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Guillaume de Machaut and the Book of the Duchess

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

G. L. Kittredge
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Extract

Chaucer's Booh of the Duchess opens, as is generally agreed, with five lines rather closely translated from Froissart's Paradys d'Amours. Froissart, however, was himself imitating a passage from Guillaume de Machaut's Fontaine Amoureuse, and Chaucer, who knew both works, utilized the Fontaine, along with Ovid, for the tale of Ceyx and Alcyone, which occupies most of his Proem. Yet, in the midst of this story, he darted back to the Paradys for a moment to pick up the strange name Fclympasteyr, and, near the end of the Proem, the influence of Froissart is again visible in a few details. One of these is amusing. Froissart prayed not only to Morpheus, but to Juno and Oleus:

      Car tant priai a Morpheus,
      A Juno et a Oleus—(15-16).

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , 1915 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1915

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References

1 Cf. also B. Duch., 14-15, with Par., 7-9; B. Duch., 23, with Par., 7; B. Duch., 45 with Par., 13.

2 See Englische Studien, xxvi, pp. 321-2, 335-6.

3 Vv. 62-217. The happy thought of making the tale reveal to the speaker the existence of gods of sleep hitherto unsuspected (231-7) is Chaucer's own. Froissart has no occasion to use the story of Ceyx and Alcyone in the Paradys, hut he seems to take more than a hint from it in the curious story of Architeles and Orphane in Le Joli Buisson de Jonece (2102-2209), where it is easy to see the influence of the Fontaine Amoureuse.

4 B. Duch., 167; Par., 28.

5 Cf. B. Duch., 222-3, with Par., 19-22; B. Duch., 242-5, with Par., 15-18; B. Duch., 272-5, with Par., 14, 31.

6 Cf. B. Duch., 466-9:

For, by my trouthe,
It was gret wonder that nature
Mighte suffren any creature
To have swieh sorwe and be not deed.

Here the Dreamer is speaking of the Knight in Black, who is composing a “compleynt” (464).

7 Chichmaref, i, p. 241. This same Complainte (13-16) shows also the metaphor of the amie as a physician (see p. 4, below):

Ne je ne m'en sçay où clamer,
Puis que ma dame reclamer
Ne me vuet ne ma joie amer
N'estre mon mire.

8 See Mod. Philol., vii, pp. 471-3, where some connection is suggested between the Navarre and the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women. It may here be noted that the figure of Winter's sword occurs in both poems.

Forgeten hadde the erthe his pore estat
Of winter, that him naked made and mat,
And with his swerd of cold so sore greved (B, 125-7).

Car ce qu' estre soloit tout vert
Estoit mué en autre teint,
Car bise l'avoit tout desteint
Qui mainte fleur a decopée
Par la froidure de s'espée (32-36).

Chaucer (as Skeat notes) is imitating the Roman de la Rose (56-57) both here and in B. Duch., 410-12, but the sword does not occur in the Roman.

9 See also, p. 14, below.

10 Modern Language Notes, xx, pp. 241-3.

11 See pp. 10 ff., below.

12 Cf. also R. F., 1574-7, 1591-1607; first Complainte, 13-16 (see p. 3, n. 7, above).

13 Cf. B. Duch., 24: “drede I have for to dye.”

14 Add to ten Brink's remarks (Chaucer, Studien, pp. 7-12) the note by Professor Shannon in Mod. Philol., xi, p. 227.

15 Mod. Philol., vii, pp. 465-71.

16 Kaluza's reading.

17 Étude, pp. 91-92, 296-7; ten Brink, Chaucer, Studien, p. 12; Furnivall, Trial-Forewords, 1871, pp. 50-51; Skeat, n. on v. 376.

18 Did Chauser read blaus?

19 Cf. B. Dueh., 402-3, with R. R. 8448-50 Méon (9160-62 Michel); B. Duch., 405-9, with R. R., 8464-7 (9176-9); B. Duch., 410-13, with R. R., 56-57 (57-58); B. Duch., 414-18, with R. R., 49-55 (50-56); B. Duch., 419-33, with R. R., 1372-89 (1373-90); B. Duch., 434-42, with R. R., 12992-9 (13730-7).

20 Mod. Philol., vii, pp. 465-6. The following parallels are cited: —B. Duch., 502-4, Beh., 56, 58, 60-62; B. Duch., 519-21 (read 519-25), Beh., 70-74; B. Duch., 547-50 (read 54), 560-4, Beh., 88-97; B. Duch., 583-4, Beh., 196-8; B. Duch., 599-616, Beh., 177-87.

21 Chichmaref, ii, p. 487. For an assured instance of borrowing from the eighth Motet, see pp. 10-11, below.

22 Chaucer dwells upon the physiology of the matter in a fashion that shows his interest in medical science, so learnedly and convincingly illustrated in a recent paper by Professor Lowes (Mod. Philol., xi, pp. 491-546).

23 Pp. 90, 290-4. Sandras quotes the following verses from the Remede: 1189-92 (p. 290); 1162, 1137-8, 931-3 (p. 291); 217-24 (p. 293); 52-56, 26-30 (p. 294). The passage which he credits to the Remede on p. 292 is from he Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne (178-83); that which he credits to the Remede at the top of p. 294 is from Le Bit dou hyon (215-220, 224).

24 Chichmaref, ii, pp. 497-8.

25 M. means the eighth Motet; R. F., Remede de Fortune; B., Le Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne.

26 This line is literally translated in B. Duch., vs. 813: “The false trayteresse perverse.”

27 Cf. R. F., 1117-19:

Promettre assez puet des ses biens,
Mais tu yes trop fols, se tu tiens
Qu'il en y ait nul qui soit tiens.

Cf. R. F., 998: “Riens ne tient qu'elle ait en couvent.”

28 In R. F., 1001-1112, Fortune is elaborately compared with the image (estature) that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream.

29 Cf. Skeat's note.

30 Cf. Motet viii, 12-13:

Car c'est tous vens, ne riens qu'elle figure
Ne puet estre fors de fausse figure.

31 Cf. R. F., 1190-1:

De ses gieus telement s'esbat
Qu'en velnquant dit: “Eschac et mat!”

32 Chichmaref, ii, p. 415. The only other passage in Le Lay de Gonfort that Chaucer seems to have imitated anywhere is 164-6, which much resemble B. Duch., 844-5 (see p. 18, below). We may note that the speaker in this poem of Machaut's is a lady addressing her absent lover (see 96, 187 ff., 255).

33 See Skeat's notes.

34 Mod. Phil., vii, p. 466 (B. Duch., 746, 749-52; Beh., 251, 253-6). Cf. also B. Duch., 724, with Beh., 234; B. Duch., 753, with the oath in Beh., 114-121, 251-2; B. Duch., 755-7, with Beh., 257-8.

35 Méon, ii, pp. 431-6 (see Skeat's n. on 726). The order in R. R. is Dido, Phyllis, [Œnone,] Medea.

36 R. R., 5868-91.

37 R. F., 118-22; cf. Confort d'Ami, Tarbé, p. 94.

38 Mod. Phil., vii, pp. 471-3; see also pp. 3-4 above.

39 2793-7.

40 Méon, i, pp. 58-61. In the application “rage” is mentioned, (1590).

41 See pp. 10-11, above.

42 Motet vii, 38, 42-44 (Chichmaref, ii, p. 496).

43 Mod. Phil., vii, pp. 467-8 (Beh., 261-3, 125-33, 264-73).

44 Mod. Phil., vii, p. 468 (Beh., 281-90).

45 See p. 13, above. V. 836 is reminiscent of R. R., 1690 (Skeat).

46 Chichmaref, ii, p. 420.

47 In the interval between this group of verses and the next in the column falls the famous passage (1024-33) about sending lovers to Wallachia, Prussia, etc., to the Dry Sea and the Carrenar—the general resemblance of which to Le Dit dou Lyon, 1368 ff., is noted by Skeat.

48 Vv. 1037-39 are compared by Sandras (p. 294) with Bit dou Lyon, 215-17, 220, 224 (lines which he credits to the Remede).

49 107 ff. The fashion is well-recognized and examples are countless. There is a pretty instance in Machaut's 38th Balade Notée (Chichmaref, ii, pp. 560-1).

50 Per contra, he inserts a little bit of learning about the death of Hector and Antilochus (1066-71). It is certainly malapropos, but is of some value as a landmark in Chaucer's literary travels, for it doubtless comes from the Roman de Troie, 21799-22256 (Joly): cf. Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc, xxiv, pp. 345-7. The substitution of Alcibiades for Absalom was prompted by a reminiscence of the Roman de la Rose, 8980-4 (see Skeat).

51 Here Octavian is mentioned (421); cf. B. Ditch., 368 (see p. 6, above).

52 Of. also R. F., 131-4:—

Si que siens sans riens retenir
Sui, que qu'il m'en dole avenir.
Et seray, tant com je vivray.
Ne jamais autre n'ameray.

53 Vv. 1152-4 are from R. R., 2005-6 (Skeat).

54 Cf. B. Duch., 1324-5, with Par., 1685-92; B. Duch., 1350, with Par., 1693-5; B. Duch., 1334, with Par., 1722-3.