Conjugal Rights in Flux in Medieval Poetry Page: 27
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wife and a husband to a servant and a slave: "And moreover there is another manner of treason,
that is to say, when a servant slayeth his master, or a wife her husband, or when a man secular or
religious slayeth his prelate, to whom he oweth faith and obedience."8' Since mutual consent was
necessary for a valid marriage under canon law, a woman's lack of agency in marriage according
to other laws, such as those in the Statutes, underscores the conflicted notions of gender in
medieval law.
Chaucer makes available a reading of Criseyde that does not emphasize her abandonment
of Troilus but instead underlines her perseverance to remain autonomous both in and out of the
laws of coverture, a legal fiction recognized explicitly by the common law courts, which
understood a wife to be defined by her husband. 82 At the beginning of the poem, Criseyde
exercises her independence by acting as an equal to the men that surround her. Even though
Troilus is unable to think outside of his own predicament and court culture, Criseyde notably
can. Although the poem's setting is in Troy, its depiction of women's legal rights aligns it with
the ideology of medieval England. Before the consummation of her clandestine marriage to
Troilus, Criseyde is represented as a fatherless widow. In medieval law the legal estate of widow
gave women the largest amount of autonomy, but also, arguably, the most anxiety. Since the
fatherless widow did not have a male to protect her in society, her participation in the public
sphere depended on her good reputation. Criseyde is highly aware of her vulnerable state at the
beginning of the poem and the importance of maintaining a good rapport with the people of
Troy. When Calcas, Criseyde's father, defects to Greece, she knows that her life is threatened:
"For bothe a widewe was she and alone / Of any frend to whom she dorste hir mone" (I, 101,
81 1 Stat. 5 Edward III c. 25.
82 As articulated in Bracton's On the Customs of England, a wife may not be liable in an offence
committed by her husband "because whether or not she was privy to the crime, she was under
her husband's rod." Bracton, 287.27
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Ward, Jessica D. Conjugal Rights in Flux in Medieval Poetry, thesis, May 2014; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500176/m1/32/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .