Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse

The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.

[6-text p 654] thus / that thilke tyme that al the world was in synne / than was al the worlde in thraldom & subieccion / [771] But certis sithen the tyme of grace cam / god ordeyned / that some folke shold be more high in estate & degre / than some / and some folke more lowe / And that eueryche sholde be serued in his estate / & in his degre / [772] And therfore in some contrees there they ben thrallis / whan thei haue turned hem to the feith / thei maken here thralles free / out of thraldom / And therfore certis the lord owith to his man / that the man owith to his lorde / [773] The Pope clepeth him silff seruaunt of the seruauntes of god / But for-asmeche as the estate of [¶ seruus seruo|rum] holy chirche / ne myghte nat haue be kept / ne the comen profite ne myght nat haue be kept ne pees ne reste / in erthe / but if god had ordeyned that some men hadde higher degre / & some men lower / [774] And therfore was souereynte ordeyned / to kepe and mayntene / & de|fende here vnderlinges / & here sub [MS Arch. Seld. B. 14 folio 295b] iectes in reson / as fer|forthe as it lith in here powere / and nat to distroye hem / ne confounde / [775] wherfore I seie / that suche lordes as ben like wolves / that devouren the possessions or the catel of pore folke wrongefully withouten mercy or mesure / [776] thei shullen resceiven bi the same mesure / that thei haue mesured to pore folke / the mercy of Ihesu criste / but if hit be amended / [777] Now cometh disceite [¶ Disceite.] bitu[i]xe marchaunt & marchaunt / And thow shalt vnder|stonde that marchaundise is in many maners / that oon is bodily & that other is gostly / that oon is leful & honest / that othere is dishoneste & vuleful / [778] Of thilke bodyly marchaundise that is leful & honest is this / that there as god hath ordeyned / that a Regne or a contre is sufficiaunt to him silff / than it is honest & leful / that of the abundaunce of this contre / that men helpe another contre that is more nedye / [779] And therfore ther mote be marchauntes to bringe from that oon contre / to that othere / here march|aundise
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Title
The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. Ed. by Frederick J. Furnivall.
Author
Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400.
Canvas
Page 666
Publication
London,: Pub. for the Chaucer society by N. Trübner & co.,
1868-[1869]

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https://name.umdl.umich.edu/agz8235.0001.001
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"The Corpus ms (Corpus Christi coll., Oxford) 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/agz8235.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 21, 2025.
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