The Clerk’s Tale

The Clerk’s Tale, one of the 24 stories in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, published 1387–1400.

Chaucer borrowed the story of Patient Griselda from Petrarch’s Latin translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron. A marquis marries beautiful low-born Griselde (Griselda) after she agrees to obey his every whim; he then subjects her to a series of cruelties to test her love. He abducts their children, telling Griselde they must die. Years later, he asks her to leave, and later calls her back to decorate his chambers, supposedly for his new wife. Griselde amiably agrees, as she has patiently endured all her previous indignities. At last the marquis relents, proclaiming his love for Griselde; instead of a new wife, the young woman who arrives is Griselde’s grown daughter, and both she and her brother are restored to their mother as a reward for her constancy.