How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
This was the commune voys of every man:
"Oure Emperour of Rome, God hym see,
A doghter hath that, syn the world bigan,
To rekene as wel hir goodnesse as beautee,
Nas nevere swich another as is shee." (155-159)
Geez, talk about hyperbole. Custance's beauty and goodness are unparalleled since the world began? No wonder the Sultan falls head over heels.
Quote #2
"In hir is heigh beautee, withoute pride,
Yowthe, withoute grenehede or folye,
To alle hir werkes vertu is hir gyde,
Humblesse hath slayn in hir al tirannye,
She is mirour of alle curteisye,
Hir herte is verray chambre of hoolynesse,
Hir hand ministre of fredam for almesse." (162-168)
Well this is handy. The narrator defines Custance's virtues by contrasting them with their opposites. So beauty, youth, and humility are juxtaposed with pride, foolishness, and tyranny. By describing not only what Custance is but what she is not, this passage makes her appear to be the ideal woman by emphasizing the absence of sin in her as well as the presence of virtue.
Quote #3
She blesseth hir, and with ful pitous voys
Unto the croys of Crist thus seyde she,
"O cleere, o welful auter, hooly croys,
reed of the lambes blood, ful of pitee,
That wesshe the world fro the olde iniquitee,
Me fro the feend and fro his clawes kepe,
That day that I shal drenchen in the depe." (449-455)
Custance demonstrates her great piety here by praying not to be saved from drowning, but from hell. Now those are some faithful priorities. She's not concerned about the preservation of her earthly life, but only her eternal one with God. In the next part of her prayer, she will ask God to give her the strength to amend her life, or live free of sin.
Quote #4
And Custance hath so longe sojourned there
In orisons, with many a bitter teere,
Til Jesus hath converted thurgh his grace
Dame Hermengyld, constablesse of that place. (536-539)
Interesting. So Hermengyld's conversion is the responsibility of Custance's prayers? Or wait. It's actually Jesus. Could it be that Custance is merely a vessel of God's grace, its conduit on Earth with little control over how it acts?
Quote #5
This lady weex affrayed of the soun,
Lest that hir housbonde, shortly for to sayn,
Wolde hir for Jesu Cristes love han slayn,
Til Custance made hir boold, and bad hir wirche
The wyl of Crist, as doghter of his chirche. (563-567)
When Hermengyld is afraid that her husband will disapprove of her Christianity, Custance encourages her to work Christ's will and heal the blind man anyways. As we will see, Custance's encouraging of Hermengyld results in the Constable's conversion, too. This demonstrates how drawing courage from one's faith in Christ can have consequences beyond one's control. And it helps bring Christianity to the rest of Northumberland. Bonus.
Quote #6
And so ferforth she gan oure lay declare,
That she the constable, er that it were eve
Converteth, and on Crist maketh hym bileve. (572-574)
Custance's declaration of "oure lay," or Christian faith, results in the Constable's conversion. This conversionary power aligns Custance with the women from virgin martyr legends, who also converted mass numbers of people through their teachings.
Quote #7
But nathelees, ther was greet moornyng
Among the peple, and seyn, they kan nat gesse
That she had doon so greet a wikkednesse;
For they han seyn hir evere so vertuous,
And lovyng Hermengyld right as hir lyf. (621-625)
One of the benefits of being the most virtuous person ever is that the general knowledge of your good character can be a sort of a "character witness" for you when you're accused of a crime. In other words, your reputation precedes you. This kind of testimony was actually extremely valuable in medieval courts, with numerous witnesses often called to testify not only to their knowledge of a person's good character, but also of their good reputation.
Quote #8
And up she rist, and walketh doun the stronde,
Toward the ship – hir folweth al the prees –
And evere she preyeth hir child to holde his pees,
And taketh hir leve, and with an hooly entente
She blisseth hir, and into ship she wente. (864-868)
Custance embarks on her second sea journey "with an hooly entente," blessing herself. This moment signals that she again places herself in God's hands for her journey. In case you didn't get that gist already.
Quote #9
Hir childe cride, and she cride pitously,
But blisful Marie heelp hir right anon,
For with hir struglyng wel and myghtily,
The theef fil over bord al sodeynly,
And in the see he dreynte for vengeance,
And thus hat Crist unwemmed kept Custance. (919-924)
This passage makes us here at Shmoop a wee bit uncomfortable. Why? Because it seems to suggest that if a woman just struggles enough, if she is virtuous enough, she can resist a rapist. We have to keep in mind, however, that a big part of the medieval faith was seeing the events in one's life as part of God's message about you to the world. So if we follow this logic, Custance's virtuousness is protection from rape, because her untainted body must signal her virtue to the world. But yeah, this doesn't fly in the modern world.
Quote #10
"But God woot," quod this senatour also,
"So vertuous a lyvere in my lyf
Ne saugh I nevere as she, ne herde of mo
Of worldly wommen, mayde, ne of wyf;
I dar wel seyn, hir hadde levere a knyf
Thurghout hir brest, than ben a womman wikke,
Ther is no man koude brynge hir to that prikke." (1023-1029)
The Senator's description of Maurice's mother's great virtue is what enables Alla to eventually recognize her as his wife. As it did when she was falsely accused of killing a man, the news of Custance's virtue helps her to unite with Alla. In a way, we might view this as recompense for the time when her reputation brought about her unsuccessful marriage to the Sultan of Babylon.
Quote #11
In vertu and in hooly almus-dede
They lyven alle; and never asonder wende
Til deeth departed hem; this lyf they lede. (1156-1158)
The conclusion of the widowed Custance's life in "vertue and hooly almus-dede" aligns her with many real-life medieval noblewomen, who were often encouraged to become nuns after the death of their husbands.