Content warning: mentions of epistemic violence, kidnapping

Our usual hosts AJ, Alice and Shannen join forces with Gil Vitro (PhD student, UC Santa Barbara) to discuss “The Man of Law’s Prologue” & “Tale”. This tale is a doozy – Custance gets stuck on a boat and gets roped into various adventures involving conversion narratives, conflicts between religions, and a mess of family drama. We discuss the primary text as well as adaptations of it, alongside Better Call Saul, VeggieTales, and discourses around race, gender, and sexuality!

Sources, Further Reading, & Thanks

Thanks to ebunny on Pixabay for their rendition of “Greensleeves”, Free for use under the Pixabay Content License

“The Man of Law’s Prologue” & “Tale"

Ellesmere Manuscript mssEL 26 C 9, f. 50v, Huntington Library

De Miseria Condicionis Humane by Pope Innocent III

For the shortest tale, we sure had a lot to say about it! After introducing Roger (aka Hogge) of Ware and discussing “The Cook’s Tale” the first episode in this mini-series, we’re keen to share with you even more about the Cook. More than you would ever care to know! We start with Alice bringing her cousin-in-law on to discuss her career as a line cook in Los Angeles for a number of knee-slapping, riproaring, and sometimes scary stories from the kitchen. After, the hosts discuss additions to the Cook’s Tale as found in Bodley MS 686 as well as the Tale of Gamelyn. For those unfamiliar, its a tale post-Chaucer’s death attributed to the Cook in some manuscripts and features a character from the extended Robin Hood universe!

Sources, Show Notes & Further Reading

• Alice and her cousin have the same first name
• Bowers, John M., Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages., and University of Rochester. The Canterbury Tales : Fifteenth-Century Continuations and Additions. Edited by John M. Bowers. Medieval Institute Publications, 1992.
• Knight, Stephen, Thomas H. Ohlgren, and Thomas E. Kelly. Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales. Published for TEAMS in association with the University of Rochester by Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 1997.

Join our regular hosts Alice, and Shannen for a delicious, aromatic conversation on this unfinished bawdy tale, its additions and adaptations with Jo King (PhD candidate, UC Santa Barbara)! We got everybody’s favorite Cook, Roger of Ware, and the shortest Canterbury Tale! Despite that, it has a varied manuscript and adaptation history which makes this shortest episode potentially our longest so far — so much we had to cut it into two episodes!

Show notes, sources, and further reading:

Dubin, Nathaniel E., trans. “The Knight Who Made Cunts Talk” from The Fabliaux : A New Verse Translation. First edition. Liveright Publishing Corporation, A Division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.

Edwards, A. S. G. “Chaucer’s Cook’s Tale, 4422.” Notes and Queries (Oxford) 64, no. 2 (2017): 220–21.

Mannyng, Robert, Idelle Sullens, and William. Handlyng Synne. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1983.

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Trilogy of Life, including The Canterbury Tales (1971)

Pecan, David. “[Un]Licensed Riot: Prodigality, Hypocrisy, and Guild Discourse in Chaucer’s Cook’s Tale.” Nalans 10, no. 20 (2022): 281–92.

Wang, Denise Ming-yueh. “Old Pies, Stray Flies, and Possibly Poisonous Parsley in the Cook’s Prologue and Tale.” Ex-Position (Taipei) 45, no. 45 (2021): 27–45.