Current Theory Regarding the Date of the Prologue 213 



was not relieved from daily attendance at the Custom House 

 till February, 1385, and he did the Legend of Good Women 

 as soon as this leisure came to him. Hence the Prologue was 

 probably composed immediately after 1386 — that is, in 1387.^ 



To Hales' argument it may be replied: 



1. The need that the sea should be kept was keenly felt dur- 

 ing the whole period 1372-87.^ 



2. There was need much later than this for keeping the sea. 

 In the Lihel of English Policy (1436), the very first stanza 

 insists 'that we be masters of the narrow sea.' 



3. Middelburgh and Orwell may be used merely as repre- 

 sentative names, just as, in the book last named, the author, 

 while recognizing Bruges as the 'staple fayre* of Flanders, talks 

 of Dover and Calais — 



And chiefly kepe the sharpe narrow see 

 Betweene Dover and Caleis. 



4. One of the most memorable naval victories ever won by 

 the English was that of Sluys in 1340, and Edward IH took 

 passage for this encounter from Orwell.^ Sluys (TEcluse) is 

 a later name for Swyn, and is virtually identical with Middel- 

 burgh. Chaucer may then have desired to remind his country- 

 men of this glorious occasion by a mention of the ports of 

 departure and destination. 



5. Even if it were granted that Chaucer had in mind the 

 period i384*-8, it would not follow that the lines were written 



^Cf. Tatlock, pp. 147, 150. Tatlock argues that the merchant was a 

 member of the staple, and dealt in wool; and, in corroboration, reminds 

 us that *he even wears a "Flaundrish bever hat." ' However, Edward III 

 wore a 'bever hat' in 1350, at Espagnols-sur-Mer (Kervyn 5. 267) ; was 

 Edward III, then, a merchant of the staple? (It is well known that 

 he went to France, disguised as a merchant, in April, I33i)- 



^ Coulton, p. 133 : 'Our crushing defeat by the combined French and 

 Spanish navies off La Rochelle in 1372 lost us the command of the sea 

 until our victory at Cadzand in 1387*; cf. Nicolas, Hist. Royal Navy 

 2. 141, 319 ff. As a result of the victory, we are told by Nicolas: 'The 

 prizes were sent to Orwell and other ports; . . . the citizens of 

 Middelburgh offered to purchase the wine.' 



"" Nicolas, op. cit. 2. 46, 502, At this battle Henry of Lancaster dis- 

 tinguished himself {ib. 2. 59). 



* Jenckes {The Origin . . . of the Staple, p. 79) says 1383. 



