theme of innocence, thereby providing the stark and
brutal contrast to the realities of earthly and material
affairs. Words such as yong, tendre, and smale permeate
the story in order to underscore the meek and mild
nature—two traits highly valued in the medieval Chris-
tian culture—of the little Christian boy, who presses
forward through life each day, blissfully unaware of
the worldly dangers that constantly surround him.
Chaucer sets the boy’s story in the exotic locale of
Asia, and there, in the midst of a nondescript Jewish
ghetto, is a Christian school. Each day the seven-year-
old boy, a widow’s son, walks through the ghetto to
the school. During his short journey, he sings the anti-
phon Alma redemptoris mater as proof of his deep devo-
tion for the Virgin Mary. Hearing this child’s song,
Satan stirs up the Jewish community to plot and kill
the Christian boy. The Jews hire a murderer to slit the
boy’s throat and throw him into a latrine fi lled with
waste and sewage. When the boy fails to return home
after school, his mother begins a frantic search for him,
all the while praying to the Virgin Mary, whom the
widow believes will understand her desperate plight.
Not fi nding her little boy anywhere, the widow
enters the Jewish ghetto and begs and pleads with each
Jew for any news of her son. The Jews reject her pleas,
but help comes through Christ, who leads the widow
to the site where her boy’s body is lying. The boy once
again begins to sing the Alma redemptoris mater in a
loud, clear voice. Upon hearing the antiphon, Chris-
tians from the community appear at the site and mar-
vel at this miracle. The boy is then lifted out of the
latrine and taken to the nearest abbey for proper
burial.
Chaucer wastes little time with the punishment of
the Jews for their crimes. In stark and matter-of-fact
language, they are summarily put to death as pre-
scribed by law—hanged and drawn by horses. In the
medieval period, this act of punishment is usually
reserved for those who committed treasonous acts.
Chaucer’s description of the Jews’ punishment as a
treasonous act may tie back to the New Testament
story of the treasonous act of Judas against Christ,
which led to his crucifi xion.
Meanwhile, the little Christian boy explains to the
abbot that at the time of his death, the Virgin Mary
appeared and placed a seed on his tongue so that he
could sing and promised to take him to her when the
seed was removed. The abbot then removes the seed,
and the boy “softly gave up his soul,” after which his
body is placed in a marble tomb. Chaucer ends the tale
with an invocation, a plea through prayer, to Little St.
Hugh of Lincoln, asking the saint to pray for sinful folk
and that God grant his mercy in honor of the Virgin
Mary.
“The Prioress’s Tale” is not only connected to Virgin
Miracle tales but is also more directly based on the
myth of “blood libel,” which involves the depiction of
Jews as soldiers of Satan, and the ritualistic act of mur-
der, particularly of Christian children, as a common-
place, and perhaps enjoyable, undertaking. The myth
extended to the idea that the blood of a Christian child
was used to make Passover matzohs. Little St. Hugh of
Lincoln, who is invoked at the end of the tale (ll. 684–
686), and St. William of Norwich were both consid-
ered part of this tradition. Blood libel saints were all
boys, though more general stories sometimes included
girls. This division based on sex was directly linked to
the Christian fear of circumcision and the belief that it
would “convert” a Christian male.
The violent and anti-Semitic nature of “The Prior-
ess’s Tale” has proven problematic for modern readers.
In general, anti-Semitism was part of the social fabric
of medieval Christian Europe, and Chaucer, as many
other writers of the medieval period, used stereotypes
as a means to heighten the pathos of a predominantly
Christian audience. For instance, the reference to
“Hugh of Lyncoln, slayn also / with cursed Jewes.. .”
is a deliberate device. Hugh (d. 1255) was not actually
murdered by Jews, and that was known even in Chau-
cer’s day; however, it was widely believed to be the
case since 19 Jews were executed for the crime. It is
diffi cult to address the nature of anti-Semitism within
such a cultural context; nevertheless, it is egregious
and pervasive. Chaucer was, at minimum, an insightful
observer of human nature, and “The Prioress’s Tale”
can be perceived as an investigation into a society’s
capability for violence and cruelty in contrast to an
individual’s innate ability for compassion and pity.
The narrative layout of “The Prioress’s Tale” follows
three major Christian themes that can be found in“PRIORESS’S TALE, THE” 333