The character Prudence in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee prudently explains to her husband Melibee that he ought to be merciful, interpreting the text's events for him as they unfold. However, her interpretive methodology poses many problems to the reader. Prudence confuses her twin roles as human wife and allegorical virtue; both the content and manner of her speech can sometimes contradict her own advice, and it is far from clear at the end of the story that her husband has actually learned anything. The implication of this incoherence is that interpretive methodologies themselves are the problem. It is Melibee's strict, moralizing adherence to the precise words used by Prudence and his counselors that leads him towards violence and revenge, while Prudence's looser and somewhat contradictory interpretations of proverbial wisdom nonetheless culminate in a clear, consistent notion of charitable mercy.

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This essay describes a plan for Indigenizing medieval studies that has two elements. The first is an area of research inquiry, “The Global Far North, 500–1500 CE,” which moves past the written records of the Vinland sagas to privilege alternative forms of evidence about cultural contact in the defined period, particularly the oral traditional evidence of Indigenous communities. The project’s investigations will apply the emerging protocols for research ethics and for reciprocity with Indigenous communities, and they will aim to historicize and challenge settler notions of legality that rely on written documents. The essay concludes by arguing that teaching, service, and community outreach must be prioritized over publication as modes of professional activity more conducive to Indigenization’s political goals. Decolonizing medieval studies will require not only that we engage with Indigenous communities but also that we actively center their concerns and contributions at every step.