visited the Scandinavian tribes of the far north as well
as the Middle Eastern homes of the Israelites and Per-
sians. Clearly he is meant to be a representative fi gure,
an idealized scop able to draw on a vast body of historic
and legendary knowledge for his songs.
While much scholarship on Widsith has centered
around its wealth of detail about early Germanic leg-
ends, the poem also gives an important description of
the scop’s role in Anglo-Saxon society. Curiously, the
term scop is never used in the poem, though the narra-
tor refers to Widsith as one of the gleomen—min-
strels—in the epilogue. Widsith claims to have received
gifts such as gold collars in exchange for his services,
much as warriors were given gold as reward for their
bravery in battle. The scop’s importance to rulers lay in
his ability to make or break reputations. As illustrated
in BEOWULF and other poems, the songs sung by scops
in the mead hall preserved the memories of heroic fi g-
ures and events, and how a ruler was characterized by
the singer had lasting effect on his or her fame (dom).
An interesting aspect of this reciprocal relationship
is revealed in Widsith’s tendency to whitewash the
scandalous reputations of some of his patrons. Eor-
manric, for example, was known for his cruelty and
especially for the murder of his wife Ealhhilde. The
narrator alludes to this in the prologue by calling him a
wrafles wœrlogan (“cruel troth-breaker,” l. 9), yet Wid-
sith himself only praises the great generosity of both
Eormanric and his queen. Some earlier critics took this
as evidence that the poem was intended as a “begging
poem”—a device used by an actual scop to demonstrate
his talent and ability to fl atter, in hopes of gaining a
new patron, much as GEOFFREY CHAUCER would do sev-
eral centuries later in “The COMPLAINT OF CHAUCER TO
HIS PURSE.” More recent scholars, however, suggest that
the poet is being intentionally ironic, satirizing the
greed or naïveté of singers intent on pleasing their
patrons. The poem’s epilogue seems to support such
an interpretation as the narrator hints at the political
ambitiousness of rulers eager to build and sustain their
reputations through the infl uential songs of the scops.
FURTHER READING
Bradley, S. A. J., ed. and trans. Anglo-Saxon Poetry. London:
Dent, 1982.
Krapp, George Philip, and Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie, eds. The
Exeter Book. New York: Columbia University Press, 1936.
Lori A. Wallach“WIFE OF BATH’S PROLOGUE AND
TALE, THE” GEOFFREY CHAUCER (ca. 1392–
1395) The Wife of Bath is one of the most memora-
ble pilgrims in GEOFFREY CHAUCER’s masterpiece, The
CANTERBURY TALES. Her portrait in the GENERAL PRO-
LOGUE TO THE CANTERBURY TALES reveals some interest-
ing details: She is somewhat deaf, she is a weaver, she
has had fi ve husbands, she undertakes pilgrimages,
and she is “gat-tothed” (gap-toothed), meaning she was
very sexual (see PHYSIOGNOMY). Her prologue confi rms
all of these initial impressions as the Wife details the
story of her life, especially her many marriages. Her
fi rst lines set out her premise: “Experience, though
noon auctoritee / were in this world, is right ynogh for
me” (ll. 1–2). Experience is more important than
“authority,” or studies, to the Wife, who is very experi-
enced when it comes to marriage. She begins by chal-
lenging those who question her right to marry fi ve
times, citing biblical examples, including the Woman
of Samaria, Solomon, Abraham, and Jacob—all of
whom had more than one spouse.
The Wife’s overwhelming reason for her multiple
marriages, however, is her desire for sex, justifying her
lustful nature by saying, “Bet is to be wedded than to
brynne” (better to be married than to burn, i.e., be
consumed with sexual desire, ll. 52), which is her ver-
sion of Pauline doctrine. The Wife then proceeds to
challenge the idealization of virginity, which was the
Church’s primary teaching in regard to women. Vir-
gins were considered spiritually (as well as physically)
pure. Similarly, widows who did not remarry proved
themselves beyond physical desires. Wives, who were
obligated to engage in sexual relations with their hus-
bands, were the least sanctifi ed as they regularly
indulged in fi lth of the fl esh. In particular, the Wife
challenges St. Jerome, whose teachings about virginity
had heavily infl uenced the Church. Her primary argu-
ment is that God created both sex and sexual organs,
so they must be good and meant to be enjoyed. Her
defense of sexuality culminates in an expression of per-
sonal enjoyment:“WIFE OF BATH’S PROLOGUE AND TALE, THE” 467