"The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse" is composed of three, rime royal (seven-line) stanzas and one five-line envoy.  In the first three stanzas, Chaucer has constructed a parody of a complaint, his "favorite lyric genre" (Benson, 632).  All complaints "share a common theme -- the pangs of unrequited or disappointed love and a common use of a first-person speaker and of the conventions of courtly love" (Benson, 632).  Here, Chaucer speaks to his purse as his "lady dere," and complains that it is her lightness that causes his "hevy chere."  He describes her as his "lyves lyght," and without her, "moote [he] dye."

The expression of life-threatening love is a familiar event among the characters in Chaucer's poems.  In the Miller's Tale, for example, Nicholas reveals his terminal emotions to Alisoun, saying, "Lemman, love me al atones, / Or I wol dyen, and God me save!" (3280-81).  Alisoun does requite Nicholas, and thus it is her capacity to love him that saves him from certain death, just as Chaucer's purse would, were it filled to capacity and "hevy ageyn."

Chaucer's complaint implies that without his purse, or, more accurately, without what ought to fill her, he will die.  What ought to fill her, were she truly a woman, would be a man or a man's seed.  Therefore, it could be said that, symbolically, Chaucer's "lyves lyght," the true identity of his "lady dere," represents himself.

It could also be said that when Chaucer wrote

Now purse, that ben to me my lyves lyght    (15-17)
And saveour, as doun in this world here,
Out of this toune helpe me thurgh your myght,

he was saying that he is his own savior on Earth and that only he can help himself out of the unfavorable situation he finds himself in.  And in asking himself for help, it would follow, as it did, that he should add an envoy to the complaint and sent the poem to Henry IV, requesting the payment of his annuity.

The envoy was a smart and effective addition to the complaint.  Without it, it would be nothing more that a silly poem.  With the envoy, the poem is directly addressed to Henry IV.  In it, Chaucer calls the king "conquerour of Brutes Albyon."  He says that Henry is the true king "by lyne" and by "free eleccion."

Mary Giffin, in Studies on Chaucer and His Audience, states that nowhere else does Chaucer refer to England as Albyon (90), which seems to suggest that Chaucer was indeed appealing directly to Henry IV and explains why he didn't write "O conquerour of Richard's England" instead.  In The Minor Poems, George B. Pace and Alfred David point out that calling Henry "conquerour of Brutes Albyon" was "politically significant because it transfers to [Henry] the ancient claims of the Welsh, who had regarded Henry's chief rival for Richard's crown, Roger Mortimer...as a direct descendant of Brutus" (132).  Fortunately, for Henry, Mortimer died in 1398.

After a bit of flattery, Chaucer slips in "And ye, that mowen alle oure harmes amende," proposing the logic that "the king who can solve all of England's troubles can surely take care of Chaucer's petty financial difficulties" (Pace and David, 132).

Even though the complaint is light and humorous in tone, the last line of the envoy, "Have mynde upon my supplicacion!" seems to strongly urge the king to consider the poem a serious request for action concerning Chaucer's annuity.  And, as Florence R. Scott states, "Have mynde upon" is almost a veiled command" (83).

"The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse" is a brilliant collection letter that intends to not only amuse King Henry IV, but also to praise and honor him.  The events surrounding the poem suggest that Chaucer was extremely clever when it came to his finances and to the crown.

"The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse" has spawned various debates among critics, the most prominent of which is over the dating of the poem and his residence at Westminster Abbey.

Various critics usually date the poem somewhere between September 30, 1399, the day Henry was recognized as king, and October 13, 1399, the enrolled date of Document 275 in the Patent Rolls, the document in which Henry not only granted the payment of Chaucer's annuity from Richard but also increased it.  October 13 was also the day of Henry's coronation, which, for some critics, makes the date of Document 275 questionable as well as the poem's.

In "The Date of Chaucer's Final Annuity and of the 'Complaint to his Empty Purse,'" Sumner Ferris asks the following questions:  "Is it really likely that Henry interrupted the ceremonies of his busy coronation day to single out and reward...even the most loyal, well-connected, or distinguished commoner?  Is it even likely that the clerks in the Office of the Privy Seal (where the warrant originated) or in the Chancery had to work on coronation day?" (49)

Scott, one who has dated the poem shortly after Richard was deposed, states, "Geoffrey Chaucer, knowing full well that many petitions would be presented to the new sovereign, thought it wise to offer his before the limited treasury was exhausted" (82).  Yet, "with the revenues of Lancaster added to those of the crown, Henry was far richer than his predecessor" (Ferris, 46).

The most concrete and convincing evidence that indicates a plausible date for Chaucer's poem stems from Ferris' examination of the Life-Records of Chaucer.  Focusing on Document 275, 277, and 278, he identifies the following:

"On October 18, according to Document 277 (L-R, pp. 327-28), Chaucer appeared in Chancery, took oath that he had lost the original copies of the letters patent by which Richard had granted him the twenty-pound annuity and a yearly butt of wine and got new copies of them" (45).

"On October 21, according to Document 278 (L-R, p. 328), these new copies of the letters from Richard...received the royal inspeximus and confirmation...necessary to validate them" (45).

Ferris asks why Chaucer would have needed copies of the letters patent or a confirmation of them if, on October 13, Henry had honored his annuity and increased it.  In order to explain this, Ferris points out that "letters patent were frequently antedated...for a variety of purposes" (48) and that "when an entry in the Patent Rolls appears in the company of others of much later date, this fact is usually in itself sufficient evidence...that the entry has been antedated" (48), as in the case of Document 275.  Therefore, he says, "it may be inferred that Chaucer did not receive the letters patent enrolled in Document 275 until February of 1400, but that when he did they were antedated by several months, back to October 13, 1399" (49), and that Chaucer sent the poem to Henry around the same time (47).

On December 24, 1399, Chaucer moved to Westminster Abbey, signing a 53-year lease.  Critics have suggested that he did so seeking sanctuary from creditors.  In "The Poet as Sunday Man: 'The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse,'" Andrew J. Finnel states that, according to the Life Records, during Richard's reign, "there were no fewer than five known suits having Chaucer as the defendant during this period.  But on May 4, 1398, Chaucer had obtained royal protection against creditors in a letter exempting him from arrest or impleading for the next two years" (150).

Since Chaucer's exemption was cut short by the deposition of Richard, it is thought that he moved to Westminster as an alternative.  Finnel points out that since Christmas bills were due on the 25th of December, the 24th "would have been the perfect time to establish residence there" (152).

More support for the motivation of Chaucer's move comes from analysis of two lines in his poem:  "Oute of this toune helpe me thurgh your myght" and "For I am shave as nye as any frere."

Jay Ruud, suggests, "'out of toune' could mean, simply, 'out of this particular condition or state of being,'" (6).

Finnel suggests that "toune" is meant to represent Westminster, and that it would coincide with the line "For I am shave as nye as any frere" because Chaucer would have be surrounded by monks.  Finnel points out that Chaucer had distinguished between friars and monks in the Canterbury Tales, but the word "frere" would have been used to maintain the rhyme of the poem. (154)

Finnel also says that if Westminster is the "toune" Chaucer refers to in his poem, "the three stanzas and the envoy could have been written to only one monarch--Henry IV--some time after December 24, 1399" (155), which would put the possible date of the poem closer to Ferris' estimation of February of 1400.

One other hint that Chaucer was seeking sanctuary at Westminster is the fact that the February and June payments on Chaucer's annuity were not made to him in person.  Derek Pearsall, in The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer: A Critical Biography, says, "This was not an unusual practice in itself, but it was a little unusual for Chaucer, who had regularly in the past turned up in person to collect the installments on his annuity" (275).

Of all of the theories and conclusions made about and surrounding "The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse," perhaps the following words sum up the poet's intent perfectly:

"The analogy between a purse and a courtly mistress is amusing in itself but also expresses an element of truth about Chaucer's situation.  In his poetry he had often made fun of his lack of success in love; in this, perhaps his last poem, he carries on the old jest but with the wry acknowledgment that the purse is the true lady of a bourgeois official and poet who depends upon the smiles of his noble patrons" (Pace and David, 123).

© 2000 Christine Thompson