man,<br \/>(as well as monks are, or at least should be \ud83d\ude09<br \/>so began to conjure this young child,<br \/>saying: \u201cO dear child! I beg you,<br \/>in the name of the Most Holy Trinity,<br \/>tell me by what cause so you can sing,<br \/>since you have cut throat as it seems? &quot;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;- Yes, my throat is cut down to the neck bone,<br \/>1840(dit cet enfant,) et certes par voie de nature<br \/>I would have passed away a long time ago;<br \/>but Jesus Christ, as you can see in <a href=\"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/book-libraries\/\">Books<\/a>,<br \/>wants his glory to last and be remembered,<br \/>and therefore for the honor of his dear Mother,<br \/>I can still sing <i>O Alma!<\/i> high and clear.<\/p>\n<p>For this well of mercy, sweet mother of Christ,<br \/>have I always loved, as much as I could,<br \/>and just as I was going to lose my life,<br \/>she came to me, and ordered me to sing<br \/>1850tout justement cette antienne en mourant,<br \/>as have heard; and when I sang it,<br \/>I seemed to put a grain of wheat on my tongue.<\/p>\n<p>And that&#039;s why I sing and sing in truth<br \/>for the honor of the good and blessed Virgin,<br \/>until my tongue lost that seed.<br \/>And then after that she said to me again:<\/p>\n<p>&quot;O my little child, now I am going to look for you,<br \/>when this seed is taken from your tongue;<br \/>do not be afraid; will not abandon you. &quot;<\/p>\n<p>18060Ce saint moine (c\u2019est bien l\u2019abb\u00e9 que je veux dire)<br \/>So stuck out his tongue and took that seed<br \/>and this child quietly returned the spirit.<br \/>And when the abbot had seen this great wonder,<br \/>her bitter tears dripped like rain,<br \/>and he fell flat, forward to the ground,<br \/>and without moving, as if bound, remained there.<\/p>\n<p>The convent also lay down on the ground,<br \/>weeping, and of Christ praising the dear mother;<br \/>and then getting up, they went away,<br \/>1870et retir\u00e8rent ce martyr de son cercueil\u00a0;<br \/>and inside a tomb of light marble,<br \/>they locked up this sweet little body;<br \/>and he is where God wants us to unite!<\/p>\n<p>Young Hugh of Lincoln<sup id=\"cite_ref-8\"><\/sup> O you who was also<br \/>slain by accursed Jews, as is notorious,<br \/>because it is only a very small time spent,<br \/>therefore pray also for us fickle sinners,<br \/>so that in his mercy, pitiful God<br \/>multiply his great pity on us,<br \/>1880pour le plus grand honneur de sa m\u00e8re Marie.<\/p>\n<p>Amen. &quot;<\/p>\n<p><i>Here ends the tale of the Prioress.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breton Mythology Wiki Geoffrey Chaucer is an English writer and poet born in London in the 1340s and died\u2026 <\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":96,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14644","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25245,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14644\/revisions\/25245"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythslegendes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}