ABSTRACT

Nowthatwehaveestablished,asapossibility,thatChaucerwasinIreland foroverfouryearsbetween1361and1366,wemaybalancethispossibility againstanotherone:thathewasinfluencedbyearlyIrishliterature.Thislatter possibilitywillbeviewedfromdifferentanglesintheremainingchaptersof thisbook.Itmustberememberedthatinthesechapters,nolessthaninthefirst two,itispossibilitiesratherthancertaintiesthatwearedealingwith,anditwill belefttothereadertodecide,onceallthesepossibilitieshavebeenconsidered, whethertheircumulativeeffectissuchastocarrytheweightofprobability.In thepresentchapterIshallconsiderthepossibilitythatChaucerwasinfluenced bytheprosesagaliteratureofmedievalIreland.IshouldemphasisethatIam notassumingthatChaucernecessarilylearnedIrishduringthetimethathe mayhavespentinIreland;hecouldhavebecomeawareofIrishliteratureat secondhandthrougheitherorbothofthetwootherlanguagesmainlyspoken inIrelandinhistime,i.e.FrenchandEnglish(Curtis1919,235-36).This doesnotmean,however,thatIamexcludingthepossibilitythathelearned Irish,orthepossibilitythat,ifhedidnotlearnit,heneverthelessbecame sensitivetoitssoundsandrhythms.Withtheseconsiderationsinmind,I amnotnecessarilylookingforminutelydetailedorcloseverbalsimilarities betweenChaucer'sworkandearlyIrishliterature,butratherforfeaturesof thelatterwithwhichChaucerwouldbemostlikelytohavebecomeacquainted inthelightofthepossibilitiesjustmentioned:for.example,theme,narrative structure,andpoeticrhythm.·

InthischapterIshallmainlyarguethatChaucerwasinfluenced,inhis writingofTheCanterburyTales,bytheMiddleIrishprosesagaAcallamna Sen6rach,datingfromtheturnofthetwelfthtothethirteenthcentury(Dooley andRoe1999,viii)andknowninEnglishbythetitles'TheColloquyofthe Ancients'(seeO'Grady1892II,x)andTalesoftheEldersofIreland(asin D&R),ofwhichtheformerrepresentstheIrishtitlemoreliterallythanthe latter.First,however,IshallbrieflyconsideranotherIrishsaga,TogailBruidne DaDerga('ThedestructionofDaDerga'shostel',probablyoriginallyfrom theeighthcentury,seeWilliamsandFord1992,95-96;cf.0Daly1968,

In Togail Bruidne Da Derga a bird enters by a window the doorless, wickerwork house in which Mess Buachalla, a king's daughter who was abandoned as a baby, has been living since being fostered by the herdsmen of Eterscelae, king ofTara. Discarding his birdskin, her visitor has intercourse with her, prophesying that she will bear him a son, Conare, who, he says, must not kill birds. She then marries Eterscelae (who it seems is not to be identified with her mysterious, avian visitor) and gives birth to Conare as prophesied. Later, after Eterscelae's death, Conare hunts some birds which change into human shape and attack him, though one of them, who reveals himself as an associate ofConare's father, protects him, and advises him to go to Tara, foretelling-as turns out to be true-that he will become king, though also imposing upon him a number of taboos which as king he must not infringe: there must, for example, be no plundering during his reign. All goes well with Conare's kingship until some marauding bands led by his foster-brothers, who want to see how he will punish them, start plundering. At first he condemns to death most of those involved apart from his actual foster-brothers, but then, apparently realising the injustice of this, he banishes them all from Ireland. They go to Britain, join forces with the king's son there, and return with him to Ireland, and at Da Derga's hostel, where Conare is staying having by now infringed most of the taboos, they attack him and eventually encompass his defeat and death, though he offers courageous resistance (Knott 1936; Gantz 1981, 60-106).