TERENCE AND CHAUCER:

THE COMEDIES, THE CANTERBURY TALES, THE ELLESMERE MANUSCRIPT AND THE LUTTRELL PSALTER

 
he following tables, with the ladies first, present the thesis of the influence of Terence upon Chaucer. It should be noted that Terence, the freed African associated with the Scipios in Rome, who had lived in the second century before Christ, wrote such pure Latin that his Comedies were used throughout Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to teach that language in monasteries, convents, schools. These manuscripts were often lavishly illuminated, giving rise to later printed books with woodblocks for every scene. England possessed one such, once owned by St Albans Abbey and now in the Bodleian Library, Ms. Auct. F.2.13 (c. 1150). It is one of the thirteen illustrated manuscripts that have survived for us from before 1300, these typically giving the actors' masks on their rack, then often illustrating the plays' scenes. Later than Chaucer would be a flurry of fine illuminated Terence, Comedies, in Paris, often to educate the King of France's sons.

The frontispieces to the manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris, which are influenced by the earlier Terence manuscripts, and which would in turn influence the printed editions of Terence, show how the Roman theatre was understood, with the author, Terence, presenting his work to his patron, while his impresario, Calliopus, within the round 'Populus Romanus Teatrum', directs the masked actors in the plays. Chaucer's Cambridge Corpus Christi College Troilus and Criseyde will reflect these conventions.

1407, Josephus Master, Paris, Bibl. Nat. lat. 7907, fol. 2v
 

1412, Luçon Master, Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, 664, fol. 1v

Terence, Comoediae, Lyon, 1493

The Table below gives the correspondences between Terence's characters and Chaucer's.
 
 

Mask	Terence, Comedies	Chaucer, Canterbury Tales
Meretrix	Bacchis, Heutontimorumenos Thais, Eunuchus Philotis, Bacchis, Hecrya Bacchis (muta), Adelphoi	Wife of Bath Prioress
Obstetrix	Lesbia, Andria
Nutrix	Canthara, Heutontimorumenos Sophrona, Eunuchus Sophrona, Phormio
Anus	Syra, Hecyra Canthara, Adelphoi	Wife of Bath
Ancilla	Mysis, Andria Pythias, Eunuchus
Virgo	Blycerium (muta), Andria Antiphila, Heutontimorumenos Pamphila (muta), Adelphoi	Second Nun Prioress
Matrona	Sostrata, Heutontimorumenos     Nausistrata, Phormio Sostrata, Myrrina, Hecyra Sostrata, Adelphoi	Guildsmen's Wives Wife of Bath

Servos, Laborator	Davos, Byrria, Andria Syrus, Dromo, Heutontimorumenos                                                                                            Parmeno, Sanga, Eunuchus Davos, Geta, Phormio Parmeno, Sosia, Hecyra Geta, Parmeno (muto), Adelphoi	Cook; Ploughman; Miller, Reeve; Yoeman; Manciple
Lorarius	Dromo, Andria
Leno	Dorio, Phormio Sannio, Adelphoi
Libertus	Sosica, Andria	Franklin
Narvarchus		Shipman
Mercator		Merchant, Gildsmen
Medicus		Physician
Puer	Dromo, Adelphoi
Adulescens	Pamphilus, Charinus, Andria Clitipho, Clinia, Heutontimorumenos Phaedria, Chaeria, Chremes, Antipho, Eunuchus Antipho, Phaedria, Phormio Pamphilus, Hecyra Aeschinus, Ctesipho, Adelphoi	Squire
Eunuchus	Dorus, Eunuchus	Monk; Clerk; Pardoner; Summoner; Friar; Nuns' Priest; Canon's Yoeman; Parson
Advocati	Hegio, Cratinus, Crito, Phormio	Man of Law
Parasitus	Gnatho, Eunuchus Phormio, Phormio
Miles	Thraso, Eunuchus	Knight
Senex	Chremes, Crito, Andria Chremes, Menedemus, Heutontimorumenos Demes seu Laches, Eunuchus Demipho, Chremes, Phormio Laches, Phidippus, Hecyra Demea, Hegio, Adelphoi	Reeve

Harry Bailly, like Calliopus, like Chaucer himself, defies pigeon-holing.

In this arranging Chaucer seems to have adapted those of the classical Latin drama to the divisions of his Christian culture which kept aside God's servants in sexual abstinence, as if eunuchs, and which divided society into the Three Estates of Ploughman, Knight and Monk, likewise presented in the General Prologue. The General Prologue presents Chaucer's characters, the story tellers of the Canterbury Tales, like so many masks upon a rack. The Ellesmere Manuscript of the Canterbury Tales and the Luttrell Psalter are both exquisite - except for the comic faces and distorted bodies of some of their characters. Then one realizes that both illuminators, and also Chaucer himself, were familiar with Terence's Comedies, in which this is the tradition. Terence, as much as Aristotle, gave early European culture a mirror in which to view itself, albeit at times a cruel funhouse distorting one, a writer's desk with pigeonholes, a set of mocking masks to don.

The Ellesmere Canterbury Tales Miller
 

The Luttrell Psalter, Psalm 96, fol. 173
 

Bibliography

Janet Backhouse. The Luttrell Psalter. London: The British Library, 1989.

The Ellesmere Miniatures of the Canterbury Pilgrims. Ed. Theo Stemmler. Mannheim: University of Mannheim, 1977.

Terence, Comedies MS. Auct. F.2.13. Major Treasures in the Bodleian Library 9. Medieval Manuscripts in Microform. Ed. W.O. Hassall. Oxford: Oxford Microform Publications, 1978.

Millard Meiss. French Painting in the Time of Jean De Berry: The Limbourgs and Their Contemporaries. New York: George Braziller, 1982.
  

 

This is a quasi-chapter from the E-Book: Latin with Laughter: Terence through Time