Bitching about Medieval Literature

Day nine, without any specific theme, begins with a story (9.1) about a lady who saw off two unwanted lovers by giving them some highly unpalatable tasks. After skipping 9.2, we resume with a tale (9.3) of a nun who was caught with a lover, then got out of trouble by providing evidence that the abbess had a lover of her own. Finally, in story 9.4, we hear of a man who gambled away his friend's money, then managed to get hold of his clothes and horse as well.

CONTENT WARNINGS: In the first story, two men continue to pester a woman verbally and in writing after she's made it clear she doesn't want their attention. Also graverobbing. In the third story, betrayal of a friend, minimisation of his distress, use of false testimony to get him forcefully unhorsed and robbed.

For the last story of day eight (8.10), Dioneo tells us about an unscrupulous lady who made her living by seducing merchants and tricking them out of their goods, a merchant she swindled, and the way the merchant swindled her back.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Discussion of slavery in the period

Today's episode has one short story (8.8) and one long one (8.9). In the first, a man discovers his wife has been cheating on him with his best friend. So he decides to take some extremely proportionate revenge. In the second, Bruno and Buffalmaco (two tricksters we've met before), fool a stupid doctor into applying to join a highly implausible fraternity, then dump him in a ditch full of manure on his way there.

CONTENT WARNINGS: In the first story, the protagonist walks in on his wife cheating on him. He threatens her so that she assists him in taking his revenge. He persuades his friend's wife to have sex with him by threatening her husband and herself, and has sex with her where her husband is listening, without her knowing he's there. Everyone ends the story happy with each other.

In the second story, an abundance of toilet humour throughout. General manipulation and deceit.

Today's episode is all about tricks and deception, justified or otherwise. In our first story (8.4), the protagonist tricks a priest who just won't take no for answer into sleeping with her maid, and getting caught doing it. In the second (8.5), an ill-dressed judge gets his breeches pulled down in the middle of court. In the third (8.6), a man's 'friends' decide to steal a pig from him, frame him for the theft, and extort some chickens from him into the bargain.

CONTENT WARNINGS: In the first story, sexual harrassment, sex by deception, semi-public exposure of sexual behaviour. A priest repeatedly tries to get the protagonist to have sex with him, harrassing her verbally and in writing. (It is implied he has done this to other women in the past.) The protagonist tricks the priest into sleeping with her maid instead of her. The protagonist's brothers then show the priest and maid in bed together to the priest's boss, and several others.

In the second story, a man has his underpants pulled down in a public place. It isn't clear whether his genitals are exposed, or whether his other clothes are long enough to cover him. 

In the third story, betrayal, theft, public humiliation, and exploitation of trust. The proagonists 'friends' steal his pig, pretend that they think HE did it and is lying, use his own money to arrange a public gathering that appears to implicate him in the theft, and then extort some chickens out of him by threatening to tell his wife he gave the pig to a lover.

Our episode begins with skipping stories 7.8 and 7.9, for violence against women and against animals, respectively. Instead, we conclude day seven with Dioneo's tale (7.10) of a man returning from the dead to reassure his friend about the sins that are and are not punished in Purgatory. This is followed by two stories (8.1, 8.2) about men who found ways to retrieve the payment they had offered to women in exchange for their attentions. 

CONTENT WARNING: Prejudice against sex work. A repeated theme in the discussion around the second and third stories is that adultery for love is acceptable, while adultery for money should be punished by death. (In the stories, the characters face no real consequences.) Consent issues in the second and third stories: the women agree to have sex on the condition of receiving a payment, which the men trick them out of afterwards.

In story 7.5, a highly controlling jealous husband decides to pretend to be a priest so he can hear what his wife has to confess. She recognises him, and tricks him into lying in wait near the door while her lover comes in by the roof. In our second tale (7.7, after skipping 7.6), a nobleman-turned-servant arranges an assignation with his master's wife, only for her to wake her husband up when he gets to the bedroom. In the end, though, she and her lover enjoy themselves thoroughly, and her husband gets the worst of it.

CONTENT WARNINGS: In the first story, a highly controlling husband doesn't let his wife leave the house, or even stand at the window. This is socially normed in the cultural context - extreme, but not considered abusive. He pretends to be a priest to listen to her confession, and later, threatens to kill her unless she explains the affair he THINKS she's been having. 

In the second story, a character is tricked into dressing up as his wife and waiting to meet her lover. Meanwhile, the wife arranges with her lover that he should go down and attack 'her' (i.e. her husband), yelling at 'her' for her willingness to cheat and beating 'her' up with a stick.

The second day continues with three stories about wives who get away with their lies and their lovers. In the first (7.2), a lover's presence is explained as a potential purchaser of a tub. In the second (7.3), the wife explains her lover's presence as him curing her child of a deadly illness. And in the third (7.4), a husband's plan to catch his wife out is turned on its head, and he gets caught out instead.

CONTENT WARNINGS: In general, deceit and infidelity (obviously). In the second story, a toddler is in the same room as adults having sex (no interaction during). Also, a character is told that his child nearly died (as an excuse for his wife's lover to be present). In the third story, a wife encourages her husband to develop a habit of getting so drunk he passes out, so that she can cheat. When she is discovered and he locks her out, she threatens suicide, then makes him think she has done it. She then loudly accuses her husband of being a slanderous drunkard by lying about his behaviour, which induces her relatives to beat him up.

It's the start of the seventh day, and Dioneo is in charge, with the theme: 'women playing tricks on their husbands. After the group has decamped to the unrealistically picturesque Valley of the Ladies, the stories begin with a tale (7.1) of a woman who warns her lover that her husband is at home with an informative 'exorcism' of the 'werewolf' she assures her husband has been tapping at the door.

This episode covers the rest of the sixth day, beginning with a story (6.6) joking about the ancient origins of a family known for their ugliness; then the ingenious legal defence of an adulterous woman (6.7); a quick tale (6.8) about a haughty young woman who didn't recognise an insult; and another (6.9) about a rather convoluted retort made by a scholarly young man to a group of foolish ones. Finally, Dioneo tells a story (6.10) about a particularly unscrupulous friar and the showmanship with which he persuaded a group of townsfolk that an ordinary lump of coal was a holy relic.

CONTENT WARNINGS: In the first story, jokes about a family known for their ugly appearances. In the second story, a law is changed to allow adulterous wives but continue to prosecute sex workers. In the last story, the protagonist's servant is a caricatured stock character mocked by his employer and the narration for being fat, stupid, and slovenly.

Day 6 begins with an argument between servants about whether or not a woman they know came to her wedding bed a virgin. After arbitration by the queen of the day (with advice from Dioneo), our storytellers share several brief tales about witty comebacks. In the first (6.1), a woman gently advises a very poor storyteller to stop trying; in the second (6.2), a baker with very fine wines censures a servant trying to fetch some in too large a keg; in the third (6.4 - having skipped 6.3), a hapless cook makes excuses for the roast crane he served having only one leg; and in the fourth (6.5), two friends caught in bad weather tease each other about their disreputable appearances.

CONTENT WARNINGS: Ableism/insulting descriptions of 'ugly' characters in the final story (one is specifically compared to a dwarf). They are both respected in their fields and treated well by the narrative, but the joke of the story is that their appearance makes it surprising that they are so skilled and knowledgeable.