Dd · Cambridge, Cambridge University Library MS Dd.4.24

So plesant was his / In principio

Ȝet wold he haue / a ferthyng or he went

His pᵘurchas was wel betir / than his rent

And rage he coude / as it had be a whelp

For there he was / nat lyke a Cloisterere

[wᵗith a thr]edbare Cope / as is a pore scolere

But he was like a Maist̉er / or a Pope

Of double worstede / was his semy Cope

Somwhat he lisped / for his wantounesse

To make his englyssh / swete on his tonge

And in his harpyng / whan that he songe

Hys eyen twynkeled / in his hede a right

This worthy lymytoᵘur / was cleped Huberd

A Marchᵃunt þere was / wᵗith a forked berd°

In motlee / and heye on hors he satte

And on his heued / a flaundryssh beủer hatte

His resons he spak / ful solempnely

Sownyng alwey / the encres of his wynnyng

He wold þe see were kepte / for any thyng

By twene Midelburgh / and Orewelle

This worthy man / ful wel / his wyt bysette

There wyst no wyght / that he was in dette

So stedefastly dede he / of his goủernance

Wᵗith his bargeyns / and wᵗith his cheuysance

But sothe to seyn / I ne wot how men hīm calle

A Clerk ther was / of Oxenford also°

That vnto logyk / had longe I go

And lene was his hors / as it were a rake

But loked holwe / and ther to soberly

Ful thredbare was his oủerest Courteby

For he had ȝet / geten hīm no benefice

Ne was nouȝt wordly / to haue an Office

Twenty bokes clad / in blak and in rede

Of Aristotle / and his philosophie

Than riche robes / or fethil or sautrie

But al be it though / he were a Philosophre

But al þat he / from his frendis hent

On bokes and on lernyng / he it spent/

And bisily gan / for the soules pray

Of hem / þᵗat ȝaf hīm / wherwith to scoley

Nouȝt a word spak he / more than was nede

And þᵗat was seide / in foᵘurme and reủerence

And short and quyk / ⁊and ful of heigh sentence

Sownyng in moral v̉ertue / was his speche

A Sergeaıı̄unt of lawe / there was / war ⁊and wys°

That ful often had ben / at Pardys

That was ful riche / of excellence

Discrete he was / and of gret reủerence

Justice had he be / ful often in assise

Bothe by patent / and pleyn comissioıı̄un

For his science / and his heigh renoıı̄un

Of fees and robes / had he many on

Al was fee simple / to hīm in effect

His pᵘurchasyng / myght nat ben / in suspect

Nowher so besy a man . as he there nas

And ȝet he semed / besiere than he was

That fro þe tyme / of kyng will / weren falle

Ther to he coude endyte / and make a thyng

Ther coude no man pynche / at his writyng

And eủery statut / coude he / pleynly by rote

Girt wiᵗth a seynt of silk / wiᵗth barres smale

Of his array / telle I / no lengere tale

Affrankeleyn þ̉ere was / in this compaignye°

Whyt was his berd / as is the daysye

Wel loued he by the morwe / a soppe in vyn

To lyue in delyt / was eủere his wōmne

For he was Epioᵘurs / owen sone

That held opynyon̄ / that pleyn delit

An housholdere / and þᵗat a gret was he

The grettest / of al his contre

His brede his ale / was alwey after one

A betir wyned man / was nowher none

Of fyssh and flesch / and þᵗat so plenteuous

It sewed in his hous / of mete and drynke

Of alle deyntes / þᵗat eny man coude thynke

After the sondry sesons / of the ȝere

Ful many a fat ꝑpartrich / had he in mue

And many a breme / ⁊and many a luce in stue

Wo was his coke / but if his sauce were

Poynaunt and sharp̄ / and redy al his gere

Stod redy coủered / al the long day

At the sessiones / there was he lord and sire

Ful often tyme / he was knyght of the shire

And an Anlaas / and a Gipciere al of silk

A sherewe had he be / and a Countoᵘur

Was nowher swich / a worthy vauasoᵘur

An haberdassher / and a Carpenter °

A webbere a dighẻre / and a tapicer °

Of a solempne / and gret fraternite °

Ful fressh and newe / her gere pyked was °

Here knywes were nouȝt / chaped wᵗith bras

But al wᵗith siluer / wrouȝt ful clene and wele

Wel semed ich of hem / a fair Burgeys

To sitte in the ȝildehalle / vp on þe heye deys

Eủerych for the wysdom / that he can

Was shaply to be / an Alderman

And eke here wyues / wold it wel assent /

And ellis serteyn / they weren to blame

It is ful feyr / to be cleped Madame

And go to the vigiles / al byfore

A Coke they had / wᵗith hem for þe nones°

To boyle the Chikenys / wᵗith the Maribones

And pouder M̉erchaunt / tart / and Galyngale

Wel coude he knowe / a draught of london̄ ale

Make Mortrewes / and wel bake a pye

But gret harm was it / as thouȝt me

That on his shyne / a mormal had he

And blanchemangere / mad he wᵗith the best

For ought þᵗat I wot / he was of Dertemouthe

He rod vp on a Rouncy / as wel as he coude

In a gowne of faldyng / vn to the knee

A daggere hangyng / on a lace had he

The hote somer / had mad his hew al broun

And serteynly / he was a good felawe

Ful many a draught / of wyn / had he drawe

Fro Burdeusward / whiles the chapmen slepe

If þᵗat he faught / and had the heyer hand

Be water he sent it home / fro eủery lond

But to reken wel / of his craft the tydes

The stremes and the strandes hym beside is

There was non swich / from hulle in to cartage

Hardy he was / and wys / I vndertake

Wᵗith many a tempest / he had his berd shake

He knew alle the hauenes / as they were

And eủery Cryke / fro Bretaigne in to Spayne

His Barge was called / the Magdaleyne

With vs there was / a Doctoᵘur of Phisik °

In al þis world / was non hīm lyk

For he was gᵒrounded / in Astronomye

He kept his pacience / a ful gret dele

In houres by his / magyk / naturele

Wel coude he fortunen / the accident

He knew the cause / of eủery maladye

Wheiþ̉er it were cold / hote / moist / or drye

And wher of it engendered / and of what humoᵘur

He was a verray ꝑparfyt/ practisour

A non he ȝaf / the syke man his bote

Ful redy had he / alle hise appoticaries

To sende him dragges / and his lettuaries

For eche of hēm / mad other for to wynne

Wel knew he / the old Esculapius

And deiscorides / and eke Rusus

Olde ypocras / and Galyen

Serapyoıı̄un / Raȝis / and Auyȝen

Bernard / Gatisden̄ / and Gilbertyn

Of his diete / mesurable was he

For he was / of no suꝑperfluite

But of gret norisshyng / and digestible

In Sangweyn / and in pers / clad wᵗith alle

Lyned wᵗith taffata / and sendalle

And ȝet he was but esy of dispence

For he kept þᵗat he wan / in the pestilence

Therfore he loued gold / in especiall.

A good wyf þ̉ere was / of beside bathe°

But she was somdel def / ⁊and þᵗat was skathe

Of cloth makyng / she had swich an haunt

In all the ꝑparyssh / wyf was there non

That to offryng / a forn̄ hire shuld gon

And if there dide / serteyn so wroth was she

That she was oute / of al charite

I durst swere / they weyed doun a pound

That on the Sonday / were vp on hire hede

Hire hosen were / of fyn skarlet rede

Ful streite teyed / and shoon moist ⁊and newe

She was a worthy wōmman / al hire lyue

Housbondes at þe chirche dore / had she had fyue

Wᵗith outen other companye / in hire ȝouthe

But ther of nedeth nat / to speke of nouthe

She had passed / many a straunge strem

At Rome had she be / and at Boloyne

In Galice at Seynt Iameȝ / and at Coloyne

She coude meche / of wandryng by the weye

Vp on an aumblere / esily she sat

Wel I wympled / and on hire hed an hat

As brod as is / a bokeler or a targe

A fote mantel / aboute hire hepes large

In felashippe / coude she / laughe ⁊and carpe

The remedies of loue / she coude ꝑper chaunce

For of þat art / she knew þe olde daunce

A Good man þþere was / of religion°

But riche he was / of holy thouȝt and werke

He was also / a lerned man / a clerke

That cristes gospel / trewely wold preche

His ꝑparisshyns deuoutly / wold he teche

And in adủersite / ful abidyng / and pacient

For which he was preued / often sithes

Ful lothe were hīm to curse / for hise tithes

But rather wold he ȝeuen / wᵗith oute doute

Of his offryng / and eke of his substance

he coude in litil / thyng / haue suffisance

Wyde was his ꝑparissh / and houses fer a sonder

But he left nouȝt / for reyn ne for thonder

The ferthest / in his ꝑparissh / moche and lite

Vp on his feet / and in his hond a staf

This noble ensaumple / to his shepe he ȝaf

That first he wrouȝt / and afterward he taught

And this figᵘure / he added eke ther to

That if gold rust / what shuld Iren do

For if a preest be foul / on whom we trust

no wonder is / a lewed man to rust

To se a sheton shepherde / ⁊and a clene shepe

And spak of mirthe / a mong other thynges

And seide / lo lordyngges trewely

Ȝe ben to me / right welcome hertily

For be my treuthe / if that I shal nat lye

I sey nat þis ȝere / so merie a companye

Fayn wold I do ȝow myrthe / ⁊and I wist howe

And of a mirthe / I am ryght now be þouȝt

To don ȝow ease / and it shal cost nouȝt

¶ Ȝe gon to Caunterbury / god ȝow spede

And wel I wot / as ȝe gon by the weye

ȝe shapen ȝow to talken / and to pleye

For trewely / comfort ne mirthe is non

To ride by the weye / as dom as it were a ston

As I seide erst / and do ȝow som comfort

And if ȝow like / alle be one assent

To stonden / at my Iuggement

And for to werken / as I shal ȝow sey

Now be my faders soule / þat is dede

But ȝe be merie / I wyl ȝeue ȝow myn hede

Holde vp ȝoure hondes / wᵗith oute more speche

Oure counseil was nouȝt / longe for to seche

And gᵃraunted hīm / wᵗith oute more a vyse

And bad hīm sey / his verdyt as hīm lest

¶ Lordyngges quod he / now herkeneth for the best

But take it nouȝht / I prey ȝow in disdeyn

That eche of ȝow / to short with ȝoure weye

In this viage / shall telle tales tweye

To Caunterburyward / I mene it so

And homward / he shal telle othere two

And which of ȝow / bereth hīm best of alle

That is to seyn / that telleth in þis cas

Tales / of most sentence and solas

Shal haue a soper / at our alder cost

Whan þᵗat we comen a geyn / fro Caunterbury

And for to make ȝow / the more mery

I wyl my self goodly / with ȝow ryde

Right at myn owen cost / and be ȝoure guyde

shal paie al that we spende / by the wey

And if ȝe wouchesaue / þat it be so

Telle me a non / wᵗith oute wordes mo

And I wyl erly / shape me therfore

With ful glad hert / and prayed hīm also

That he wold vouchesaue / so to do

And that he wolde be / oure goủernour

And of our tales / Iugge / and reportour

And we wyl reuled be / at his deuyse

In heygh ⁊and lowe / and thus by one assent

we be acorded / to his Iuggement /

And ther vp on / the wyn was fet anon̄

with outen eny lengere / tariyng

¶ A morwe / whan þe day gan spryng

Vp ros oure Ost / and was oure aller Cok

And gadered vs to gedir / on a flok

vn to the wat̉eryng / of seynt Thomas

And there oure Ost / bygan his hors arest

And seide lordes / herkeneth if ȝow list

Ȝe wete oure forward / if ȝe it record

late se now / who shall telle þe first tale

As eủere mote I drynke / wyn or ale

Who so be rebel / to my Iuggement

Shal paie for al þᵗat is / by the weye I spent

For he þᵗat hath the shortest / shal begynne

¶ . Sire Knyght qd he / my maister ⁊and my lord

Now draweth Cutte / for this is myn accord

Cometh nere quod he / my lady Prioresse

Ne studieth nought / ley hand to eủery man

A non to drawe / eủery wyght bygan

And shortly to telle / as it was

were it by auenture / or sort / or cas

Of which ful glad / was eủery wyght

And telle he must his tale / as it was reson̄

By forward / and by composicion̄

As ȝe han herd / what nedeth wordes mo

As he þat wys was / and obedient

To kepe his forward / by his free assent

And seide / sithe / I shal begynne þe game

welcome be the cutte / in goddes name

And wᵗith þat word / we redyn forth oure wey

And he bygan / wᵗith right a mery chere

This tale a non / and seide on þis manere

¶ Iamque domos patrias scithice post asꝑpera gentis / prelia laurigero ⁊c̄etc.

¶ Heere bigynneth / the Knyghtes tales ~

Whilom there was / as olde stories tellen vs

A Duke / a worthy man that hight Theseus

Of Athenes / he was lord and goủernour

And in his tyme / swiche a conquerour

Ful many a riche contre / had he wonne

What with his wysdom / and Chyualrie

He conquered al the regne / of femenye

That whilom cleped was / Scithia

And brouȝt hire hom wᵗith hīm / to his contre

Wᵗith meche glorie / and grete solempnyte

And eke hire ȝonge suster / Emelye

And thus with blisse / ⁊and wᵗith victorie

And al his Ost / in armes / by his side

And certes if it ne were / to longe to here

I wold haue told fully / the manere

How wōnne was the regne / of ffemonye