10 On this controversy see R. Davidson, Forschungen zur Geschichte von Florenz, 4 vols. (Berlin, 1896-1927), v. 1, p. 144, and v. 4, p. 461; and E. W. Anthony, Early Florentine Architecture and Decoration (Cambridge, Mass., 1927), passim. For brief summary, see Ferdinand Schevill, History of Florence from the Founding of the City Through the Renaissance (New York, 1936), p. 242.
11 Quoted by Edith Rickert, Chaucer’s World (Columbia University Press, New York, 1948), pp. 278-9.
12 For details, see the correspondence between C. H. Bromby and St. Clair Baddeley in the Athenaeum, September 17-November 26, 1898.
13 See G. G. Coulton, Chaucer and His England, p. 45.
14 R. Ramat, “Indicazioni per una lettura del Decamerone,” in Scritti su Giovanni Boccaccio (Florence, 1964), pp. 7-19.
CHAPTER SIX
1 George Williams, A New View of Chaucer (Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 1965), p. 26.
2 See Margaret Galway, “Geoffrey Chaucer, J.P. and M.P.,” Modern Language Review, 36 (1941) 1-36.
3 See Haldeen Braddy, in Three Chaucer Studies, ed. Carleton Brown (Folcroft Press, Folcroft, Pa., 1932, reprinted 1969), 2, pp. 36-9.
4 For a summary of the theories, see R. M. Lumiansky, “Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules: A Philosophical Interpretation,” Review of English Studies, 24 (1948) 81-9. And see Williams, pp. 56-65, and Thomas Tyrwhitt (ed.), The Canterbury Tales (2nd ed., London, 1798), v. 2, p. 415.
5 Panel structure was a favorite form in Old English poetry. I discuss one example in The Construction of Christian Poetry in Old English (Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois, 1975), pp. 106-17. For comment on a late example of the form, see my Complete Works of the Gawain-Poet (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 1965), pp. 61-9.
6 See David Chamberlain, “The Music of the Spheres and the Parliament of Foules,” Chaucer Review, 5 (1970) 32-56.
7 Tyrwhitt, v. 2, p. 415; William Godwin, The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer (T. Davison for R. Phillips, London, 1804).
8 Braddy, part 2, pp. 1-101.
9 The theory originally brought forward by John Koch, in Englische Studien, 1, 287 ff., has been elaborated by O. F. Emerson, Chaucer Essays and Studies (Cleveland, Ohio, 1929), pp. 58-122.
10 “A New Interpretation of The Parlement of the Foules,” Modern Philology, 18 (1920) 5.
11 Braddy, p. 81.
12 On Sir John Clanvowe and Sir Lewis Clifford, see G. L. Kittredge, “Chaucer and Some of His Friends,” Modern Philology, 1 (1903) 1-18.
13 On Chaucer’s friends, see Manly, pp. 70-234, passim.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1 Quoted in R. B. Dobson’s collection, The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 (Macmillan, London, 1970), p. 92.
2 May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307-1399 (Oxford University Press, London, 1959), p. 398.
3 Dobson, pp. 92-3.
4 Dobson, p. 93.
5 Charles Oman, The Great Revolt of 1381 (1906, reprinted by Haskell House, New York, 1968), p. 1.
6 Oman, p. 190.
7 Dobson, pp. 103-4.
8 Dobson, p. 126.
9 For Walsingham’s version, which I follow except where it seems obviously wrong, see Dobson, pp. 168-81. My quotations are from Dobson’s translation, slightly changed. Cf. McKisack, pp. 412-14.
10 For the debate see Haldeen Braddy, Geoffrey Chaucer, Literary and Historical Studies (Kennikat Press, Port Washington, New York, 1971), pp. 38-9.
11 Life-Records, pp. 60-1.
12 Life-Records, p. 83.
13 Chaucer probably received this earlier than 1382; the date of his official assignment as controller of petty customs. See Life-Records, pp. 150-1.
14 For the whole Plunkett-Watts reconstruction of the case against Chaucer, see P. R. Watts, “The Strange Case of Geoffrey Chaucer and Cecilia Chaumpaigne,” London Quarterly Review 63 (1947) 491-515. In the Manly, Rickert, et al., Life-Records, p. 346, the Plunkett argument is quoted in a way which slightly distorts it to favor Chaucer’s innocence. For other studies of the raptus case, see the works cited in Life-Records, p. 346, n. 1.
15 On Morel, see E. P. Kuhl, “Some Friends of Chaucer,” Publications of the Modern Language Association 29 (1914) 270-2.
16 Aldous Huxley, Essays New and Old (Florence Press, London, 1926), p. 24, and G. G. Coulton, Chaucer and His England (Russell & Russell, New York, 1957), pp. 10-11.
17 “Chaucer and the Common People,” n.p. (Southern Illinois University Library, Carbondale, Illinois), p. 3.
18 See Legend of Good Women, Prologue F, 11. 373-83, and Prologue G, 11. 353-88.
19 George Williams, A New View of Chaucer (Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 1965), p. 36.
20 Not everyone agrees on this chronology. Cf. F. N. Robinson, p. xxix.
21 Richard H. Jones, The Royal Policy of Richard II: Absolutism in the Middle Ages (Barnes & Noble, New York, 1968), pp. 12-13.
22 McKisack, p. 425.
CHAPTER EIGHT
1 May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307-1399 (Oxford University Press, London, 1959), p. 431.
2 Margaret Galway, “Geoffrey Chaucer, J.P. and M.P.,” Modern Language Review 36 (1941) 1-36.
3 Galway, pp. 17-18.
4 W. W. Skeat, The Oxford Chaucer, Student’s Edition (Oxford University Press, London, 1894), p. xiii.
5 Galway, p. 5.
6 As translated by Galway, p. 4.
7 Life-Records, pp. 356-8.
8 For more detail see Anthony Goodman, The Loyal Conspiracy: The Lords Appellant Under Richard II (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1971), pp. 74-86.
9 Richard H. Jones, The Royal Policy of Richard II: Absolutism in the Middle Ages (Barnes & Noble, New York, 1968), p. 38.
10 See Jones, pp. 39-40.
11 McKisack, p. 454.
12 Galway, pp. 15-16.
13 See Life-Records, pp. 465-6.
CHAPTER NINE
1 I present this evidence in “The Case Against the ‘Bradshaw Shift’; or, the Mystery of the Manuscript in the Trunk,” Papers on Language and Literature 3 (1967) 80-106.
2 May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307-1399 (Oxford University Press, London, 1959), p. 476, quoting Walsingham’s account.
3 Richard H. Jones, The Royal Policy of Richard II: Absolutism in the Later Middle Ages (Barnes & Noble, New York, 1968), p. 104.
4 Life-Records, pp. 62-3.
5 Life-Records, p. 524.
6 At any rate, no petition has been found. See Life-Records, p. 527.
7 We have another record showing Henry’s interest in Chaucer, but since I can make no particular sense of it, I ignore it. See Life-Records, p. 275.
8 On “this toune,” see John Gardner, The Construction of the Wakefield Cycle (Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, Illinois, 1974), p. 80.
9 He died, according to an old tradition, on October 25, 1400—a tradition based on the now illegible inscription on his tomb, which, according to John Stow, was erected by Nicholas Brigham in Westminster Abbey in 1556. See Life-Records, pp. 547-9.
Index
A
ABC (Chaucer), 137, 151
Absolutism, of Richard II, 360–361
Adam (Biblical figure), 266
Aelius Donatus, 95, 96
Africa (Petrarch), 255
Alchemy
in Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale, 170
Chaucer as master, 103
in Second Nun’s Tale, 167–168
Aldgate, 224, 249
Alfonso XI, King of Castile, 200
Allegorical writing, 96
Allusion, 166
Almonry Cathedral School, 93
Analogy, argument by, 167
Anelida and Arcite (Chaucer), 123, 221, 254
Angle, Guichard d’, 203–204, 205, 224, 250, 310
Anglo-French war, 278–279
Anne of Bohemia, 259
Aquinas, Thomas, 21, 79, 88–89, 172
Architecture
Chaucer as royal office
r for, 231–232
Italian, 231–235
in Troilus and Criseyde, 232–233
Aristotle, 88, 164
Armor, advances in, 211–212
Art
bad, 347–348
Italian, 234–236
Arundel, Thomas, 329, 331, 354, 357
Astley, William de, 179
Astrolabe, 103
Attechapel, Bartholomew, 27, 181
Attorney, Chaucer as, 153
Atwood, Henry, 334
Augustine. See St. Augustine
B
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 5
Bacon, Henry, 166–167
Bacon, Roger, 13, 21, 98, 163–164, 256
Bad art, 347–348
Badia church, 234
Ball, John, 283, 289
Barking convent, 183
Barrett, Richard, 307
Bartholomew the Englishman, 72–73, 74–75
Beauchamp, Guy, 53
Beauchamp, Thomas, 332
Beauchamp, William, 301
Beaufort, John, 184, 190
Becket, Thomas, 115
Bedford, John, 32
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 5–6
Beheadings, 62–63
Bells, 70–71
Benton, John de, 179
Beowulf, 96, 280
Bergman, Ingmar, 85
Berkeley, Edward, 298
Berkhamsted castle, 218
Bernabò of Milan, 264
Betenham, William, 327–328
Beverley, John de, 148
Biography, in poems, 265
Black Death. See plague
Black Prince. See Edward, the Black Prince
Blake, William, 97, 98, 333–334
Blanche of Bourbon, 201
Blanche of Lancaster, 128, 136–137, 187, 209–211
Blanche of Richmond, 150, 160
Boarding-school rules, 81
Boccaccio, Giovanni, 236–238, 241–242
Boethius, 90–93, 98, 100, 163, 270
Bolingbroke, Henry, 184, 190, 318, 331
Book of the Duchess (Chaucer)
Black Knight in, 164–165
Blanche of Lancaster in, 128, 136–137, 209–211
Boethian ideas in, 171
complaint form in, 254
dating of, 257
as debut poem, 153
as debut poem, 153
depression in, 334–335
Gaunt in, 130–131, 190
language in, 164–166
love in, 139, 194–195
Massey references in, 17
Neoplatonism in, 221–222
paganism in, 221–222
Romance of the Rose in, 152
self-portrait in, 150–151
worry in, 13
“Book of the Lion” (Chaucer), 245
Braddy, Haldeen, 213–214, 224
Breastfeeding, 72
Brembre, Nicholas., 13, 246–247, 294, 331
Brewer, Derek, 66–67, 93–94, 179
Brierly, Richard, 340
Britte, Richard, 365
Brocas, Arnold, 319
Bubonic plague, 84. See also plague
Buckholt, Isabella, 334
Buckholt, Walter, 334
Bunyan, John, 11
Burley, John, 250, 288
Burley, Simon, 288–289, 326, 332–333
C
Cannon, 83
Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale (Chaucer). See also Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
alchemy in, 42–43, 170
suburbs in, 26
Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale
alchemy in, 42–43, 170
suburbs in, 26
change in plan for, 344–345
Clerk’s Tale
Richard II in, 362
tyranny in, 303–304
Cook’s Tale, in order of writing, 345
Franklin’s Tale
class in, 305
government in, 347
illusions in, 109–110
love in, 195
Richard II in, 361–362
friar in, 155–157
Friar’s Tale, hierarchy in, 346–347
Gaunt in, 131
humanism in, 235
Knight’s Tale
Boethian philosophy in, 92
chivalry in, 212
cosmology in, 349
Henry Lancaster in, 60
jousting in, 117
love in, 199
in order of writing, 345
Lollards in, 176–177
Man of Law’s Tale
marriage in, 195
in order of writing, 345
Manciple’s Tale, 351–353
Merchant’s Tale
eroticism in, 238
impotence in, 76
Miller’s Tale
Alice Perrers in, 225
celebration in, 112
Christianity in, 80
jousting in, 119
in order of writing, 345
student in, 161
Monk’s Tale, 242, 264–267
Nun’s Priest’s Tale (Chaucer)
revolt in, 290–291
widow in, 322
Pardoner’s Tale. See also Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
debauchery in, 208
drama in, 347
music in, 231
plague in, 85
Parson’s Tale, 303
philosophy in, 257
physician in, 169
Physician’s Tale, 349, 350–351
plenary remissions in, 315
Prioress’s Tale
as atrocity, 349
English manners in, 48
school in, 80–81
Reeve’s Tale
in order of writing, 345
sex in, 140–141
violence at Oxford in, 180
“Retraction” in, 142
Second Nun’s Tale
ancient genre in, 351
metaphor in, 167–168
Shipman’s Tale, 345
Squire in, 107, 131
Summoner’s Tale, 316, 317
Tale of Melibeus, 326, 345, 348
Tale of Sir Tbopas, 349, 351
Wife of Bath’s Tale
Alice Perrers in, 226
changes in, 345–346
Irish in, 150
marriage in, 197
puns in, 141
tyranny in, 61
worry in, 13
Canzoniere (Petrarch), 241
Carroll, Lewis, 97
Chalfont St. Peter manor, 218–219
Champain, Cecily, 300–302
Channel crossings, 228
Charity, in Chaucer, 371
Charles IV, King of France, 56
Charles the Bad, 181
Charles V, King of France, 205, 209
Chaucer, Agnes, 27, 31–32, 39–40
Chaucer, Elizabeth, 182–183, 323–324
Chaucer, Geoffrey
birth of, 25, 71
as chief clerk, 336–341
childhood of, 27–28, 71–83
as controller, 246–250
as diplomat, 227–228
education of, 80–83, 93–104, 153–162
House of Fame, 7, 245–246
Italy and, 228–242
as justice of the peace, 325–327
ladies of, 137–142
legal studies of, 153–159
in Lionel of Antwerp’s court, 105–114
marriage of, 181–182, 193–194, 196–199
as subforester, 365–366
in war, 143–149
Chaucer, John, 25, 27, 28, 32–44, 156–157
Chaucer, Kate, 37
Chaucer, Lewis, 302
Chaucer, Mary, 30
Chaucer, Philippa, 159–160, 183–186, 193–195, 291, 324–325, 333
Chaucer, Richard, 30
Chaucer, Robert, 29–31, 213
Chaucer, Thomas, 188–194, 324, 366
Chief clerk, Chaucer as, 336–341
Chiriton, Walter, 31
Chivalry, 132, 211–212, 328
Christianity
Boethius and, 90–93
magic and, 79–80
in Middle Ages, 90
in Miller’s Tale, 80
Neoplatonism and, 221–222
nominalism and, 174
Papal schism and, 314–315
plague and, 85–86, 88
style of, 11
Christopher (cog), 120
Churches, 70–71
Churchman, John, 308, 334
Clanvowe, John, 269, 301
Classic studies, 163–164
Classical, Chaucer as, 5–6
Clement VII, Pope, 314–315
Clerk, Adam, 340
Clerk’s Tale (Chaucer)
Richard II in, 362
tyranny in, 303–304
Clifford, Lewis, 224, 269–270, 320, 354
Clinton, Robert de, 147
“Clown poem,” 348–349
Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (Macrobius), 13
Complaint of Mars (Chaucer), 253–254
Complaint of Venus (Chaucer), 342
“Complaint” poetic form, 253–254
Complaint to His Lady (Chaucer), 253–254
Complaint to His Purse (Chaucer), 368–370
Complaint Unto Pity (Chaucer), 253–254
Con artists, 69–70
Confessio Amantis (Gower), 19
Confessions (St. Augustine), 11
Conjurers, 69–70
Consolation of Philosophy (Boethius), 90–93, 163, 171
Constance of Castile, 129, 159
Contemptus mundi, 89
Controller, Chaucer as, 246–250
Cook’s Tale (Chaucer), in order of writing, 345. See also Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
Copton, Hamo, 39, 41
Copton, John, 39
Copton, Nicholas, 39, 41
Coronation, of Richard II, 276–277
Corpus Christi Day, 112
Corrupt merchants, 217–218
Cosmology, in Knight’s Tale, 349
Coulton, G. G., 37, 77, 138, 302
Country folk, in Chaucer, 321–323
Courtenay, Peter, 365
Courtenay, William, 176, 312
Criminals, 68–70
Customs collection, 246
D
Dante Alighieri, 132, 194, 229, 235, 238–241, 265
Dating
of Book of the Duchess, 257
of Monk’s Tale, 264–267
of Parliament of Birds, 257–264
Daukin, Baudouin, 147
Dawn, 72
Dawtrey, Alice, 106
De Musica (Boethius), 100, 258
De Vere, Robert, 309, 316, 329, 332
Debauchery, in Pardoner’s Tale, 208
Decameron (Boccaccio), 241
Depression, in Book of the Duchess, 334–335