Virginity, Martyrdom, and Mistaken Impressions
A Different Perspective on Chaucer's Prioress
by Annie
Someone, I forget who (forgive me!), asked if I was going to post the paper that I'm presenting to the English Hon. Soc. convention in March. So, here it is......
The first impression engendered by *The Prioress' Tale* may well be one of disgust. Chaucer, in the guise of the Prioress, has presented the reader with a story of anti-Semitism and murder. This is not the entire reason for this tale, however. To understand this tale completely, it is necessary to understand the role of a Prioressin the Medieval Church, as well as new thoughts at the time on the questions of virginity, martyrdom, and their relationship. This understanding will show the reader the intent of the tale: to correct the view of martyrdom espoused by the Physician in his tale by showing the two kinds of martyrdom recognized by the Church at the time.
A Prioress was not a simple functionary in the Church. She was not only the manager of an estate, her abbey, but also:
A mother superior charged with both the spiritual and the physical well-being of the inhabitants of her convent; a constant and generous hostess to her fine neighbors and to the travelers--rich and poor-- who frequently sought lodging at her door; . . . the head-mistress of the convent school for the children of the gentry; . . . a source of alms for the poor and blams for the ill . . . representative, spokesperson, and fund-raiser for her establishment.
(Frank 230)
Such a personage, of such great responsibility, would be highly placed in the church, as much a representative as a bishop and of higher rank than a simple monk or friar. The Prioress is accustomed to setting a good example for those around her, as she does in the convent for the nuns in her charge. She is also accustomed, because of the duties of her office, to entertaining and instructing a wide range of people, from the aristocracy to the most lowly, in ways that they can understand. The Prioress, therefore, is one of the best suited of the Pilgrims to tell an instructive tale that all will understand.
The Prioress has chosen to tell the story of the martyrdom of a virgin. Martyr tales and Virgin stories were very popular in Chaucer's England, sot he inclusion of one here is not unusual. The story of the Prioress is a retelling of a martyr tale from northern France and Flanders, the most popular tle in the cult of Notre Dame de Puys, Our Lady of the Pews (Frank 233). Not only was this tale well known, but "a call a St. Helen's Priory, a convent of the Prioress' own order, would acquaint [Chaucer] with the London puy ceremonies there: (Frank 234). This was a story that was familiar to Chaucer's original audience, and this familiarity is probably the reason for its use here. The important points the Prioress is addressing in this tale deal with virginity and the nature of martyrdom in the Medieval Church.
The classic martyr died in profession of his faity, and thus death was seen as a necessity for martyrdom by the early Church. Clement of Alexandria, writing in the early days of the Church, "recognizes physical martyrdom as one means" (Pigg 67), but warns against "those who actively seek it for the wrong reason" (Pigg 67). Clement conceives of martyrdom as a daily thing, which no doubt led to the classification of chastity as one of the things that could be considered martyrdom. By Chaucer's time, a symbolic martyrdom achieved through chastity was recognized as a true martyrdom by the Church. Thus, the Prioress is herself a martyr, and regarded as holy. Her words would carry more import to the other pilgrims thereby.
The Prioress' intent in her tale is not only to instruct her audience on the Church's new views on martyrdom, but also to correct the picture of virtue drawn by the Physician and his story of the virgin Virginia, through her presentation of a true virgin martyr. At the boy's death, he is identified as a martyr, "sowded to virginitee" (Chaucer 378.579). His virginity is much different that Virginia's because of his youth, but his piety is much the same. The true difference in the characters lies in the mode of their deaths, and also serves to clafigy the relationship between virginity and martyrdom.
In "The Physician's Tale," Virginia is portrayed as what every parent wishes for in a daughter. She is not only beautiful, but humble, abstemious, temperant, patient, and discreet. She doesn't go to parties because of the temptation to be "To soone rype and boold" (Chaucer 336.68). Her virginity is mentioned almost in passing. However, at the moment of her death, she cries out "Blissed be God, that I shal dye a mayde/ Yif me my deeth, er that I have a shame" (Chaucer 341.248-249). In the Church's eyes, virgins were figurative martyrs; they chose to give up the life of the flesh to dwell in spirit. Because of this viewpoint, well known in Chaucer's time, it is not a precipitous leap to see in this tale a picture of a true martyrdom (Virginia's virginity) and the false martyrdom of her death.
A true martyr chooses martyrdom, as Virginia chose her virginity. Chaucer writes that she would "ful ofte tyme syk hire feyned, / For that she wolde fleen the compaignye" (Chaucer 336.62-63), implying that she is self-cloistered, another choice. From these two points, it could be asserted that Virginia's death at her father's hand was a kind of martyrdom: she was a cloistered virgin, who gave up her life for a point of belief. However, Virginia's death was not a true martyrdom. Her acutal death had little to do with the profession of her faity, and much to do with the reputation of her fmaily. The choice was not her own, and ws no real choice at all. Her father first tells her, "Ther been two weyes, outher deeth or shame / That thou most suffre" (Chaucer 340.214-215), a choice which is not a choice. When Virginia asks her father if there is no ohter way for her, he takes away even the dubious choice he has extended, saying, "No, certes, deer doghter myn" (Chaucer 341.237). Thus her true martyrdom, her virginity, ended with the false martyrdom of her death. Her tale, while heartbreaking, is a badly told classical story, with a dangerously false message about virginity, faith, and martyrdom.
In the "Prioress's Tale," the murdered boy was, like Virginia, a virgin. He was also only seven years old, qualifying as an inocent as well as a virgin. The boy's age is important because it demonstrates that his virginity is not a matter of free choice, even though the Prioress (and Chaucer) have put emphasis on his virgin condition. However, mention of this virginity does not occur until after the boy's death, which calls into question its importance in this story. The real significance of the boy's virginity is not the fact of its existence, but its relation to his innocence. Most of the description of the boy concerns this innocence, which was also a condition of his age and of his nature. He is compared to Saint Nicholas, who was holy at an early age, and he is called "A litel clergeon" (Chaucer 376.503).
While it might seem that this child had no choice in his martyrdom, this is not the case. He was killed by "infidels," in the person of the inhabitants of the Jewish sector, who were incensed at his professionb of faity, the singing of the Alam Redemptoris, an anthem to the Holy Mother. It could be said that, since the boy chose to sing in the Jewish sector, he thereby chose his martyrdom. However, Chaucer writes, "Of Cristes mooder that, to hire to preye, / He kan nat stynte of syngyng by the weye" (Chaucer 377.556-557). A true innocent cannot keep himself from worship, no matter the surroundings, so choice is not a part of the question here. One might also question, Chaucer seems to be saying, a birds choice to sing or not, or the season's choice to change. An innocent, not knowing evil, does not recognize it, or its possible dangers to himself, in the hearts of lesser men.
The point of Chaucer and his Prioress is the difference between these two deaths. Both Virginia and the boy are innocents, both virgins, both upright in their faiths. Both are true martyrs. It is the definition of martyrdom tha tprovides the difference. Virginia was a martyr, but whe was a living one. Her martyrdom did not occur at her death, but was a freely chosen one of chastity and the cloister, even though the cloister was not an official one. The Prioress's unnamed boy was also a martyr, but a classic one; his martyrdom occurred at his death. His virginity could not be seen as the living martyrdom recognized by the medieval Church, because it was not a matter of choice to him but a condition of his age. The Prioress's Instruction to her audience is that they should not mistake the death of Virginia as a noble thing; her true nobility, and martyrdom, was the chosen one of her lifestyle, not the compelled one of her death. Chaucer's Prioress illuminates this lesson with her story of a true and classic martyr, who dies in the profession of his faith. The Prioress has thus transformed the Physician's story from one well-known but badly told to a homily on the church's view on living martyrdom, by wordlessly contrasting it with an equally well-known story of a classic martyr. This gentle instruction was a part of her calling, and she equits herself admirably.
Works Cited
Cawley, A.C., ed. Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales. London: Orion House, 1992: 336, 340, 341, 376, 377, 378
Frank, Hardy Long. "Seeing the Prioress Whole." The Chaucer Review 25.3 (1991): 230, 233, 234
Pigg, Daniel F. "Refiguring Martyrdom: Chaucer's Prioress and Her Tale." The Chaucer Review 29.1 (1994): 67