Astronomical Lore in Chaucer Part 13

[99] _Troilus and Criseyde_, III. 624.

[100] _Ibid._ V. 652. "by the morwe" means 'early in the morning.'

[101] _Troilus and Criseyde_, III. EDT-EJ. See Appendix VIII. p. 91.

[102] Book I.: Metre V. 4-7.

[103] _Frankeleyns Tale_, F. 1045-54.

[104] _Frankeleyns Tale_, F. 1055-70. Skeat explains the lines:

"next at this opposicioun, Which in the signe shal be of the Leoun,"

thus: Earlier in the poem (l. 906) May 6 is mentioned and it is on this date that the events narrated so far are supposed to have taken place. In May the sun is in Taurus, so that the moon at her next opposition would have to be in the opposite sign, Scorpio. The reference must mean therefore:--"at the next opposition that takes place with the sun in Leo,"

not the very next one with the sun in Taurus, nor the next with the sun in Gemini or Cancer. This reason for waiting until there should be an opposition with the sun in Leo, was astrological. Leo was the _mansion_ of the Sun, so that the sun's power when in that sign would be greatest.

[105] B. 5333-46.

[106] Book IV.: Metre V. 8-9.

[107] Ibid. 10-11.

[108] See Appendix IX. p. ff.

[109] _Hous of Fame_, III. 1375-6.

[110] _Book of the d.u.c.h.esse_, III. 408-9.

[111] _Astrolabe_, II. 35. 17-18. The attempt to explain the moon's motion by supposing her to move in an epicycle was hopelessly wrong. Chaucer means here simply that the moon's motion in her deferent is direct like that of the other planets (their apparent motion is in the direction west to east except at short periods of retrogression) but that the moon's direction of motion in her epicycle is the reverse of that of the other planets.

[112] II. 35.

[113] See Appendix IX. p. 92 ff.

[114] Book I: Metre II. 8-9.

[115] Mercury and Venus are always seen either just before sunrise or just after sunset because their distances from the sun are so comparatively small.

[116] _Boethius_, Bk. I.: Metre V. 8-11.

[117] _Ibid._ Bk. III.: Metre I. 6-8.

[118] _Troilus and Criseyde_, Bk. III. 1417-18.

[119] _Ibid._ V. 1016-17.

[120] A. 2214-16.

[121] 113.

[122] This is an astrological term. A _palace_, _mansion_ or _house_ was that zodiacal sign in which a planet was supposed to be peculiarly at home.

[123] _Compleynt of Mars_, 53-56. Mars is to hurry until he reaches Venus'

palace and then advance as slowly as possible, to wait for her. Evidently Chaucer was aware of the varying apparent velocities of planetary motions.

[124] _Ibid._ 64-70. When Venus overtakes Mars they are in conjunction.

[125] _Ibid._ 98-112.

[126] That is, the motions of both planets are direct, not retrograde.

[127] _Ibid._ 129-138.

[128] _Ibid._ 142-147.

[129] That is, the two planets appear very close together in the sky.

[130] _Knightes Tale_, A. 2453-5.

[131] 71-72:

"The grete Ioye that was betwix hem two, Whan they be met, ther may no tunge telle."

[132] II. 32.

[133] III. 624-5.

[134] _Convivio_, II. xv. 10.

[135] 55-56.

[136] _Hous of Fame_, II. 935-956.

[137] _Inferno_, xvii. 107-108.

[138] _Convivio_, II. xv. 48-55.

[139] Mrs. John Evershed, _Dante and the Early Astronomers_, p. 200.

[140] _Prologue to the Canterbury Tales_, A. 412-418.

[141] ii. 4. 36-39.

[142] F. 1123-34.

[143] F. 1270-72.

[144] F. 1285-96.