Abstract

Chaucer's prioress tells the tale of the young “clergeon” in an Asian city who expressed his devotion to Mary by singing Alma redemptoris, especially when walking to and from school through the Jewish quarter. The enraged Jews cut his throat and threw his body in their privy, but his mother discovered him because Mary miraculously enabled him to continue singing. The singing body was then transported in great procession to the nearest abbey; the provost had the Jews drawn and hanged; and the boy-martyr was buried after his singing had been miraculously explained and stopped. The prioress concludes her story with an invocation that reminded her audience of another tale of the same genre