ARVERAGUS is the young knight who becomes Dorigen's husband in The Franklin's Tale. He and Dorigen enter upon a contract to regard each other as friends in marriage and to allow each other utmost freedom. Dorigen rashly promises Aurelius, the young clerk who loves her, to return his love if he can make the black rocks on the coast disappear. Aurelius engages a magician from Orleans who accomplishes the task, to Dorigen's great distress. When Arveragus learns of her dilemma, he orders Dorigen to keep her promise but to let no one know, thus cancelling their contract of utmost freedom. Dorigen meets Aurelius in the garden, and when he sees her distress, he releases her from her promise. Geoffrey of Monmouth tells the story of Arviragus, who loves his wife Genuissa above all else, Historia Regum Britanniae IV.12-16. [Aurelie: Dorigen: Gaufride]

Arveragus is the ME modification of Latin Arviragus. The name does not appear in Boccaccio's Il Filocolo, the principal source for the story, so it appears that Chaucer has taken the name from Geoffrey. Jerome Archer suggests Juvenal's Satire IV.127 as well. Arveragus occurs twice initially, FranklT 1087, 1551; four times in medial positions, FranklT 837, 1460, 1517, 1595; and six times in final rhyming position, FranklT 808, 814, 969, 1351, 1424, 1526.