Main Menu | List of entries | finished

SUSANNA, SUSANNE. Susannah was the virtuous wife of Joachim. Two lustful elders, whose advances she repulsed, accused her of adultery (Daniel 13). Machaut tells this story in Le Confort d'ami, 73-426. "Susannah and the Elders" is a favorite subject in medieval illuminations in Books of Hours.

Custance prays to God who saved Susanne from false blame, MLT 639-641. False witnesses caused Susanna great pain and sorrow, ParsT 797.

Susanna occurs in ParsT 797; Susanne, the French variant, occurs in final rhyming position, MLT 639.

Guillaume de Machaut, Oeuvres, ed. E. Hoepffner, III: 3-16; A.L. Kellogg, "Susannah and The Merchant's Tale." Speculum 35 (1960): 275-279; Susannah, ed. A. Miskimin.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.
Main Menu | List of entries | finished