JANICLE, JANICULA is Griselda's father in The Clerk's Tale. In Petrarch's Latin story, De obedientia ac fide uxoria mythologia, Griselda's father is Ianicole, and in the anonymous French translation Le Livre Griseldis he is called Janicole. He has no dramatic function in The Clerk's Tale; he is the recipient of all Griselda's love before she marries Walter, and he covers her with her old cloak when she returns to him in nothing but her smock. [Griselde: Walter]
The spelling varies according to the number of stresses in the line. Janicula occurs twice initially, ClT 208, 304; Janicle appears twice in medial positions, ClT 404 and 632.