One of the things over which Laci and I bonded as friends was a shared interest in Chaucer, and the literature of the era. (That, and the inaccuracies in the Brit series the Tudors.) So, Laci, this is for you.
From MSNBC.com: Unrequited love? 16th-century erotic poem discovered in book
English woman's ode found in West Virginia library inside a 1561 copy of Chaucer
By Owen Jarus
updated 2 hours 27 minutes ago
Nearly 450 years ago, when England was tearing itself apart over religion, a Catholic woman named Lady Elizabeth Dacre wrote an elegant but at times erotic Latin love poem to Sir Anthony Cooke, a Protestant and tutor to King Edward VI, the successor of Henry VIII.
That poem was rediscovered recently in the West Virginia University library, inside a 1561 copy of Chaucer. It hints at a love affair that was not to be.
"It's a very beautiful piece and I think for her it was quite a prized possession, because it's been so very carefully copied out and looked after," Elaine Treharne, a professor at Florida State University, told LiveScience.
While a visiting professor at the university, Treharne discovered the love poem in the library's rare-book collection inside the cover of the Chaucer book. Working with colleagues, she translated it from Latin and confirmed Elizabeth Dacre as its author. Her analysis, which will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Renaissance Studies, also suggests Dacre wrote the poem in the 1550s or 1560s.
Love translated
The first part of the poem, as translated by Treharne, seems to refer to a period in 1553 when Cooke, under the reign of Mary I, was sent to the Tower of London and then exiled. It reads:
Mark Brown / West Virginia University
Associate curator Harold Forbes holds the 1561 copy of Chaucer in which the poem was discovered.
"The goodbye I tried to speak but could not utter with my tongue
by my eyes I delivered back to yours.
That sad love that haunts the countenance in parting
contained the voice that I concealed from display,
just as Penelope, when her husband Ulysses was present,
was speechless – the reason is that sweet love of a gaze ..."
The erotic ending of the poem quotes a Roman writer named Martial:
"Long enough am I now; but if your shape should swell under its grateful burden, then shall I become to you a narrow girdle."
While Cooke would almost certainly have seen the poem, Treharne isn't certain that there actually was a romance between the two.
"It might represent some kind of love affair, (or) it might be a more academic exercise, it's very difficult to determine," Treharne said. "If it was a rhetorical exercise I wonder why she kept it."
A love story behind the poem?
Dacre was born as Elizabeth Leybourne in 1536, according to historical sources. And so at the time Cooke went into exile in 1553 she would have been 17 years old and he well into his 40s. Cooke's wife, Anne, died in that same year. It's possible that Cooke tutored the unmarried Elizabeth, Treharne said.
"If this affair occurred, it might have taken place, perhaps at court, around 1553, at which time Cooke left for the Continent for five years, his own wife, Anne, having died in that same year," Treharne writes in the journal article.
In 1555, while Cooke was in exile and Mary I was on the throne, Elizabeth married Thomas Dacre, an English baron. The fact that she refers to herself as a "Dacre" in the poem suggests that she composed it sometime after she was married.
A Tudor power couple
In November 1558, Queen Elizabeth I, a Protestant, ascended to the throne. Cooke returned from exile, a widower. At this point Dacre was married with children.
The only opportunity Elizabeth would have had to get together with Cooke, without divorcing Thomas, would have been in 1566 when the Baron died. However, this never happened and mere months after the Baron's death the widowed Dacre married Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk and a Protestant himself.
"I think it was a political move, that that marriage was a very political undertaking," Treharne said. Dacre had a considerable amount of land, as did the Duke. "Marrying the Duke of Norfolk and consolidating all that land would have been the most judicious thing to do."
It was a union that made her powerful as well. "At one point she was probably the next- most-powerful woman in the kingdom, after the Queen," said Treharne.
But while she had power, she may not have had love. She died while giving birth in 1567. A book published in 1857 by a latter Duke of Norfolk suggested that when she was dying she was not allowed to see a Catholic priest, something which Treharne calls an act of "cruelty."
"The Duchesse . . . desir’d to have been reconciled by a Priest, who for that end was conducted into the garden, yet could not have access unto her, either by reason of the Duke’s vigilance to hinder it, or at least of his continual presence in the chamber at that time." (From the book "The lives of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel and of Anne Dacres, his Wife," published in 1857.)
As for Sir Cooke, he never remarried, and died in 1576, at more than 70 years of age. A statue was erected in his memory.
An elegant and beautifully sad love story. Thank you. Out of curiosity, have you seen anything that said which book and where in the book of Chaucer the poem was found?
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteYou did read the post didn't you Greg?
"1561 copy of Chaucer"
The printing press was still relatively new and there probably weren't that many editions around--unlike today.
The book in question was "The woorkes of Geffrey Chaucer" Imprinted at London : By Jhon Kyngston, for Jhon Wight.
"inside the cover of the Chaucer book"
Do you really understand the English language, Greg?
The next part of the colloquy asks whether you suffer from some mental defect or are taking something which impairs your ability to understand the English language.
While this is genuinely a romantic story,(in the more modern sense of the word, not the late 18th early 19th century movement in art, music and literature), I was struck by this being yet again, an instance of marriage as a basis of business, real estate, and political alliance.
ReplyDeleteThat is pertinent to all the claims by conservatives - some of which have been made here - that historic figures like the man that is revered in Islam as the prophet Mohammed was a pedophile for making exactly such an alliance with the daughter of one of his friends,
Never mind that was also true of a significant number of Europeans, including at least one King of England.
It is still the custom in some of the more backward, strongly traditional / less modern parts of the world where there is a continuing problem with child marriages.
Yet the modern bigots conveniently overlook the cultural aspects of dowry, property, political alliance etc. that they can recognize historically -as is the case here with the subsequent marriage of Lady Elizabeth Dacre who did not marry for love.
But they cannot recognize any basis for marriage other than sex in modern relationships, despite the intellectual dishonesty of recognizing EXACTLY the same cultural norms in those modern parts of the world.
Ah, the many lessons of literature, for those not too blinded by ideology to see them.
Must be fiction. There was nothing in there about he constant invasions of Ireland by the English.
ReplyDeleteDog Gone,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that you understand that we can learn from literature as well as from historical documents or scientific texts.
Laci the Dog,
I wasn't asking you. The specific title wasn't named in the article here, so I wanted to know more. Other than the title, you told me nothing that I don't already know.
As a side note, Chaucer is one of my favorite authors, particularly in the original Middle English--which is to say, our best understanding of how it was pronounced. He has a wicked sense of humor and is a sensitive observer of human nature.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post.
ReplyDelete