Seigneurial Poetics,

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Seigneurial Poetics, or The Poacher, the
Prikasour, the Hunt and Its Oeuvre
The State of the Literary Form After
Historicism A conference in honor of Anne
Middleton University of California-Berkeley April
19, 2008
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The Parlement of the Thre Ages, ll. 593ff From BL
MS Addit. 31042 (Thornton MS)
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Hector Joshua
Arthur Alexander David
Charlemagne Julius Caesar Judas
Maccabeus Godfrey of Bouillon
The Nine Worthies
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Jacques de Longuyon Les Voeux du Paon
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Ne noghte es sekire to 3oureself in certayne bot
deth (P3A 635)
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• "Hoo!" quod the Knyght, "good sire, namoore of
  this! That ye han seyd is right ynough, ywis,
  And muchel moore for litel hevynesse Is
  right ynough to muche folk, I gesse. I seye
  for me, it is a greet disese, Whereas men han
  been in greet welthe and ese, To heeren of
  hire sodeyn fal, allas! And the contrarie is
  joye and greet solas, As whan a man hath been
  in povre estaat, And clymbeth up and wexeth
  fortunat, And there abideth in prosperitee.
  Swich thyng is gladsom, as it thynketh me,
  And of swich thyng were goodly for to telle."
• "Ye," quod oure Hooste, "by Seint Poules
  belle! Ye seye right sooth this Monk he
  clappeth lowde. He spak how Fortune covered
  with a clowde I noot nevere what and als of a
  tragedie Right now ye herde, and, pardee, no
  remedie It is for to biwaille ne compleyne
  That that is doon, and als it is a peyne,
  As ye han seyd, to heere of hevynesse. Sire
  Monk, namoore of this, so God yow blesse!
• Youre tale anoyeth al this compaignye."
• (VII. 2767-2789)

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Riche romance to rede and rekken the soothe Of
kempes and of conquerours, of kynges full noblee,
How thay wirchipe and welthe wanne in thaire
lyves. (250-52)
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• When Chaucer makes his Monk both moralist and
  outrider, he articulates the Churchs dilemma in
  its broadest terms. The Monk combines in one
  character two forms of confrontation between the
  Church and the world the legitimate role of
  moral correction, and the less legitimate role of
  self-interested proprietor that inevitably
  accompanies it. If the Church stays cloistered it
  remains morally pure, but fails in its obligation
  to correct society at large. And yet spiritual
  authority differs so radically from the secular
  political power it must correct, that as soon as
  the Church moves into the world, chances are it
  will be contaminated.
• (Larry Scanlon, in Narrative Authority, and
  Power 221)

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This duc his courser with his spores smoot,
And at a stert he was bitwix hem two, And
pulled out a swerd and cride, "Hoo! Namoore,
up peyne of lesynge of youre heed! By myghty
Mars, he shal anon be deed That smyteth any
strook that I may seen. But telleth me what
myster men ye been, That been so hardy for
to fighten heere Withouten juge or oother
officere, As it were in a lystes roially."
(I.1704-1713)
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for to hunten is so desirus,And namely at the
grete hert in May,That in his bed ther daweth
hym no dayThat he nys clad, and redy for to
rydeWith hunte and horn and houndes hym
bisyde.For in his huntyng hath he swich
delitThat it is al his joye and appetitTo been
hymself the grete hertes bane,For after Mars he
serveth now Dyane.                   (I.1673-82)
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•    Ryde forth, myn owene lord, brek nat oure
  game.    But, by my trouthe, I knowe nat youre
  name.    Wher shal I calle yow my lord daun
  John,    Or daun Thomas, or elles daun Albon?
     Of what hous be ye, by youre fader kyn?    I
  vowe to god, thou hast a ful fair skyn    It is
  a gentil pasture ther thow goost.    Thou art
  nat lyk a penant or a goost    Upon my feith,
  thou art som officer,    Som worthy sexteyn, or
  som celerer,    For by my fader soule, as to my
  doom,    Thou art a maister whan thou art at
  hoom    No povre cloysterer, ne no novys,   
  But a governour, wily and wys,    And therwithal
  of brawnes and of bones,    A wel farynge
  persone for the nones.
• (VII.1927-42)

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•    Ryde forth, myn owene lord, brek nat oure
  game.    But, by my trouthe, I knowe nat youre
  name.    Wher shal I calle yow my lord daun
  John,    Or daun Thomas, or elles daun Albon?
     Of what hous be ye, by youre fader kyn?    I
  vowe to god, thou hast a ful fair skyn    It is
  a gentil pasture ther thow goost.    Thou art
  nat lyk a penant or a goost    Upon my feith,
  thou art som officer,    Som worthy sexteyn, or
  som celerer,    For by my fader soule, as to my
  doom,    Thou art a maister whan thou art at
  hoom    No povre cloysterer, ne no novys,   
  But a governour, wily and wys,    And therwithal
  of brawnes and of bones,    A wel farynge
  persone for the nones.
• (VII.1927-42)

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• Tragedie is to seyn a certeyn storie, As olde
  bookes maken us memorie, Of hym that stood in
  greet prosperitee, And is yfallen out of heigh
  degree Into myserie, and endeth wrecchedly.
  And they ben versified communely Of six feet,
  which men clepen exametron. In prose eek been
  endited many oon, And eek in meetre, in many a
  sondry wyse. Lo, this declaryng oghte ynogh
  suffise.
• (VII. 1973-82)

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• .I wol doon al my diligence,    As
  fer as sowneth into honestee,    To telle
  yow a tale, or two, or three.    And if yow
  list to herkne hyderward,    I wol yow seyn
  the lyf of Seint Edward    Or ellis,
  first, tragedies wol I telle,    Of whiche
  I have an hundred in my celle.
• (VII.1966-72)

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