Cecily Chaumpaigne Cries Quits: Chaucer, Quitclaims, and Compromise

ABSTRACT This article explores the medieval history of the quitclaim instrument to better understand its significance in the case of Staundon v. Chaucer and Chaumpaigne. From its early uses in property conveyancing to its later adaptations in legal arbitration, the quitclaim proved a flexible instrument for negotiating within and outside formal litigation processes, making it an especially valuable strategic tool for unmarried female property holders. Characterized by its paradoxical action—to declare oneself “quit” or “quiet”—the quitclaim could signal satisfaction or acquiescence, recompense or relinquishment. It crystallizes, in this way, the complex historical legacy of Cecily Chaumpaigne, whose voice asserts itself in the Chaucer life-records precisely to promise its future silence on the subject of raptus. The Chaumpaigne quitclaim, this article argues, challenges modern scholars to understand such compromises as form of gendered legal agency, with implications for a variety of Chaucer’s works, including the Franklin’s Tale.