In brief
Scholars find that a copyist's mistake might have obscured the true meaning of Chaucer's reference to the lost Tale of Wade.
In the literary circles of the 14th century, poet Geoffrey Chaucer was a household name. Cited as the first significant English poet, Chaucer frequently referenced the now-mysterious Tale of Wade, likely a well-known story of his time. Alas, we only have a tiny snippet of it from a 12th-century sermon that was rediscovered in the 1890s, baffling scholars ever since.Recently, two Cambridge University scholars, James Wade (whose name aligns frustratingly with the tale he studies) and Seb Falk, believe they have solved this literary puzzle by identifying a 'medieval typo.' Their research proposes that a scribe mistakenly transcribed a word leading to the belief that Wade was surrounded by elves instead of what should have indicated wolves. This crucial correction places Wade in a world of knights and romantic adventures, more fitting for a reader seeking chivalric tales than the eerie ambiance suggested by the current interpretation. The findings, published in "The Review of English Studies", could significantly impact how we understand Chaucer's references to this enigmatic character.
