Law’s Tale

( The Man of ), the tale tells of Custance, daughter of the emperor of Rome, affianced to the sultan of Syria. On the wedding night the sultan’s mother murdered all the bridal party for apostacy, except Custance, whom she turned adrift in a ship. The ship stranded on the shores of Britain, where Custance was rescued by the lord-constable of North umber land, whose wife, Her me gild, became much attached to her. A young knight wished to marry Custance, but she declined his suit; whereupon he murdered Her me gild, and then laid the knife beside Custance, to make it appear that she had committed the deed. King Alla, who tried the case, soon discovered the truth, executed the knight, and married Custance. Now was repeated the same infamy as occurred to her in Syria; the queen-mother, Donegild, disapproved of the match, and, during the absence of her son in Scotland, embarked Custance and her infant son in the same ship, which she turned adrift. After floating about for five years, it was taken in tow by the Roman fleet on its return from Syria, and Custance was put under the charge of a Roman senator. It so happened that Alla was at Rome at the very time on a pilgrimage, met his wife, and they returned to North umber land together. This story is found in Gower, who probably took it from the French chronicle of Nicholas Trivet. A similar story forms the outline of Emaărê (3 syl. ), a romance in Ritson’s collection. The knight murdering Her me gild, etc., resembles an incident in the French Roman de la Violette , the English metrical romance of Le Bone Florence of Rome (in Ritson), and also a tale in the Gesta Romanorum , 69.