October 22, 2001
From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:...and let fley a fart, as 'twere a thunder dent
An article by Clay Rossi in Accuracy in Media re-tells the plot of The Lawyer's Tale from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales:
Amongst the bawdy stories of love and lust, Chaucer gives us the tale of the man of law (or lawyer's tale) which deals with an Islamic encounter, something the men of Chaucer's day were quite familiar with. In brief, the lawyer tells of a sultan who, through his merchants and traders, becomes aware of the most lovely princess in all of Christendom, fair Constance of Rome. To win her hand, however, the sultan must adopt Christianity. He goes a step further and declares that his whole dominion will adopt the Christian faith. Upon returning with his bride, a wedding banquet is held but it is interrupted by a bloody coup led by the sultan's own mother, culminating in the death of all the Islamic apostates and the banishment of Constance from their land in a most horrific manner.
This is indeed an allegorical instruction on dealing with Islam. Rossi suggests that history will repeat itself, and that siding with Islamic moderates will further inflame the extremists, as it was known to do in Chaucer's day. It has to date, but I do not accept the instruction in its entirety. One could easily switch religions around and tell a similar story (think Henry VIII for more of a real life example). The story does suggest, as Rossi points out, how the interest in trade may blend cultures, but fundamentalism in cultures can cause a blood bath in reaction.
May favorite quote from Chaucer heads this entry. It's from the Miller's Tale. I couldn't remember, but I looked it up here. The line describes the events just subsequent to a doltish suitor's blindly planting his lips on what he thinks is his beloved's face..but he knows "full well the woman hath no baird". This Tale is the sine qua non of Chaucerian bawdiness. I wonder, Mr. Rossi, what historical instruction he was giving in that one?
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