Whan That April . . . Again — Lucas Blogs About The Canterbury Tales: Part 11

That's right, we're using this picture for a second consecutive April.

The Intro

Well, this is awkward, last year I was pretty sure that I would have this wrapped up in twelve months (although I did skip two months last year, so ‾\_(ツ)_/‾. In any case, welcome to the eleventh entry in Whan That Month, my ongoing project to read the entirety of the extant Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, as collected in the Norton edition by editor David Lawton. Last month I polished off the seventh fragment, and now it's time to start in on the eighth, this one only has two tales, so let's dive right in with:

The Second Nun's Prologue

There is no linking segment here, no banter among pilgrims or prodding by Harry Bailly, just the Second Nun directly addressing the reader, uh, I mean the pilgrims. She begins by warning about the dangers of idleness, which can lead to vice. However, to counter that, she intends to embark on a translation of the legend of Sainte Cecilye (Cecilia). And to that purpose she immediately invokes the Virgin Mary, so that the Second Nun, an unworthy son of Eve (like the Shipman, the Second Nun occasionally misgenders herself), can write a faithful translation of the legend. She then goes on to offer possible etymologies of the name Cecilye: heaven's lily (from the Latin caeli lilia), way to the blind (caecis via), combining the Latin word for heaven with the name of Leah (one of Jacob's wives), wanting of blindness (caecitate carens), or heaven of people (combining Latin caelum and Greek leos). In any case, a faith without works is dead and Cecilye was always busy.

The Second Nun's Tale

Cecilye, who was born to a patrician Roman family and raised in the Christian church, is all about praying, namely praying that God will preserve her maidenhood. So devoted is she to purity that she wears a hairshirt under her wedding dress. On her wedding night she tells her husband, Valerian, "Here's the deal, I have a guardian angel who will kill you if you touch me, but if you convert and love me purely and help me maintain my virginity, he'll show you grace." She then tells Valerian to seek out Pope Urban among the catacombs. Urban is impressed with Valerian's commitment to his wife, and soon an angel appears to Valerian asks him to affirm his belief that there is but one God. Valerian accepts and Urban baptizes him on the spot. When Valerian returns to Cecilye, the angel presents them with crowns of roses and lilies that can only be seen by the righteous and which will never wilt or rot. Naturally, Valerian wants to share this blessing with his brother, Tiburce, who happens to be visiting and notices that Valerian and Cecilye smell really nice. They explain about the angel and the crowns and so Tiburce also goes and gets baptized by Urban. These conversions are noticed by Almache (Almachius) a prefect who commands them to make sacrifices to Jupiter or be killed. They refuse and, although he sentences them to death, Cecilye's preaching is so persuasive that she converts their executioner, Maximus, who frees them. However, they are captured again and Valerian and Tiburce are executed when they again refuse to sacrifice to Jupiter. Meanwhile, Almache sends his ministers to bring Cecilye before him, but she converts them. Once they actually meet face to face, Almache demands that Cecilye confess her crimes and renounce her faith, but she says that she has nothing to confess and she cannot renounce innocence and, furthermore, Almache's questions merely reveal his own folly. Not happy to be made a fool in his own court, he sentences her to be burned to death in her own bath. However, the flames do her no harm, so he sends in a soldier who strikes her three times on neck but fails to behead her. However, after three days she succumbs to her wounds. Urban and the other priests bury her and consecrate her house as a church.

How'd Lucas Like The Second Nun's Tale?

It's fine. It's another in what we might call the "elevated tales of suffering" genre of Canterbury tale (similar to The Man of Law's Tale and The Prioress's Tale). It similarly uses the rhyme royal stanza (an ABABBCC septet), so you know, it moves along trippingly. Unlike previous entries in the genre it's not weighed down by racist stereotyping or being more a catalog of suffering than a story. However, it's not particularly interesting in its own right. Though are a few things that stood out to me.

Two were pointed out by David Lawton in his notes: A) the fact that the Second Nun refers to herself as a "son of Eve" in the prologue may indicate that Chaucer didn't originally write (or rather translate) this life of Saint Cecilia for The Canterbury Tales  and may have added it because he felt it was a good fit or because he wanted to create an impression of greater completion; and 2) Pope Urban didn't have to live in hiding. Let's talk about the second one first.

I'm not gonna go too hard on Chaucer for getting the history wrong. After all, he didn't base this on original research, he combined and translated a couple of different sources. But it is interesting to see how much the theme of persecution of Christians in the early church comes up in The Canterbury Tales given that Christianity was so ubiquitous in medieval England that he never even has to specify which martyr the pilgrimage to Canterbury is meant to honor, or how he was martyred. (It was Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was killed by supporters of King Henry II in a dispute over the power of the Catholic Church vs the power of the king). I know it's not a particularly new or deep observation, but it seems like the more culturally entrenched Christianity becomes, the harder it becomes for some Christians to accept that they aren't a persecuted minority. It reminds me of The Prioress's Tale which vilifies Jewish people as a grave threat to all Christians in spite of the fact that in England at the time Jews were a persecuted minority who had been expelled from the country.

Anyway, the thing about Chaucer not necessarily writing The Second Nun's Tale for The Canterbury Tales is really more of a fun bit of trivia. But given how canonized works are so often reified, it is fun to think of Chaucer just sort of throwing in one of his other works on a whim.

Anyway, The Second Nun's Tale, is somewhat dramatically lacking. Like, Cecilye will tell Valerian to do something, and it will go exactly the way she says and everyone is happy. And while I get that the story is intended for religious instruction rather than entertainment, I still didn't feel particularly engaged. The story seems most valuable to contemporary readers as a window into how medieval people thought about their faith. For example, when Tiburce is first converted, Cecilye explains the concept of the trinity by appealing to three different kinds of intelligence (memory, imagination, and intellecut) all existing within a single mind. In any case, it's a readable, if unremarkable story.

The Outro

What? Already? Huh, I guess I didn't get as much reading done this month as I expected to. Come back in May for the next Whan That Month, I'll be taking a look at The Canon's Yeoman's Tale.