Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

[6-text p 654] þus. þat ilke tyme þat al þis world was in synne. þanne was al þis world in þraldom and in subieccioun [771] But certis sith þe tyme of grace com; God ordeyned þat somme folk schulde be more heigh in estaate and in degre and somme folkes more lowe and þat euerich schulde be serued in here estate and in degree [772] ¶ And þerfore in somme contrees þere þay ben thralles whan þay han turned hem to þe faith; þay make here þralles free out of thraldom ¶ And þerfor certis þe lord oweth to his man þat þe man owith to þe lord. [773] ¶ The pope callith himself seruaunt of seruaunts of god ¶ But for as moche as þe staat/ of holy chirche . . . . . [no gap] to þe commune profit might nought haue ben kepte ne pees [folio 275a] ne reste in erthe. but if god had ordeyned som man of heiher degre and some men of lower; [774] þerfore was soueraignte ordeyned to kepe and to mayntene and de|fende her vnderlynges or her subiectis in resoun as fer|forth as it lith in her power and not to destroye ne confounde hem [775] ¶ wherfore I say þat þilke lordes þat be like wolues þat deuouren þe possessioun of þe catel of pore folk wrongfully wiþoute mercy or mesure; [776] þay schul receyue by þe same mesure þat þay han mesured to pouer folk þe mercy of ihū crist but if it be amendid [777] ¶ Now comeþ deceipt bitwixe marchaunt and marchaunt. and þou schalt vnder|stonde þat marchaundise is in many maneres. þat oon is bodily. and þat oþer is gostly. þat oon is honest and leful. and þat oþer is dishonest & vnleful [778] ¶ Of þilke bodily marchaundise þat is honest and leful is þis. þat þer as god haþ ordeyned þat a regne or a cuntre is suffisaunt/ to himself. þanne is it honest/ and leful þat of þe abundaunce of þis contre þe men helpe anoþer cuntre þat is more needy [779] ¶ And þerfore þer moote be marchauntȝ to bringe fro þat oon cuntre to þat oþer her march|aundise
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Title
The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 660
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,
1885.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8246.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8246.0001.001/672:12

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"The Harleian ms. 7334 of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8246.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 14, 2025.
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