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LEONARD (saint). Leonard de Nolac, fl. sixth century A.D., was the hermit and abbot of Limousin. Jacobus de Voragine says that he was born c. A.D. 50 and spent his youth at the court of King Clovis, his godfather. The king was so fond of him that he set free any prisoner the young man visited. As he became more and more known for holiness, the king wanted to give him a bishopric, but Leonard refused, preferring a life of solitude. After his death, his cult spread to Belgium, Italy, Germany, and England. He is the patron saint of prisoners (Legenda aurea CLV). There was a Benedictine convent of St. Leonard's about two miles from Chaucer's house in Aldgate.

The poet compares himself to a pilgrim traveling wearily the two miles to St. Leonard's shrine, HF I.115-118.

The name appears in final rhyming position, HF I.117.

Jacobus de Voragine, GL, trans. G. Ryan and H. Ripperger, 657-661; ibid., LA, ed. Th. Graesse, 687-691; H.M. Smyser, "Chaucer's Two-Mile Pilgrimage." MLN 56 (1941): 205-207; The South-English Legendary, ed. C. D'Evelyn and A.J. Mill, II: 476-483.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.
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