Madame Eglantine

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Madame Eglantine the prioress in the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer.

Madame Eglantine was one of the 30 pilgrims meeting at the Tabard Inn in Geoffrey Chaucer's work The Canterbury Tales. She was a prioress (nun). She tried to be very proper in all her ways. She ate so that not a crumb fell from her lips, and was artificial in her manners. She spoke bad French, only furthering her intended image as a "proper lady". She kept little dogs, which she bottle fed, and gave special meat to. This was in violation of her vow of poverty. Also, she herself was fat. She used a fancy rosary and wore a broach that says "Amor vincit omnia" (Love Conquers All). She was intended to be the opposite of what a nun should be.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.