Marion Turner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book explores the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s, revealing a language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. ...
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This book explores the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s, revealing a language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. Taking a strongly interdisciplinary approach, it examines how discourses about social antagonism work across different kinds of texts written at this time, including Geoffrey Chaucer's House of Fame, Troilus and Criseyde, and Canterbury Tales, and other literary texts such as St. Erkenwald, John Gower's Vox clamantis, Thomas Usk's Testament of Love, and Richard Maidstone's Concordia. Many non-literary texts are also discussed, including the Mercers' Petition, Usk's Appeal, the guild returns, judicial letters, Philippe de Mézières's Letter to Richard II, and chronicle accounts. These were tumultuous decades in London: some of the conflicts and problems discussed include the Peasants' Revolt, the mayoral rivalries of the 1380s, the Merciless Parliament, slander legislation, and contemporary suspicion of urban associations. While contemporary texts try to hold out hope for the future, or imagine an earlier Golden Age, Chaucer's texts foreground social conflict and antagonism. Though most critics have promoted an idea of Chaucer's texts as essentially socially optimistic and congenial, this book argues that Chaucer presents a vision of a society that is inevitably divided and destructive.Less
This book explores the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s, revealing a language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. Taking a strongly interdisciplinary approach, it examines how discourses about social antagonism work across different kinds of texts written at this time, including Geoffrey Chaucer's House of Fame, Troilus and Criseyde, and Canterbury Tales, and other literary texts such as St. Erkenwald, John Gower's Vox clamantis, Thomas Usk's Testament of Love, and Richard Maidstone's Concordia. Many non-literary texts are also discussed, including the Mercers' Petition, Usk's Appeal, the guild returns, judicial letters, Philippe de Mézières's Letter to Richard II, and chronicle accounts. These were tumultuous decades in London: some of the conflicts and problems discussed include the Peasants' Revolt, the mayoral rivalries of the 1380s, the Merciless Parliament, slander legislation, and contemporary suspicion of urban associations. While contemporary texts try to hold out hope for the future, or imagine an earlier Golden Age, Chaucer's texts foreground social conflict and antagonism. Though most critics have promoted an idea of Chaucer's texts as essentially socially optimistic and congenial, this book argues that Chaucer presents a vision of a society that is inevitably divided and destructive.
Hugh White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187301
- eISBN:
- 9780191674693
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187301.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings ...
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‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.Less
‘Nature’ is a highly important term in the ethical discourse of the Middle Ages and, as such, a leading concept in medieval literature. This book examines the moral status of the natural in writings by Alan of Lille, Jean de Meun, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, and others, showing how — particularly in the erotic sphere — the influences of nature are not always conceived as wholly benign. Though medieval thinkers often affirm an association of nature with reason, and therefore with the good, there is also an acknowledgement that the animal, the pre-rational, the instinctive within human beings may be validly considered natural. In fact, human beings may be thought to be urged, almost ineluctably, by the force of nature within them towards behaviour hostile to reason and the right.
Andrew Lynch
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526129154
- eISBN:
- 9781526141996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526129154.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Andrew Lynch recuperates an overlooked aspect of Chaucerian reception in the nineteenth century: Chaucer’s Catholicism. By the nineteenth century, to be Catholic meant to be un-English, even ...
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Andrew Lynch recuperates an overlooked aspect of Chaucerian reception in the nineteenth century: Chaucer’s Catholicism. By the nineteenth century, to be Catholic meant to be un-English, even unpatriotic. Lynch reviews the different strategies employed by literary critics to dilute the idea of Chaucer as a Catholic believer. Chaucer’s Catholicism was subjected to processes of infantilisation in order to promote his status as the father of English poetry.Less
Andrew Lynch recuperates an overlooked aspect of Chaucerian reception in the nineteenth century: Chaucer’s Catholicism. By the nineteenth century, to be Catholic meant to be un-English, even unpatriotic. Lynch reviews the different strategies employed by literary critics to dilute the idea of Chaucer as a Catholic believer. Chaucer’s Catholicism was subjected to processes of infantilisation in order to promote his status as the father of English poetry.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter turns to another pair struggling with the Problem of Paganism: William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. For Langland, the Problem is an issue addressed directly, with the focus on the ...
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This chapter turns to another pair struggling with the Problem of Paganism: William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. For Langland, the Problem is an issue addressed directly, with the focus on the salvation of virtuous pagans. But, despite the explicit doctrinal discussion, Langland is not simply doing the same thing in vernacular verse as the university theologians: the complex form of his poem makes the positions he takes less clearly defined, but allows him to adumbrate daring ideas outside the range of the scholastic discussions. By contrast, Chaucer avoids the theological problems almost entirely; more perhaps than any other medieval writer, he explores the Problem of Paganism by imagining himself within a pagan world, whilst aware, as his readers too would be, that there is an external Christian perspective on it, which is only partly accessible from his viewpoint on the inside.Less
This chapter turns to another pair struggling with the Problem of Paganism: William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. For Langland, the Problem is an issue addressed directly, with the focus on the salvation of virtuous pagans. But, despite the explicit doctrinal discussion, Langland is not simply doing the same thing in vernacular verse as the university theologians: the complex form of his poem makes the positions he takes less clearly defined, but allows him to adumbrate daring ideas outside the range of the scholastic discussions. By contrast, Chaucer avoids the theological problems almost entirely; more perhaps than any other medieval writer, he explores the Problem of Paganism by imagining himself within a pagan world, whilst aware, as his readers too would be, that there is an external Christian perspective on it, which is only partly accessible from his viewpoint on the inside.
Stephen Knight
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526129154
- eISBN:
- 9781526141996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526129154.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Stephen Knight offers an array of new material from nineteenth-century media (newspapers and magazines) made accessible by the digitisation of archival records. Knight showcases extraordinary ...
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Stephen Knight offers an array of new material from nineteenth-century media (newspapers and magazines) made accessible by the digitisation of archival records. Knight showcases extraordinary examples of extra-canonical Chaucer reception that highlight the emerging literary proclivities of the reading public, and the interest of nineteenth-century editors in re-presenting Chaucer’s works to larger audiences and targeting specific groups: women, children, the well-read. These newly available sources open up avenues for further enquiry into the roots of modern medievalism.Less
Stephen Knight offers an array of new material from nineteenth-century media (newspapers and magazines) made accessible by the digitisation of archival records. Knight showcases extraordinary examples of extra-canonical Chaucer reception that highlight the emerging literary proclivities of the reading public, and the interest of nineteenth-century editors in re-presenting Chaucer’s works to larger audiences and targeting specific groups: women, children, the well-read. These newly available sources open up avenues for further enquiry into the roots of modern medievalism.
G. Geltner
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199639458
- eISBN:
- 9780191741098
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199639458.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter examines the literature associated with the medieval antifraternal tradition, a corpus of texts supposedly inspired by the Parisian theologian William of St Amour (d. c.1273) and united ...
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This chapter examines the literature associated with the medieval antifraternal tradition, a corpus of texts supposedly inspired by the Parisian theologian William of St Amour (d. c.1273) and united in its call to eradicate the mendicant orders. By looking at both doctrinal and literary texts composed during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it demonstrates that few authors actually adhered to William’s ecclesiology, rendering his magnum opus something of a false start. While theologians mostly shied away from rejecting the orthodoxy of religious mendicancy, authors of poetry and prose fiction appropriated themes and ideas from William’s works in ways far removed from his reactionary writings. Thus, insofar as there was a medieval literary antifraternal tradition, it is comprised predominantly of theological treatises that criticized but did not abhor the friars and works belonging to the polyvalent realm of estates satire.Less
This chapter examines the literature associated with the medieval antifraternal tradition, a corpus of texts supposedly inspired by the Parisian theologian William of St Amour (d. c.1273) and united in its call to eradicate the mendicant orders. By looking at both doctrinal and literary texts composed during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it demonstrates that few authors actually adhered to William’s ecclesiology, rendering his magnum opus something of a false start. While theologians mostly shied away from rejecting the orthodoxy of religious mendicancy, authors of poetry and prose fiction appropriated themes and ideas from William’s works in ways far removed from his reactionary writings. Thus, insofar as there was a medieval literary antifraternal tradition, it is comprised predominantly of theological treatises that criticized but did not abhor the friars and works belonging to the polyvalent realm of estates satire.
Daniel Wakelin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199215881
- eISBN:
- 9780191706899
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215881.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter argues that humanism affected English literature long before 1500, and contrasts the common claims that it did not. It briefly considers various definitions of the word humanism and ...
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This chapter argues that humanism affected English literature long before 1500, and contrasts the common claims that it did not. It briefly considers various definitions of the word humanism and their connection with periodization, which it criticizes. It argues that we should consider humanism as a form of reading, which would allow us to keep in mind the unpredictability of the reading process and thus of humanism. For a case-study, the chapter considers, through marginalia and page-layout, the reading and reception of Boece by Geoffrey Chaucer and of the translation of Boethius and Vegetius by John Walton. This case-study reveals the variety of methods of vernacular humanist reading and the difference between humanist reading and earlier vernacular scholarship.Less
This chapter argues that humanism affected English literature long before 1500, and contrasts the common claims that it did not. It briefly considers various definitions of the word humanism and their connection with periodization, which it criticizes. It argues that we should consider humanism as a form of reading, which would allow us to keep in mind the unpredictability of the reading process and thus of humanism. For a case-study, the chapter considers, through marginalia and page-layout, the reading and reception of Boece by Geoffrey Chaucer and of the translation of Boethius and Vegetius by John Walton. This case-study reveals the variety of methods of vernacular humanist reading and the difference between humanist reading and earlier vernacular scholarship.
Louise D’Arcens
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526129154
- eISBN:
- 9781526141996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526129154.003.0014
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
From the earliest manuscript images through to cinematic depictions, Chaucer’s ‘persone’, that is his face and body, has been a key focus in the pursuit of transhistorical intimacy with the author. ...
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From the earliest manuscript images through to cinematic depictions, Chaucer’s ‘persone’, that is his face and body, has been a key focus in the pursuit of transhistorical intimacy with the author. Chaucer’s physical self has been portrayed repeatedly across subsequent centuries in an array of media. Drawing upon the hermeneutic concept of Einfühlung (‘feeling into’) to examine the long ‘empathetic afterlife’ enjoyed by Chaucer’s ‘persone’, D’Arcens explores what Chaucer’s face and body have come to mean to post-medieval audiences; she traces how these differences intersect with the constantly changing nature of Chaucer’s legacy, especially as he and his work have been deemed to reflect national literary and comic traditions.Less
From the earliest manuscript images through to cinematic depictions, Chaucer’s ‘persone’, that is his face and body, has been a key focus in the pursuit of transhistorical intimacy with the author. Chaucer’s physical self has been portrayed repeatedly across subsequent centuries in an array of media. Drawing upon the hermeneutic concept of Einfühlung (‘feeling into’) to examine the long ‘empathetic afterlife’ enjoyed by Chaucer’s ‘persone’, D’Arcens explores what Chaucer’s face and body have come to mean to post-medieval audiences; she traces how these differences intersect with the constantly changing nature of Chaucer’s legacy, especially as he and his work have been deemed to reflect national literary and comic traditions.
Sheila Delany
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195109887
- eISBN:
- 9780199855216
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195109887.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The chapter provides a history of Osbern Bokenham's legendary—its milieu and literary influences. Bokenham's focus on female saints is said to derive from a variety of factors such as the strong ...
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The chapter provides a history of Osbern Bokenham's legendary—its milieu and literary influences. Bokenham's focus on female saints is said to derive from a variety of factors such as the strong religious attachment to intercessors for God—the saints, a significant number of which were women. Also, the growing influence of women as patrons of art and religion and as ecclesiastical members provided Bokenham with an audience for his work. Lastly, his exposure to the major religious literature and canons of his time also played a part in his choice. The second half of the chapter explores the non-religious precursors and possible influences on Bokenham's legendary, the most famous of which was Geoffrey Chaucer's literary pieces on women saints. The chapter examines the differences and similarities between the works of Bokenham and Chaucer and asserts that the underlying philosophy and motivation of the two hagiographical pieces are different.Less
The chapter provides a history of Osbern Bokenham's legendary—its milieu and literary influences. Bokenham's focus on female saints is said to derive from a variety of factors such as the strong religious attachment to intercessors for God—the saints, a significant number of which were women. Also, the growing influence of women as patrons of art and religion and as ecclesiastical members provided Bokenham with an audience for his work. Lastly, his exposure to the major religious literature and canons of his time also played a part in his choice. The second half of the chapter explores the non-religious precursors and possible influences on Bokenham's legendary, the most famous of which was Geoffrey Chaucer's literary pieces on women saints. The chapter examines the differences and similarities between the works of Bokenham and Chaucer and asserts that the underlying philosophy and motivation of the two hagiographical pieces are different.
Edward I. Condren
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813032412
- eISBN:
- 9780813038339
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813032412.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
While covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, this book seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. The author provides new ...
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While covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, this book seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. The author provides new interpretations of the three “dream visions” — Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, and House of Fame — as well as Chaucer's early masterwork Troilus and Criseyde. He draws a series of portraits of Chaucer as glimpsed in his work: the fledgling poet who is seeking to master the artificial style of French love poetry, the passionate author attempting to rebut critics of his work, and, finally, the master of a naturalistic style entirely his own.Less
While covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, this book seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. The author provides new interpretations of the three “dream visions” — Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, and House of Fame — as well as Chaucer's early masterwork Troilus and Criseyde. He draws a series of portraits of Chaucer as glimpsed in his work: the fledgling poet who is seeking to master the artificial style of French love poetry, the passionate author attempting to rebut critics of his work, and, finally, the master of a naturalistic style entirely his own.
Thorlac Turville-Petre
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122791
- eISBN:
- 9780191671548
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122791.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and ...
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This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and explores how English writers in the half-century leading up to the outbreak of the Hundred Years War expressed their concepts of England as a nation, and how they exploited the association between nation, people, and language. At the centre of this work is a study of the construction of national identity that takes place in the histories written in English. The contributions of romances and saints' lives to an awareness of the nation's past are also considered, as is the question of how writers were able to reconcile their sense of regional identity with commitment to the nation. A final chapter explores the interrelationship between England's three languages, Latin, French and English, at a time when English was attaining the status of the national language. Middle English quotations are translated into modern English throughout.Less
This book pays attention to the earlier fourteenth century in England as a literary period in its own right. It surveys the wide range of writings by the generation before Geoffrey Chaucer, and explores how English writers in the half-century leading up to the outbreak of the Hundred Years War expressed their concepts of England as a nation, and how they exploited the association between nation, people, and language. At the centre of this work is a study of the construction of national identity that takes place in the histories written in English. The contributions of romances and saints' lives to an awareness of the nation's past are also considered, as is the question of how writers were able to reconcile their sense of regional identity with commitment to the nation. A final chapter explores the interrelationship between England's three languages, Latin, French and English, at a time when English was attaining the status of the national language. Middle English quotations are translated into modern English throughout.
Richard Terry
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198186236
- eISBN:
- 9780191718557
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186236.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
Since long before the English Augustan era, it had been a commonplace that English literature began in the age of Geoffrey Chaucer, either through his offices or, more rarely, through those of his ...
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Since long before the English Augustan era, it had been a commonplace that English literature began in the age of Geoffrey Chaucer, either through his offices or, more rarely, through those of his contemporary, John Gower. Indeed, it was not unusual for Chaucer to be seen as the sole literary figure of consequence before the 16th century. The most common conceit expressing Chaucer's priority in the literary tradition was that of his being the ‘father’ of English poetry. Another prevalent metaphor for Chaucer's initiation of the vernacular tradition, however, was that of his being a rising sun or new-breaking morn. This chapter considers the hunt for a pre-Chaucerian origin to English literature, an origin that would satisfy the question of at what point, and in connection with which writers, English literature actually began. It discusses the so-called battle of the books, especially as it addressed the status of the vernacular literary canon in comparison with the classical one.Less
Since long before the English Augustan era, it had been a commonplace that English literature began in the age of Geoffrey Chaucer, either through his offices or, more rarely, through those of his contemporary, John Gower. Indeed, it was not unusual for Chaucer to be seen as the sole literary figure of consequence before the 16th century. The most common conceit expressing Chaucer's priority in the literary tradition was that of his being the ‘father’ of English poetry. Another prevalent metaphor for Chaucer's initiation of the vernacular tradition, however, was that of his being a rising sun or new-breaking morn. This chapter considers the hunt for a pre-Chaucerian origin to English literature, an origin that would satisfy the question of at what point, and in connection with which writers, English literature actually began. It discusses the so-called battle of the books, especially as it addressed the status of the vernacular literary canon in comparison with the classical one.
MARION TURNER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The idea of social (im)possibility is at the heart of Geoffrey Chaucer's poem Canterbury Tales and the guild returns of 1388-1389 in London, texts that take the nature of associational form as a key ...
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The idea of social (im)possibility is at the heart of Geoffrey Chaucer's poem Canterbury Tales and the guild returns of 1388-1389 in London, texts that take the nature of associational form as a key concept. Concern about social conflict, social antagonism, and nonconformity is insistently evident in all of these texts. Examining the Canterbury Tales alongside far less well-known contemporary texts illuminates some of the concepts and language deployed in the poem and helps to reconstruct the textual world in which it was written. Both kinds of groups — the Canterbury compaignye and the guilds — were concerned to maintain an idea of themselves as coherent, an idea that reveals its inadequacy in its very inception. This chapter examines urban associational form and considers the language of fellowship and company, comparing the London and Lynn guild returns with the Canterbury Tales.Less
The idea of social (im)possibility is at the heart of Geoffrey Chaucer's poem Canterbury Tales and the guild returns of 1388-1389 in London, texts that take the nature of associational form as a key concept. Concern about social conflict, social antagonism, and nonconformity is insistently evident in all of these texts. Examining the Canterbury Tales alongside far less well-known contemporary texts illuminates some of the concepts and language deployed in the poem and helps to reconstruct the textual world in which it was written. Both kinds of groups — the Canterbury compaignye and the guilds — were concerned to maintain an idea of themselves as coherent, an idea that reveals its inadequacy in its very inception. This chapter examines urban associational form and considers the language of fellowship and company, comparing the London and Lynn guild returns with the Canterbury Tales.
MARION TURNER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book has tried to explore some of the ways in which social antagonism was articulated and addressed in Geoffrey Chaucer's textual environment. It appears that producers of texts in late ...
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This book has tried to explore some of the ways in which social antagonism was articulated and addressed in Geoffrey Chaucer's textual environment. It appears that producers of texts in late 14th-century London were profoundly concerned with problems of civic dissent and social division. The explosiveness of the climate in which Chaucer lived and wrote is dramatically exemplified in the example of John Constantyn, a cordwainer in the city of London whose hard fate bears witness to the heightened atmosphere of anxiety about rebellion, gossip, and faction in the 1380s. Chaucer's writings suggest that discursive turbulence cannot be tamed, that voices of aggression and dissent will make themselves heard, that societies will repeat the self-destructive behaviour of their predecessors, that people will betray each other, and that social groups will always fragment.Less
This book has tried to explore some of the ways in which social antagonism was articulated and addressed in Geoffrey Chaucer's textual environment. It appears that producers of texts in late 14th-century London were profoundly concerned with problems of civic dissent and social division. The explosiveness of the climate in which Chaucer lived and wrote is dramatically exemplified in the example of John Constantyn, a cordwainer in the city of London whose hard fate bears witness to the heightened atmosphere of anxiety about rebellion, gossip, and faction in the 1380s. Chaucer's writings suggest that discursive turbulence cannot be tamed, that voices of aggression and dissent will make themselves heard, that societies will repeat the self-destructive behaviour of their predecessors, that people will betray each other, and that social groups will always fragment.
MARION TURNER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This book is about discourse and the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s: it is about the language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and ...
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This book is about discourse and the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s: it is about the language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. Texts produced in and around late 14th-century London are everywhere informed by discourses of conflict and social antagonism. The book is interested in the ways that discourses function in different kinds of texts produced at the same time and in exploring how various texts engage with concepts of social fragmentation and breakdown. Geoffrey Chaucer's writings are a lynchpin of this book not because of their canonical status but because these texts are especially concerned with conflict and are unusually open about the impossibility of social amelioration. Thus, while examining discursive representations of social conflict in texts of the late 14th century, this book shows that pessimism about social possibility is everywhere apparent in Chaucer's texts: his writings are dependent on a heart of darkness at their very core.Less
This book is about discourse and the textual environment of London in the 1380s and 1390s: it is about the language of betrayal, surveillance, slander, treason, rebellion, flawed idealism, and corrupted compaignyes. Texts produced in and around late 14th-century London are everywhere informed by discourses of conflict and social antagonism. The book is interested in the ways that discourses function in different kinds of texts produced at the same time and in exploring how various texts engage with concepts of social fragmentation and breakdown. Geoffrey Chaucer's writings are a lynchpin of this book not because of their canonical status but because these texts are especially concerned with conflict and are unusually open about the impossibility of social amelioration. Thus, while examining discursive representations of social conflict in texts of the late 14th century, this book shows that pessimism about social possibility is everywhere apparent in Chaucer's texts: his writings are dependent on a heart of darkness at their very core.
MARION TURNER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The ideological concept of civic progress, manifested in the Janus-like image of New Troy, was a potent sociopolitical tool in late 14th-century London. This chapter examines the ways in which civic ...
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The ideological concept of civic progress, manifested in the Janus-like image of New Troy, was a potent sociopolitical tool in late 14th-century London. This chapter examines the ways in which civic idealism functions in texts produced in London in the last two decades of the 14th century, and in the ways in which different texts deal with the problem of civic antagonism while deploying the idea of Troynovaunt. The ideas of civic idealism and their inevitable breakdown are considered by analysing the ideology of New Troy and the depiction of the fragmentation of this idealised city in the poetry of John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, Richard Maidstone, and the author of St. Erkenwald. One area of interest is the slippage between the concepts of treason and of peace-making.Less
The ideological concept of civic progress, manifested in the Janus-like image of New Troy, was a potent sociopolitical tool in late 14th-century London. This chapter examines the ways in which civic idealism functions in texts produced in London in the last two decades of the 14th century, and in the ways in which different texts deal with the problem of civic antagonism while deploying the idea of Troynovaunt. The ideas of civic idealism and their inevitable breakdown are considered by analysing the ideology of New Troy and the depiction of the fragmentation of this idealised city in the poetry of John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, Richard Maidstone, and the author of St. Erkenwald. One area of interest is the slippage between the concepts of treason and of peace-making.
Alison Sinclair
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198151906
- eISBN:
- 9780191672880
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198151906.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In considering the tale of a cuckold, Geoffrey Chaucer's Miller's Tale, and others, in the light of Kleiman analysis, there is a major distinction to be made. Within the character of the cuckold ...
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In considering the tale of a cuckold, Geoffrey Chaucer's Miller's Tale, and others, in the light of Kleiman analysis, there is a major distinction to be made. Within the character of the cuckold himself, one can observe an extremely primitive level of development, characterised by splitting, denial, reaction formation, and envy. As often as not, the cuckold is one who can barely tolerate the taking-in of information; that is, he is in an infantile state that appears to be prior to the paranoid-schizoid position, in which there is at least the defensive splitting of the self to cope with information, welcome and unwelcome, from the outside world. This primitive state of the cuckold as a character, however, contrasts sharply with what one can construe as the meaning of his portrayal in literature, and it is this meaning that this chapter explores first, before turning to examples of cuckolds in Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio.Less
In considering the tale of a cuckold, Geoffrey Chaucer's Miller's Tale, and others, in the light of Kleiman analysis, there is a major distinction to be made. Within the character of the cuckold himself, one can observe an extremely primitive level of development, characterised by splitting, denial, reaction formation, and envy. As often as not, the cuckold is one who can barely tolerate the taking-in of information; that is, he is in an infantile state that appears to be prior to the paranoid-schizoid position, in which there is at least the defensive splitting of the self to cope with information, welcome and unwelcome, from the outside world. This primitive state of the cuckold as a character, however, contrasts sharply with what one can construe as the meaning of his portrayal in literature, and it is this meaning that this chapter explores first, before turning to examples of cuckolds in Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio.
MARION TURNER
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199207893
- eISBN:
- 9780191709142
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207893.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
London texts of the 1380s betray an insistent anxiety about the power and effects of linguistic conflict. Statutes, proclamations, petitions, and poetry dwell on slander, careless talk, spying ...
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London texts of the 1380s betray an insistent anxiety about the power and effects of linguistic conflict. Statutes, proclamations, petitions, and poetry dwell on slander, careless talk, spying eavesdroppers, and verbal sparring. This chapter examines the Mercers' Petition, Geoffrey Chaucer's poem House of Fame, and some proclamations made in 1380s London. It focuses on the idea of surveillance and on attempts to control what can be said, and discusses the way that violence was played out through language in the 1380s. The chapter also considers the extent to which discourse can rebel against political control. The Mercers' Petition and the House of Fame are both concerned with social antagonism and problems: surveillance, tyranny, the need for private space, and conflict between different points of view are key issues in both texts. However, Chaucer's poem is more open than a document like the petition could be about revealing both the inevitability of tyrannical rulers, and the perennial nature of social conflict, subversive behaviour, and antagonistic voices.Less
London texts of the 1380s betray an insistent anxiety about the power and effects of linguistic conflict. Statutes, proclamations, petitions, and poetry dwell on slander, careless talk, spying eavesdroppers, and verbal sparring. This chapter examines the Mercers' Petition, Geoffrey Chaucer's poem House of Fame, and some proclamations made in 1380s London. It focuses on the idea of surveillance and on attempts to control what can be said, and discusses the way that violence was played out through language in the 1380s. The chapter also considers the extent to which discourse can rebel against political control. The Mercers' Petition and the House of Fame are both concerned with social antagonism and problems: surveillance, tyranny, the need for private space, and conflict between different points of view are key issues in both texts. However, Chaucer's poem is more open than a document like the petition could be about revealing both the inevitability of tyrannical rulers, and the perennial nature of social conflict, subversive behaviour, and antagonistic voices.
Jennifer L. Sisk
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780719089701
- eISBN:
- 9781526104243
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719089701.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Anglo-Saxon / Old English Literature
Throughout the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer creatively uses the hagiographic mode in both secular and religious tales as a way of negotiating hagiographic authority as a legitimising force. In several ...
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Throughout the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer creatively uses the hagiographic mode in both secular and religious tales as a way of negotiating hagiographic authority as a legitimising force. In several of his tales, notably the Physician’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, and the Man of Law’s Tale, Chaucer employs the powers of this authority, through the concept of sanctity, in order to articulate aspects of the literary. This articulation, which is problematic in many cases, leads to indeterminacy and is used to explore questions of character, authorship, authorisation, and power.Less
Throughout the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer creatively uses the hagiographic mode in both secular and religious tales as a way of negotiating hagiographic authority as a legitimising force. In several of his tales, notably the Physician’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, and the Man of Law’s Tale, Chaucer employs the powers of this authority, through the concept of sanctity, in order to articulate aspects of the literary. This articulation, which is problematic in many cases, leads to indeterminacy and is used to explore questions of character, authorship, authorisation, and power.
Thomas A. Prendergast
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526129154
- eISBN:
- 9781526141996
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526129154.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Thomas A. Prendergast re-examines the fifteenth-century ‘Beryn’ manuscript, one of numerous continuations of and additions to the Canterbury Tales. Prendergast’s foremost concern is to identify the ...
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Thomas A. Prendergast re-examines the fifteenth-century ‘Beryn’ manuscript, one of numerous continuations of and additions to the Canterbury Tales. Prendergast’s foremost concern is to identify the logic guiding the Beryn-scribe’s addition of this text to the Tales. He argues that the scribe was compelled by an irresistible desire to complete the text of the Canterbury Tales, thus attributing agency to the text itself.Less
Thomas A. Prendergast re-examines the fifteenth-century ‘Beryn’ manuscript, one of numerous continuations of and additions to the Canterbury Tales. Prendergast’s foremost concern is to identify the logic guiding the Beryn-scribe’s addition of this text to the Tales. He argues that the scribe was compelled by an irresistible desire to complete the text of the Canterbury Tales, thus attributing agency to the text itself.
