Chaucer’s famous work, The Canterbury Tales, is quite possibly the most well-read text
from its period, and it is not too difficult to see why: Chaucer is an extremely talented writer,
filling his tales with humor and wit, but at the same time commenting on larger issues that were
prevalent during his time. One of these issues that is continually featured as a theme in the
stories are the issue of governance in the medieval world. Most of Chaucer’s tales comment on
this theme in some way, and The Man of Law’s Tale is one such story that does. The man of law
tells the story of a woman named Custance, daughter of the Roman Emperor, and who is
betrothed to the Sultan of Syria, which, being a Muslim country, was seen as a “pagan” land, as
opposed to the Catholic nations of Europe. Custance’s departure from Rome sparks a series of
events that take her on various adventures, during which she maintains a steadfast trust in God,
and also manages to convert some of the “pagans” whom she meets along the way to
Christianity. Throughout the entire story, Custance maintains steadfast faith in God’s
governance over her life: she endures many hardships throughout her journeys, yet she rarely
complains, and accepts that this is God’s will for her life. In Custance, Chaucer has given his
readers a woman whose main qualities seem to exemplify one of the issues of his day: that of
human governance. By creating a character who possesses such a steadfast devotion to God,
and believes that it is His will which governs the fates of humans, Chaucer is putting forth a
theory regarding the complicated idea of governance: that it is God who determines the futures
of men, and that in order to live the best life possible, one needs to try to live in harmony with
God’s will.
There is a wonderful passage in The Man of Law’s Tale that encompasses the way in
which this idea is presented in the story. The passage reads:
A theef, that hadde reneyed oure creance,/Cam into ship alone, and seyde he shoulde/
Hir lemman be, wher-so she wolde or nolde./Wo was this wrecched womman tho
from its period, and it is not too difficult to see why: Chaucer is an extremely talented writer,
filling his tales with humor and wit, but at the same time commenting on larger issues that were
prevalent during his time. One of these issues that is continually featured as a theme in the
stories are the issue of governance in the medieval world. Most of Chaucer’s tales comment on
this theme in some way, and The Man of Law’s Tale is one such story that does. The man of law
tells the story of a woman named Custance, daughter of the Roman Emperor, and who is
betrothed to the Sultan of Syria, which, being a Muslim country, was seen as a “pagan” land, as
opposed to the Catholic nations of Europe. Custance’s departure from Rome sparks a series of
events that take her on various adventures, during which she maintains a steadfast trust in God,
and also manages to convert some of the “pagans” whom she meets along the way to
Christianity. Throughout the entire story, Custance maintains steadfast faith in God’s
governance over her life: she endures many hardships throughout her journeys, yet she rarely
complains, and accepts that this is God’s will for her life. In Custance, Chaucer has given his
readers a woman whose main qualities seem to exemplify one of the issues of his day: that of
human governance. By creating a character who possesses such a steadfast devotion to God,
and believes that it is His will which governs the fates of humans, Chaucer is putting forth a
theory regarding the complicated idea of governance: that it is God who determines the futures
of men, and that in order to live the best life possible, one needs to try to live in harmony with
God’s will.
There is a wonderful passage in The Man of Law’s Tale that encompasses the way in
which this idea is presented in the story. The passage reads:
A theef, that hadde reneyed oure creance,/Cam into ship alone, and seyde he shoulde/
Hir lemman be, wher-so she wolde or nolde./Wo was this wrecched womman tho
