God's Justice as told by the Man of Law

What I find intriguing about the Man of Law’s tale is that it reads less like a tale and more like a saint’s life, similar to those from the Golden Legend. However, unlike last week’s selections, Constance is not martyred. Nevertheless she suffers great trials, all of which she bears patiently, while those who strove against her are struck by God and his justice. This made me think: why is this tale being told by the lawyer? Why would he choose to tell a tale of faith? I believe it is because of the justice that prevails throughout this tale. It is not human law upon which the storyteller focuses, but on the law of God. His chosen people, i.e. Constance, are protected because of their faith and devotion. When Constance sails to Syria to marry this Sultan she has never met, she bears it patiently though she laments “Allas, unto the Barbre nacioun/I moste anon, syn that it is youre wille; But Crist, that starf for our redempcioun/So yeve me grace his heestes to fulfille!” (lines 281-284) She submits herself not only to the will of her father (and later does the same on the ‘orders’ of her husband), but also to the will of her Father in Heaven. Such humility and devotion is rewarded, for she survives the attack on the Sultan and the other Christians by the Sultanness and her counselors. But on a rudderless ship, saved by the hand of God like Daniel in the lion’s den, she makes her way to pagan Northumberland.

I want now to skip ahead to her encounter with the amorous knight and murderer of Hermengild. This knight approaches her, “He woweth hire, but it availeth noght;/She wolde do no synne, by no weye.” (lines 589-590) And so, under the influence of Satan, he sneaks into the chamber she shares with Hermengild, slits the latter’s throat and places the knife by Constance’s pillow. But King Alla and his people, recognizing the inherent goodness of Constance, bring forth her accuser (the spurned knight). The king declares that, “if this knight wol sweren how that she/This woman slow, yet wol we us avyse/Whom that we wole that shal been oure justice.” (lines 664-666) And so the knight goes to swear upon the book, in a ceremony reminiscent of modern citizens placing their hands on the Bible in court, but no sooner does he swear that she is guilty then “an hand hym smoot upon the nekke-boon,/That doun he fil atones as a stoon,/And bothe his eyen broste out of his face/In sighte of every body in that place.” (lines 669-672) Again, Constance is protected by God against those who seek to do her ill. Each of these encounters includes some act of violence, and indeed throughout the tale justice seems to be done by means of violence. But here I wanted to highlight the theme of protection from God and how through her innocence, humility and devotion, she survives each trial, guided and protected by God’s hand.