The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

                                
                                     [6-text p 335] 
                                  
                                  Vpon this nombre diffinicioun [quia secundum Paulum / Qui habent vxores sic sint tanquam non habentes] 
                                
                                  Men may deuyne / and glosen vp and doun
                                
                                  But wel I woot expres with-oute lye
                                
                                  God bad vs / for to wexe and multiplye [¶ Crescite & multiplicamini] 
                                  Line 28 
                                
                                  That gentil text kan I [wel] vnderstonde
                                
                                  Eek wel I woot he seyde myn housbonde
                                
                                  Sholde lete fader and mooder / and take me
                                
                                  But of no nombre / mencion made he
                                  Line 32 
                                
                                  Of bigamye / or of Octogamye [folio 67b] 
                                
                                  Why sholde men / speke of it vileynye
                                
                                  ¶ Lo heere [audi]  / the wise kyng dann salomon
                                
                                  I trowe / he hadde wyues / mo than oon
                                  Line 36 
                                
                                  As wolde god / it were leueful vn-to me
                                
                                  To be refresshed / half so ofte as he
                                
                                  Which yifte of God / hadde he / for alle hise wyuys
                                
                                  No man hath swich / þat in this world alyue is
                                  Line 40 
                                
                                  God woot / this noble kyng as to my wit
                                
                                  The firste nyght had many a myrie fit
                                
                                  With ech of hem / so wel was hym on lyue
                                
                                  Yblessed be god / that I haue wedded fyue
                                  Line 44 
                                
                                  Welcome the sixte / whan that euere he shal
                                
                                  ffor sothe / I wol nat kepe me chaast in al [¶ Si autem non continent/ nubant/] 
                                
                                  Whan myn housbonde / is fro the world ygon
                                
                                  Som cristen man / shal wedde me anon
                                  Line 48 
                                
                                  ffor thanne / thapostle seith / I am free [¶ Quod si dormie|rit vir eius liberata est/ cui vult nubat in Domino] 
                                
                                  To wedde a goddes half where 1it liketh1 [[1_1 on an erasure]]  me
                                
                                  He seith / to be wedded / is no synne [¶ Si acceperis vxorem non peccasti / et si nupserit virgo non peccauit/ set hij qui domino se vouerunt Ita idem &c] 
                                
                                  Bet is / to be wedded / than to brynne
                                  Line 52 
                                
                                  What rekketh me / thogh folk seye vileynye
                                
                                  Of shrewed lameth / and of bigamye
                                
                                  I woot wel / Abraham / was an hooly man [¶ Melius est nubere quam vri] 
                                
                                  And Iacob eek /as ferforth as I kan [¶ Lameth qui primus intrauit bigamiam / sanguinarius & homicida est &c.] 
                                  Line 56 
                                
                                  And ech of hem / hadde wyues mo than two
                                
                                  And many another man Also
                                
                                  Whanne saugh ye euere / in [any] manere Age [¶ Abraham trigamus] 
                                
                                  That hye god / defended mariage [¶ Iacob quatri|gamus] 
                                  Line 60

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Title: The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas: Page 168
Publication: London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,; 1868-1879.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8232.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8232.0001.001/198:5

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Full citation: "The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8232.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 16, 2025.

The Ellesmere ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

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