Chaucer, the liturgy , and Constance's ever-increasing pathos: 'The Man of Law's Tale' II ^B! 846-47 - again - super 1 - Geoffrey Chaucer

Studies in Short Fiction, Summer, 1994 by Kevin J. Harty

There is an additional liturgical allusion, previously unnoted, to the liturgy of Holy Week in The Man of Law's Tale. More than 50 years ago, Mary-Virginia Rosenfeld pointed out that Constance's prayer to the Cross when she is set adrift by her Moslem mother-in-law -

"Victorious tree, proteccioun of trewe, That oonly worthy were for to bere The Kyng of Hevene with his woundes newe, The white Lamb, that hurt was with a spere, Flemere of feendes out of hym and here On which thy lymes feithfully entenden, Me kepe, and yif me myght my lyf t'amenden." (II [[B.sup.1]] 456-62; Benson 93-94)

- was a free translation of several antiphons for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (14 September), and of a complete hymn sung in the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday (Rosenfeld 357-60).

This prayer is just one of a series of apostrophes that Chaucer added to Nicholas Trivet's account of Constance, his source, to increase the pathos of The Man of Law's Tale (Block 572-616). Another occurs later in the tale when Constance is set adrift again by her second, equally cruel mother-in-law, law, this time in the company of her infant son. In this latter prayer, Constance addresses the Virgin and recalls her role as the Mater Dolorosa. To underscore her plea that the Virgin protect her child, Chaucer has Constance echo a popular Marian hymn, "O vos omnes," in her prayer:

"Mooder," quod she, and mayde bright, Marie, Sooth is that thurgh wommanes eggement Mankynde was lorn, and damned ay to dye, For which thy child was on a croys yrent. Thy blisful eyen sawe al his torment;

Thanne is ther no comparison bitwene Thy wo and any wo man may sustene." (II [[B.sup.1]] 841-47; Benson 99; emphasis added)

"O vos omnes" is itself part of the liturgy for Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday (Feria V in Cena Domini), it occurs in the third lesson for Matins. On Holy Saturday, it is a response to the fifth lesson at Matins and an antiphon at Lauds.(1) The hymn comes originally from the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah where the text reads.

O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, Attendtite, et videte Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus!(2)

The biblical passage was subsequently transferred to the Virgin in her lament at the foot of the Cross. The hymn was sung in plain chant, although the most popular scoring remains that of Loyset Compere.(3) Chaucer's allusion to this popular hymn is just another instance of his adding to the pathos of Constance's situation in The Man of Laws Tale by echoing the liturgy of the most solemn week of the ecclesiastical calendar. The allusion is especially effective given the different contexts of the liturgical original and the Chaucerian echo. Stationed at the foot of the Cross, the Virgin challenges the passerby to stop, compare, and comment. Constance utters her prayer as she is swept away "in the see she dryveth forth hir weye" (II[[B.sup.1]] 875; Benson

Benson

99). Additionally, the Marian original sounds a contemplative note of profound sorrow; Constance's echo, a frantic note of continuing desperation.

Works Cited

Benson, Larry D., ed. The Riverside Chaucer. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton, 1987. Biblia sacra. 4th ed. Madrid: Biblioteca de autores cristianos, 1965. Block, Edward A. "Originality, Controlling Purpose, and Craftsmanship in Chaucer,s Man of Law's Tale." PMLA 68 (1953): 572-616. Finscher, Ludwig. Loyset Compere. Musicological Studies and Documents No. 12. Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1964. Liber usualis. Turin: Desclee 1956. Procter, Francis, and Christopher Wadsworth, eds. Breviarium ad usum insignis ecclesiae Sarum. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1882. Rosenfeld, Mary-Virginia. "Chaucer and the Liturgy." MLN 55 (1940): 357-60.