Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

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

[6-text p 654] than is it thus that thilke tyme. that alle this world was in synne; than was al this world thraldom & subieccioun [771] but certes sith the tyme of grace cam / god ordeyned / that som folke sholde be more highe in estaat & in degree. and some folke more lowh / and that eueriche sholde be serued in estaat . . . . . [no gap in the MS.] [772] And therfore in som cuntres ther they bien thralles whan they han tur [Christ Church MS folio 268b] ned hem to the feyth; they make hire thralles free oute of thraldom / And therfore certes the lorde oweth to his man; that the man that the man oweth to his lorde / [773] The pope calleth hym selfe seruaunt of the seruauntez of god; but for as moche as the estate of holy chirche ne myghte nat han be / ne the comune profite myght nat han be kepte ne pees & reste in erthe but if god hadde ordeyned that som man had hier degree & som men lower. [774] therfore was souereynete ordeyned to kepe & mayntene. and def|fende hire vnderlynges or hire subgetz in reson / as fer|forth as lieth in here power / And nat to destroy hem / ne confounde / [775] Wherfore I seye of thilke lordes. that ben like wolues that deuouren the possessions or the catel of pouere folke wrongfully. with outen mercy or mesure; [776] they shulle receyuen by the same mesure that they han mesured to pouere folke the mercy of Ihesu criste but if it be amended // [777] Now comyth deceite betwix Merchaunt & Merchaunt. And thow shalte vndir|stonde / that merchaundise is in many maners / that oon is bodely / and that other is gostely // That oon is honeste & leuefull & that other deshoneste & vnleuefull // [778] Of thilke bodely merchaundise that is leuefull and honeste is this / that there as god hath ordeyned that a regne / or a cuntre is suffisaunt to hym selfe; than is it honeste & leuefull / that of habundaunce of this cuntre that men helpe another cuntre that is more nedy // [779] And therfore ther mote ben Merchauntz to brynge fro that oo cuntre to that other hire Merch|aundisez
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Title
The Hengwrt ms of Chaucer's Canterbury tales / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 621
Publication
London :: Published for the Chaucer Society by N. Trübner,
1868-1879.

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8233.0001.001
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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/cme/agz8233.0001.001/651:12

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"The Hengwrt 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/agz8233.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 7, 2025.
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