Astronomical Lore in Chaucer Part 11

"O firste moevyng cruel firmament, With thy diurnal sweigh that crowdest ay And hurlest al from Est til Occident, That naturelly wolde holde another way."

(B. 295-8)

Chaucer does not use the term 'firmament' with sole reference to the star-sphere. Here it clearly refers to the _primum mobile_; it often applies to the whole expanse of the heavens.

[15] _Boethius_, Book I: Metre V, 1-4. The conception of G.o.d as the creator and unmoved mover of the universe originated in the philosophy of Aristotle, who was the one great authority, aside from Scripture and the Church Fathers, recognized by the Middle Ages. G.o.d's abode was thought to be in the Empyrean, the motionless sphere beyond the ninth, and the last heaven. This is the meaning in the reference to the eternal throne ("perdurable chayer") of G.o.d.

[16] Many of these beautiful descriptions, however, are not strictly Chaucer's own, since they occur in his translation of Boethius. It will suffice to quote one of these descriptions:

"And, right by ensaumple as the sonne is hid whan the sterres ben cl.u.s.tred (_that is to seyn, whan sterres ben covered with cloudes_) by a swifte winde that highte Chorus, and that the firmament stant derked by wete ploungy cloudes, and that the sterres nat apperen up-on hevene, so that the night semeth sprad up-on erthe: yif thanne the wind that highte Borias, y-sent out of the caves of the contres of Trace, beteth this night (_that is to seyn, chaseth it a-wey_), and descovereth the closed day: than shyneth Phebus y-shaken with sodein light, and smyteth with his bemes in mervelinge eyen." (_Boethius_, Book I.: Metre III. 3-12.)

[17] _Hymn on the Nativity_, XIII.

[18] _The Merchant of Venice_, Act. V. Sc. i.

[19] _Parlement of Foules_, 60-63.

[20] _Troilus and Criseyde_, V. 1811-1813.

[21] A. 2297-9.

[22] _Hous of Fame_, ii. 713 ff.

[23] _Seconde Nonnes Tale_, G. 45-47.

[24] _The Seconde Nonnes Tale_, G. 113-115.

[25] A. 1200.

[26] B. 300 ff.

[27] _The Persones Tale_, I. 169 ff.: "ther shal the sterne and wrothe luge sitte above, and under him the horrible put of h.e.l.le open to destroyen him that moot biknowen hise sinnes, whiche sinnes openly been shewed biforn G.o.d and biforn every creature. And on the left syde, mo develes than herte may bithinke, for to harie and drawe the sinful soules to the pyne of h.e.l.le. And with-inne the hertes of folk shal be the bytinge conscience, and withoute-forth shal be the world al brenninge."

[28] _The Persones Tale_, I. 216-217.

[29] _The Wife of Bath's Prologue_, D. 489.

[30] _The Marchantes Tale_, E. 1645 ff.

[31] _The Knightes Tale_, A. 1224-7.

[32] _Troilus and Criseyde_, Bk. IV. 864.

[33] _Marchantes Tale_, E. 1265.

[34] _Ibid._ E. 1331-1332.

[35] _The Legend of Good Women_, III. 1103 ff.

[36] _The Monkes Tale_, B. 3200.

[37] _The Pardoneres Tale_, C. 505-511.

[38] In the time of Hamurabi, 2,000 years before Christ, the Chaldeans wors.h.i.+pped as beneficent or formidable powers, the Earth, that may give or refuse sustenance to man, the Waters that fertilize or devastate, the Winds that blow from the four quarters of the world, Fire that warms or devours and all forces of nature which, in their sidereal religion, they confounded with the stars, giving them the generic name of 'Elements.' But the system that recognizes only four elements as the original sources of all that exists in nature, was created by the Greek philosophers.

See F. c.u.mont, _Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans_ (1912), p. 33.

[39] _Paradiso_ i. 92-93.

[40] _Paradiso_ i. 130-135.

[41] Book III.: Metre IX. 13 ff.

[42] _The Knightes Tale_, A. 2991-3.

[43] _Troilus and Criseyde_, V. 1807-10.

[44] _Boethius_, Book IV.; Metre I. l ff.

[45] _The Hous of Fame_, II. 972-978.

[46] _Boethius_, Book II.: Metre VIII. l. 1 ff.

"That the world with stable feith varieth acordable chaunginges; that the contrarious qualitee of elements holden among hemself aliaunce perdurable; ... --al this acordaunce of things is bounden with Love, that governeth erthe and see, and hath also commaundements to the hevenes. And yif this Love slakede the brydeles, alle things that now loven hem to-gederes wolden maken a bataile continuely, and stryven to fordoon the fasoun of this worlde, the whiche they now leden in acordable feith by faire moevinges."

The thought of love as the harmonizing bond between diverse elements is dealt with more poetically in _Troilus and Criseyde_, Bk. III. 1744-1757.

"'Love, that of erthe and see hath governaunce, Love, that his hestes hath in hevene hye, . . . . . . . . . .

That that the world with feyth, which that is stable, Dyverseth so his stoundes concordinge, That elements that been so discordable Holden a bond perpetuely duringe.

That Phebus mote his rosy day forth bringe, And that the mone hath lords.h.i.+p over the nightes, Al this doth Love; ay heried be his mightes!'"

[47] Skeat, _Notes to Boethius_, II.: Metre 9, 1. 14.

[48] 11.379-381.

[49] _The Phisiciens Tale_, C. 11-26.

[50] See Appendix, I.

[51] B. l ff.

"Our Hoste sey wel that the brighte sonne The ark of his artificial day had ronne The fourthe part, and half an houre, and more; And though he were not depe expert in lore, He wiste it was the eightetethe day Of April, that is messager to May; And sey wel that the shadwe of every tree Was as in lengthe the same quant.i.tee That was the body erect that caused it.

And therefor by the shadwe he took his wit That Phebus, which that shoon so clere and brighte, Degrees was fyve and fourty clombe on highte; And for that day, as in that lat.i.tude, It was ten of the clokke, he gan conclude, And sodeynly he plighte his hors aboute."

For Chaucer's accuracy in this reference see Appendix II.

[52] _Prologue_, 267-68.

[53] Planets are said to be in conjunction with one another when they appear as one object or very close together within a limited area of the sky.