[139] “Joannes of Lignano, near Milan, a canonist and natural philosopher, who flourished about 1378.”—B.
[140] Saluzzo, a marquisate near Mount Viso: Lat. Vesulus.
[141] Corage is used in several senses: impulse (as in the opening lines of the Prologue), feeling, or disposition may be implied. The word is derived from the Latin cor, the heart.
[142] See note 144 below.
[143] The courtsey of modern times is all that remains of the old custom of kneeling.
[144] The house without. In these early times, dwelling-places were usually built within a court. The court was, among the poor, a spot enclosed by a hedge or fence of sticks, and often a dry ditch; in the middle of this enclosure or house, the hall in which they lived stood—a mere covered room. The chamber or bower, for sleeping and privacy, was a second erection within the court; but, in the case of so poor a man as Janicula, probably there was but one covered room, hall or chamber, used for any purpose of shelter. So when the guests came into the house without, the enclosure is meant, within which a single hut stood, built of planks. Janicula’s ox (used for draught, as now in Italy) inhabited the hut with them, and Griselda sets down her can in the stall when she enters the hut. In and around Naples we may still see the turkeys, pigs, and donkeys sharing the hovels with the peasants in this miserable way.
[145] On the Continent, even at the present day, the bride is expected to assent to the bridegroom chosen by her parents. Walter treated Griselda with especial consideration and respect by consulting her. Skeat quotes the legal formula of refusal, Le roy s’avisera, to show that Walter’s question, “Wol ye assent, or elles yow avyse?” gave her the chance to refuse.
[146] In the 14th century it was the custom for everybody to go to bed with the sun. They rose in the morning at 4 or 5, had breakfast at 6, dinner at 10 or 11, and supper about 6.
[147] Sergeant and servant are doublets.—Skeat. Probably he was a cross between a highwayman and a soldier. Sergeant at one time meant squire to a prince or nobleman.
[148] Tyrwhitt.