Griselda

Griselda. The story of "patient Grisild," immortalised by three great writers of the 14th century, cannot be traced farther back than Bocceltcio. In the Becamerone it is the last tale told eta the 10th clay, thus closing the series. In or about 1373 Petrarch wrote his Be obedientia et fide uxoria Mytltologia, with a prefatory letter of admiration addressed to Boccaccio. Chaucer closely follows Petrarch, whose version differs in some respects from that of Boccaccio. As Petrarch was in the habit of narrating the story in conversation, Chaucer may have learnt it from him orally during his visit to Italy in 1373 as well as from his written version. So much at least may be gathered from the allusions to Petrarch in the prologue to the Clerltes Tale. Moreover, the mention of Petrarch's death as a recent event, as well as other internal evidence, shows that the Clerltes Tale was written a considerable time before it was embodied in the Canterbury Tales. The Clerk tells how Griselda, the daughter of a humble retainer of the Marquis of Saluzzo, won that lord's affection by her maidenly virtue and her loving care of her aged father; how when he was importuned by his vassals to marry, Griselda became his bride; how to test her constancy he deprived her of her children and sent her home in disgrace, and how, when she remained true to him through all, he received her back with the assurance that he indeed possessed the model of a perfect wife. Among other versions of the tale may be mentioned Le Mystere de Griselidis, acted in Paris in 1393, the prose version in Le Menagier de Paris of about the same date, Lydgate's mention of Griselda in the Temple of Glass, several English ballads, and two plays of the 16th century, including one by Dekker, Chettle, and Haughton.