The naughty Tale of Sir Thopas

Forget the inadequate modern definitions of galloping and spurring--Chaucer said pricking!
     The Tale of Sir Thopas is fairly bursting with suggestive imagery and vocabulary. We'll limit our overview to details of the image of "our hero." Thopas
          was born in Flanders, at Poperyng, in the place.
Flanders is where teenaged Chaucer served with King Edward's army. Poperyng (poperen) means "to ride a horse." In one fourteenth-century manuscript of Piers Plowman, a rider "poperith on a palfrey (fine horse) from town to town." The same phrase, in another manuscript of Piers, says "pricketh on a palfrey from town to town." So poperen and pricken are interchangeable. Wordplay is one of the best Chaucerian reasons for Thopas to come to life at Poperyng, at pricking.
     (Interestingly, Shakespeare alluded to a "Poperine pear" in a quarto edition of Romeo and Juliet, but the words have since been "suppressed." A Poperine pear is a penis.)
     With double meanings noted, the phrase that follows Poperyng--"in the place"--gains a unique intention. Thopas came into existence in Flanders, while popering (pricking) in the place necessary for such activity.
     About his name, the explanation that best fits the plot comes from thirteenth-century scientific genius Michael Scot. Scot advises the gem "topaz" be carried to guard against harm from sexual activity. Thopas does carry "topaz"--as his name!
     A noteworthy detail in his limited physical description is that
          His rode is like scarlet.
"Rode" can mean complexion, but "scarlet" is too intense for the face. "Rode," however, also means rod. A rode/rod can be "a stick having a particular purpose," a useful enough phallic image. Now a rod that is scarlet stands out. This is the first of three instances where the color red is associated with Thopas.
     The second instance involves two perplexing terms.
          His robe of sykaltoun, cost many a jane.
"Syklatoun" is expensive scarlet cloth. A "jane" is a small Genoese coin worth half an English penny. Why would Chaucer choose a coin from Genoa? Because it makes the double entendre work. In England a traditional "Jane" was the easy woman, or the misused woman in plays and poetry.
     Along the same thought: "cost" may be an outlay of money, but it also refers to a personal loss. The boast in the line becomes "many a Jane sustained a loss to pay for his red robe." Janes paid with their maidenheads.
     We'll interrupt the trail of red to note athletic skills. Scenes of activity begin with the hunter, who is a "a good archer." He chases many a deer. Pursuing a "deer" and using his arrow is transparently suggestive.
     There follow numerous references to pricking and to the condition of his "horse." Sex presented as horse-riding is a tradition of both moral instruction and of humor. Beryl Rowland, in her extensive work on animal symbolism finds horse-riding and equine images expressing sexual activity as far back as Aristotle and the Bible. The medieval Romance of the Rose credits the "horsemanship" of our parents for the fact that each or us is alive today.
     Now back to the scarlet trail.
          Sir Thopas pricked as if he were mad.
With the madness upon him, we're told the condition of Thopas' trusty steed:
          His fair steed in his pricking
          So sweat that . . .
          His sides were all bloody.
His steed--the instrument of unbridled passion--is bloody. This is the third time we associate red with Thopas. This time, however, it is unpoetically direct--not scarlet, not a robe of syklatoun--specifically blood. Deflowering continues.
     In the next example the words are troublesome.
          Sir Thopas would ride out.
          He worth upon his gray steed.
Worthen means "to become." How odd to say that a rider became on his horse. Piers Plowman again assists by using "worth" in just such an action.
          Many of you wed not the woman you share with
          But as wild beasts . . . worthen up and work
          So as to bring forth bairns that men call bastards.
"Worthen" not only indicates mounting, but unmistakably begetting.
     For equestrian Thopas, the color of "his steed" as "gray" is a suitable hue to express the phenomenon of engorgement, the remarkable capability of becoming able to function sexually. And, in the light of that process, Thopas riding out in the previous line communicates the essential emergence of the glans of an uncircumcised instrument.
     Ah, but there is a sudden, though brief, mood change.
          A distressing misfortune almost happened.
As Thopas is pricking here and there, he experiences some distress. There is no elaboration of the problem. Only the word "almost" diminishes the anxiety. The gravest tragedy for Thopas, of course, would be to lose the ability to ride. This the first inkling of a hard lesson soon to be learned.
     Enter the enemy.

(PS I'd be happy to send you--at no expense to you--a copy  of my book that tells the whole story of Chaucer the man and Chaucer the Canterbury Pilgrim. US residents only-- just email your address  to me at Chaucer600@aol.com )