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OSEWOLD. The Reeve on the pilgrimage to Canterbury is named after the Northumbrian saint who died in 642. He also comes from the north, as the dialect of his tale confirms. His portrait appears in Gen Prol 587-623. When he objects to the Miller's intention to tell a story about a carpenter and wife, the Miller replies, "Leve brother Osewold, / Who hath no wyf, he is no cokewold," MillP 3151-3152. Osewold's self-revelation appears in RvP 3864-3898.

The name appears twice medially, RvT 3860, 3909, and once in final rhyming position, MillP 3151.

W.C. Curry, Chaucer and the Mediaeval Sciences, 71-79; J.E. Grennen, "The Calculating Reeve and his Camera obscura." JMRS 14 (1984): 245-259.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.
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