Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

[6-text p 654] thus. / that thilke tyme that al this world was in synne. thanne was al this world in thraldom and subieccion [771] ¶ but certes / sith the time of grace cam / god ordeyned that som folk sholde be moore heigh in estaat and in degree. and som folk moore lough. and that euerich / sholde be serued in his estaat. . . . . [no gap in MS.] [772] and therfore / in somme contrees ther they byen thralles. whan they han turned hem to the feith. they maken hire thralles free out of thraldom. And therfore certes / the lord oweth to his man. that the man oweth to his lord ‖. [773] the Pope calleth hym-self seruant of the seruantz of god. / but for as muche as the estaat of hooly chirche. ne myghte nat han be / ne the commune profit myghte nat han be kept. ne pees and reste in erthe / but if god hadde ordeyned that som men hadde hyer degree and som men lower/ [774] therfore / was souereyntee ordeyned / to kepe and mayntene and def|fenden hire vnderlynges or hire subgetz in reson / as fer|forth as it lith in hire power/. and nat to destroyen hem ne confounde [775] ¶ Wherfore I seye / that thilke lordes that been lyk wolues that deuouren the possessions or the catel of poure folk wrongfully with-outen mercy or mesure / [776] they shul receyuen by the same mesure [¶ Eadem mensura &c] that they han mesured to poure folk/ the mercy of Ihesu crist but if it be amended [777] ¶ NOw comth deceite / [¶ Of deceite / bitwixe Mar|chaunt and Marchant/] bitwixe Marchant and Marchant ¶ And thow shalt vnder|stonde that marchandise / is in manye maneres. that oon is bodily and that oother is goostly. that oon is honeste and leueful. and that oother is deshoneste and vnleueful [778] Of thilke bodily marchandise that is leueful and [¶ Of bodily marchandise that is leueful & honeste] honeste. is this /. that there as god hath ordeyned that a regne or a contree / is suffisant to hym self/. thanne is it honeste and leueful. that of habundaunce of this contree. that men helpe another contree that is moore nedy /. [779] And therfore / ther moote been Marchantz to bryngen fro that o contree to that oother / hire march|andises
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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 650
Publication
London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,
1868-1879.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8232.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8232.0001.001/684

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"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 May 20, 2025.
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