{"id":1416,"date":"2015-07-02T16:00:07","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2017-10-10T22:15:52","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T02:15:52","slug":"prison-break-the-permeable-prison-spaces-of-chaucers-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2015\/07\/02\/prison-break-the-permeable-prison-spaces-of-chaucers-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Prison Break: The Permeable Prison Spaces of Chaucer’s Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we imagine imprisoned spaces, we often think of solitude, despair, and hopelessness. For medieval prisoners in the Tower of London or in London\u2019s Newgate prison, this was often the case, particularly for debtors and the poorest inmates.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>
John the Baptist pushed into prison and sitting, dejectedly, behind bars; Alsace, 4th quarter of the 12th century. London, British Library MS Additional 42497.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, Chaucer, whose apartment at Aldgate was about a 10 minute walk from the Tower, often portrays prison as much more communal and permeable than we might imagine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take Palamon and Arcite of The Knight\u2019s Tale<\/i> for example. The knights share an imprisoned space, and though both are sentenced \u201cto dwellen in prisoun \/ Perpetuelly,\u201d they manage to leave their tower (I. 1023-4). Moreover, while imprisoned, the two characters have a close connection with the outside world. Emily\u2019s garden shares a wall with their prison tower, and the two knights can gaze out at the seeming freedom of the beautiful maiden:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And so bifel, by aventure or cas,<\/span><\/p>\n

That thurgh a wyndow, thikke of many a barre<\/span><\/p>\n

Of iren greet and square as any sparre,<\/span><\/p>\n

He cast his eye upon Emelya (l. I. 1074-7).[1]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even through this small, barred window, love\u2019s arrow pierces the imprisoned knights. Though that arrow further ensnares the knights in a metaphorical prison of love-longing, the action also demonstrates that their physical prison space is not impenetrable. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Samson<\/a>
Samson in his prison, looking out through a barred window like Palamon and Arcite in Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale; John Lydgate, Fall of Princes<\/i>, England, c. 1450-c. 1460. London, British Library MS Harley 1766.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Julia Boffey details several other depictions of imprisonment in Chaucer\u2019s corpus.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> If we look closely at each of her examples, we again see the potential for permeability and\/or community in an imprisoned space.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is Perkyn, the protagonist of the Cook\u2019s Tale<\/i>, who is \u201csomtyme lad with revel to Newegate\u201d (l. I. 4402). Newgate prison was notorious for its vile conditions.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> However, visitors were allowed inside the prison gates, and that Perkyn was \u201csomtyme\u201d in the prison could indicate that he was in and out of the space frequently. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Theseus\u2019s prison in Chaucer\u2019s Legend of Good Women<\/i> is so accessible that Ariadne and her sister can hear him \u201ccompleynynge\u201d from their chambers (l. 1971). And though Philomela, in the next LGW <\/i>narrative, initially seems conquered, she is still able to give a woven cloth to a serving boy and communicate with her sister (ll. 2335-70).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Queen<\/a>
A queen looks out of her prison cell upon the bustling world around her. The gate to the prison is open and her window is unbarred, perhaps indicating, along with the busy scene, the permeability of her prison space; Chroniques de France ou de St. Denis<\/i>, Paris, 1332-1350. London, British Library MS Royal 16 G VI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In actual prison situations, those prisoners who had the funds to live comfortably were able to study, read, write and communicate with their fellow inmates.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0[Tune in next week<\/a> to see my post about an imprisoned reader of Chaucer!] And those who wrote poetry from prison often used the prison as much more than an image of enclosure.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Prison could be a space of community and a space for creativity. Boethius, whom Chaucer translated, ultimately found answers to important philosophical questions through his prison experience. Moreover prison poets, like Charles d\u2019Orleans and King James I of Scotland, wrote during their imprisonments to confront questions of fortune, providence, and even love.[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a>
An imprisoned Paul gives a scroll to a messenger, demonstrating the creative and reflective possibilities of imprisonment; the Bible of Robert de Bello, England, c. 1240-1253. London, British Library MS Burney 3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notably, prison poets following Chaucer were often influenced by him and by Boethius mediated through him.[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Chaucer, who was held captive briefly in 1360, had communicated something meaningful and perhaps even hopeful or positive about imprisoned experiences, and his writing inspired imprisoned poets in the medieval and early modern periods.<\/p>\n

Mimi Ensley
\nPhD Candidate
\nDepartment of English
\nUniversity of Notre Dame<\/p>\n

Footnotes<\/h4>\n

1. Quotations are taken from\u00a0The Riverside Chaucer.\u00a0<\/em>For a more extensive\u00a0discussion of Palamon and Arcite’s prison space, see V.A. Kolve, “The Knight’s Tale and Its Settings,” in\u00a0Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative\u00a0<\/em>(Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1984), 85-157.<\/p>\n

2. Julia Boffey, \u201cChaucerian Prisoners: The Context of The Kingis Quair,\u201d in Chaucer and Fifteenth-Century Poetry<\/em>, eds. Julia Boffey and Janet Cowen (London: King\u2019s College Centre for Late Antique and Medieval Studies, 1991), 84-103.<\/p>\n

3. For details about the medieval Newgate, see Margery Bassett, “Newgate Prison in the Middle Ages,”\u00a0Speculum<\/em> 18.2 (1943): 233-46.<\/p>\n

4. For one early modern prisoner’s experience building a reading and learning community in the Tower of London, see my article, “Reading Chaucer in the Tower: The Person Behind the Pen in an Early Modern Copy of Chaucer’s\u00a0Works,<\/em>” forthcoming in the\u00a0Journal of the Early Book Society<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0The TEAMS volume\u00a0The Kingis Quair and Other Prison Poems<\/a><\/em> is an excellent resource for these poets.<\/p>\n

6. Mary-Jo Arn, “General Introduction,”<\/a> in\u00a0The Kingis Quair and Other Prison Poems<\/em>, ed. Linne R. Mooney and Mary-Jo Arn (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2005).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we imagine imprisoned spaces, we often think of solitude, despair, and hopelessness. For medieval prisoners in the Tower of London or in London\u2019s Newgate prison, this was often the case, particularly for debtors and the poorest inmates. However, Chaucer, whose apartment at Aldgate was about a 10 minute walk from the Tower, often portrays … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Prison Break: The Permeable Prison Spaces of Chaucer’s Poetry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1873,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[264204,56012],"tags":[75977,75960,75961,73918,49776,68265,75980,75956,19936,76025,76045,75981,67420],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disciplines","category-english","tag-boethius","tag-canterbury-tales","tag-chaucer","tag-iconography","tag-illumination","tag-john-the-baptist","tag-legend-of-good-women","tag-literary-london","tag-london","tag-medieval-literature","tag-middle-english","tag-newgate","tag-prison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1873"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1416"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3350,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions\/3350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}