Love Conquers All: Chaucer’s Prioress as a Mystic

Abstract In her portrait in the General Prologue , Chaucer’s Prioress rules the small convent of St Leonard’s in Bromley-by-Bow, east of London, where she goes by the name of Eglentine. Speaking French and wearing a brooch with the inscription Amor vincit omnia ‘love conquers all’, Eglentine presents an odd combination of piety and romance-reading worldliness. This article tries to reconcile these elements in both her portrait and Tale by defining her as Chaucer’s impression of a mystic. Her anti-Semitism is found consistent with an extreme devotion to the Virgin Mary, in aspects of whom she represents herself: as an image of the Virgin in her portrait; as a lover of the Father in the Prologue to her Tale ; and as the Mother of God in the Tale itself. Her brooch is finally interpreted in relation to an alphabet poem in honour of the Virgin Mary.