The Canterbury Tales

As the conscientious reader nears completion of The Canterbury Tales, they have seen that Chaucer has written about various types of belief systems such as physiognomy, alchemy, fairies and spells, and pagan mythology. Yet, of all the belief systems that Chaucer explores in The Canterbury Tales, the two belief systems that are most frequently occurring throughout, are Christianity and astrology. This combination may lead to questions why it is that Chaucer explores these two beliefs systems in-depth; specifically combining them the manner that it is done in the Man of Law's Tale. However, the reason for Chaucer doing this may ultimately never be fully understood.

Perhaps Chaucer sees the Man of Law as the conveyor

of his ideas. Alternatively, Chaucer might be trying to convey the ideas and questions that the general public, (meaning those who would read or listen to The Canterbury Tales) might have been posing at that time. On the other hand, take the question one step further, Chaucer may have used the Man of Law as a tool to bring those concerns to life in a character in saying that the Man of Law is imposing his view of Christianity and astrology on the "...nyne and twenty in a compaignye..." (Benson 23).

Before addressing any of the above questions, readers must have a basic understanding of the history of astrology and Christianity as well as the views that were common in Chaucer's time. Christianity was a prevalent philosophy, as was astrology. Many scholars, specifically in the Christian monasteries were reading the works of Aristotle, Plato, Boethius, Avicenna, Euclid, Manilius, Ovid, and Herodotus; all of which contained astrological material (Carpenter 7). The reading and studying of these above texts helped save the near disappearance of astrology by the having the Greek translated from Arabic (Ness 12:1). Furthermore, the controversy of fate (the view of astrology) versus free will (the view of Christianity) was coming to a boil during Chaucer's era, but astrology did not truly come to fruition until the 15th -17th Centuries. Additionally, astrology was taught as part of the curriculum of many universities from as early as 1125 AD (Miller 21). Although, it is true that in the development of astrology, England lagged far behind Italy and France (Smyser 360); the point becomes mute when readers realize that Chaucer was a "worldly" man of his time and his views would reflect as such.

Astrology and astronomy were two interchangeable words in Chaucer's time and due to this interchangeability it is important to distinguish the difference between the two. Astronomy "deals only with the motion of the heavens and the causes thereof..."(Wood 5) and astrology deals not only with the motions of the sun, moon and stars but also concerns itself with predictions. This prediction aspect of astrology is considered to "...merely [be] a superstition"(Wood 5). Yet, with astrology and celestial motions, is not necessary for one to believe. According to Wood, this aspect of astrology is "...something to be studied or ignored"(6). In my opinion, if Chaucer ignored astrology, there would be no references in any of The Canterbury Tales, let alone his writing on the Treatise of Astrolabe.

First, one must look at the teller of the tale, in this case the Man of Law. According to North, he suspects that Chaucer attempted to create a relationship between the twenty-four tales and the 12 signs of the zodiac (utilizing each sign twice) and/or the number of hours in a day (also 24). To further clarify his statement, North shows how each pilgrim in the order that their tale was told follows the sequence of the planetary hours for the day of Tuesday. If this idea is followed, the Man of Law becomes the representative of Jupiter. Although, it should be noted that North notices this pattern soon breaks down. North's explanation for this breakdown is that Chaucer eventually decided to abandon his original thought pattern (Carpenter 2, North 505).

Jupiter is representative of hope, honesty, spirituality, and compassion. In addition, it is also known to bring with it broad vision, a comprehensive and inclusive feeling towards others, faith, optimism, loyalty, justice, confidence, and wisdom (Miller 76). Furthermore, the description that Curry uses in his article further purports his earlier statement that "[e]ven a casual glance at any mediaeval astrology will show that Chaucer's interpretation of these planetary influences is scientifically correct."(Curry 166) and is further exemplified by the use of Haly's comment (although in relation to Hypermnestra in The Legend of Good Women) that

"[I]f Jupiter is in agreement with Venus and in a favorable position,...the native is likely to be illustrious and distinguished; - one who delights in beauty, has an earnest desire to acquire knowledge, approves of plays, games, and jests, is pleased with benevolent deeds and characterized by honorable conduct; on who, having honest and pure inclinations and virtuous desires, fears God, rejoices in right principles and in keeping good faith, loves to defend the law, and delights in people of gentle disposition; one who derives pleasure from the examination and study of books, who is honest and upright in dealings with the opposite sex, and who observes righteousness, duty, and justice." (Curry 167)

It is therefore plausible that both the general description of Jupiter and the description of personality as influenced by the combination of Jupiter and Venus aptly applies to the portrait of the Man of Law .

Wood, in contrast to Curry's initial statement about the Man of Law as the teller of the tale believes that readers should concerned with how the Man of Law himself, views astrology and Christianity, rather then concerning ourselves with the views that Chaucer might have had or concerned himself with. Wood first notes that the Man of Law "...is presented as one that can not simply tell a tale...yet he feels obliged to react to it sympathetically, to comment on it, and even interpret it for us." (Wood 192). This can be clearly seen by the many interjections that the Man of Law makes while telling his tale, such as his comments about how the Sultan will die for love, the Emperor of Rome a fool for not consulting an astrologer before the voyage, and his relay of Christian history . Furthermore, when the Man of Law condemns Custance's father for not consulting a "philosophre" to choose a better time for her voyage to the Sultan through the use of "eleccioun"(MLT 312) it is clear that the Man of Law does not fully understand the uses and terminology of astrological terms. Election is to determine if the stars are in a favorable

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