A TALK OF TEN WIVES ON THEIR HUSBANDS' WARE, SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Manuscript
Porkington MS, no. 10 (National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth; now called Brogynton MS II.1), fols. 56v-59v (1453-1500).
Edition
Furnivall, Frederick J., ed. Jyl of Breyntford's Testament, by Robert Copland, Bokeprynter, The Wyll of the Deuyll and His Last Testament, A Talk of Ten Wives on Their Husband's Ware, A Balade or Two by Chaucer, and Other Short Pieces. London: Printed for private circulation by Taylor & Co., 1871. Pp. 29-33. [Also contains The Meaning of Marriage.]
A TALK OF TEN WIVES ON THEIR HUSBANDS' WARE, NOTES
Abbreviations: F: Frederick J. Furnivall; MS: Porkington MS, no. 10, fols. 56v-59v.
The alternate title of the work is "Gossips' Meeting," under which it is listed in the Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1500, vol. 5, ed. Albert E. Hartung and J. Burke Severs (New Haven: The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1993), p. 1464.
1 Leve, lystynes to me. The exhortation is similar to those found in Middle English romances, though here leve signals a deferential mode of address. F takes the flourish or "curl" at the end of certain letters, i.e., d, g, m, n, to indicate a final e. Indeed, the meter requires the extra stress at the end of many couplets.
8 For to singen us amonge. This line is added presumably by F to maintain the six-line stanza.
10 ware. Translated to "merchandise," ware is a euphemism for male genitalia which effectively imposes a sexual economy on the women's discussion of private matters.
14 mett. The poet has fun here and elsewhere with puns on mett - here meaning "measurement" but also suggesting "meat." Similarly, in line 22 the sense is "measure" as she "meets" him (i.e., has sex with him).
16 ever. MS: ev. The scribal flourish that F reads as a final e, is also sometimes used as an abbreviation for er.
17 ever. MS: ev.
22 in the morowe tyde. Apparently this husband rests up before rising to his glory. See also note to line 14.
25 Howe schuld I be served with that. MS: Howe schule I be sved wt t. F has effectively filled in abbreviated syllables.
26 gray. MS: gy.
Gybbe. Gybbe is a popular name at the time for cats.
28 By Sayne Peter owte of Rome. A common expletive referring to the apostle and first vicar of Christ who was enormously popular in late medieval England.
29 lome. Usually a club or weapon, as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (line 2309), where the Green Knight lifts his great weapon; but also a euphemism for penis.
30 mone. Of the range of meanings listed in the MED for this word, the most likely possibilities suggest sexual intercourse or preparation for participation in sexual activities. The female critique is all the more scathing when addressed to a fully aroused male.
34 Owre. The plural reference to individual husbands has the effect of stereotyping all married men. Like the so-called "royal" we, it unites the group in a collective mentality. It is used again in lines 44, 61, 84, and 94.
39 schare. This term derives from the Anglo-Saxon word scearu meaning cutting implements such as scissors or plow share but is also understood as the juncture between a man's legs. The verbal form is sometimes used for circumcision. Given the "hodles schrewe" of line 40 perhaps there is some sense of a truncated pin here.
44 fydecoke. F glosses this term as "fiddle de-dee," "nonsense," "fiddle-head," and "stupid." But the MED reads the term as a compound: fid (peg or plug) and cock (penis). See fide-cok (n).
45 skyfte. From sciftan, the Anglo-Saxon word for "shift" or "change."
58 tarse. James Orchard Halliwell, in his Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, From the XIV Century (London: John Russell Smith, 1847; rpt. 1860, 1872, 1924), defines this word in Latin, i.e., mentula virga, meaning "virile member" or "rod." The MED simply says "penis."
61 bradys. "Jerks off" is perhaps more colloquial than some would prefer, but it gets well at the tone of the wife's derogatory insult. The OED sheds light on the action being performed under a set of definitions for braid: 1) to make a sudden jerky movement as to brandish a spear; 2) to draw a sword or a knife; 3) to jerk, snatch, wrench, fling, etc., with a sudden effort; frequently with up, down, out. It could also be a form of breden. See MED breden v. (3).
66 troke. From the Anglo-Saxon trucian, meaning "to fail."
96 yeke. From the Anglo-Saxon geac which refers to a cuckoo, gawk, or simpleton, all of which are referents to humans. F prefers to gloss this as "cuckoo," which, when applied to a person becomes a synonym for cuckoldry, since the cuckoo lays its eggs in other birds' nests. Thus there is a veiled threat in the eighth wife's reflections. The OED cites another meaning which has particular resonance in this poem: "to push out from the nest like a cuckoo." Chaucer uses the lore of the cuckoo bird to fill out his avian hierarchy in The Parliament of Fowles. Toward the bottom of the list is "the cukkow ever unkynde" (line 358). In his use of the term "unkynde" Chaucer means "unnatural" in the sense that the cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. Later in the same poem, the cuckoo's reputation is impugned by the merlin, a bird higher in status:
"Ye, have the glotoun fild inow his paunche,
Thanne are we wel!" seyde the merlioun;
"Thow mortherere of the heysoge on the braunche
That broughte the forth, thow reufullest glotoun!
Lyve thow soleyn, wormes corupcioun,
For no fors is of lak of thy nature!
Go, lewed be thow whil the world may dure!" (lines 610-16)
The merlin, being a noble bird (raptor), is concerned with lineage and thus feels threatened by the cuckold bird. The popular "Cuckoo Song" of the thirteenth century renders the bird an unstoppable harbinger of the summer solstice, when no one follows ordinary rules: "Sumer is icumen in / . . . murie sing cuccu! / Cuccu! Cuccu! / Wel singes thu cuccu; / Ne swik thu naver nu" (Lines 1-14).