1293. A proverbial expression like that in vi. 447, ‘For selden get a domb man lond.’
1328. retenue, ‘engagement of service’: cp. Bal. viii. 17,
‘Q’a vous servir j’ai fait ma retenue.’
1354. the decerte Of buxomnesse, i.e. ‘the service of obedience.’ For both the spelling and meaning of ‘decerte’ cp. Mir. 10194,
‘Qe ja ne quiert ou gaign ou perte
Du siecle avoir pour sa decerte.’
1407 ff. The ‘Tale of Florent’ is essentially the same as Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale,’ but the details are in many ways different. According to Chaucer the hero of the adventure is a knight of Arthur’s court and the occasion of his trouble a much less creditable one than in the case of Florent. In Chaucer’s tale the knight sees a fairy dance of ladies in the forest before he meets his repulsive deliverer, and she gets from him a promise that he will grant her next request if it lies in his power, the demand of marriage being put off until after the question has been successfully solved by her assistance. The rather unseasonable lectures on gentilesse, poverty, and old age are not introduced by Gower. On the other hand, Chaucer’s alternative, ‘Will you have me old and ugly but a faithful wife, or young and fair with the attendant risks?’ is more pointed and satisfactory than the corresponding feature in Gower’s tale. Finally, Chaucer has nothing about the enchantment by which the lady had been transformed.
It is tolerably certain that neither borrowed the story from the other, though there are a few touches of minute resemblance which may suggest that one was acquainted with the other’s rendering of it: see ll. 1587, 1727.
We cannot point to the precise original of either; but a very similar story is found in The Weddynge of Sir Gawene and Dame Ragnell, published in the collection of poems relating to Gawain edited by Sir F. Madden (Bannatyne Club, 1839) and contained in MS. Rawlinson C. 86. In this ballad Arthur’s life is spared by a strange knight who meets him unarmed in the forest, on condition of answering his question, ‘What do women love best,’ at the end of twelve months. He is assisted by Dame Ragnell, who demands in return to be married to Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain accepts the proposal from loyalty to his lord, and the rest is much as in Gower’s version. It should be noted that the alternative of day or night appears in the ballad and was a feature of the original story, which Chaucer altered.
The Percy fragment of The Marriage of Sir Gawain, also printed in Sir F. Madden’s volume, is the same story as we have in the other ballad. The name Florent and that of the Emperor Claudius are probably due to Gower, who is apt to attach to his stories names of his own choosing: cp. Lucius and Dionys (Conf. Am. v. 7124*, Mir. 7101).