14th century England. Chaucer: introduction

Middle England Values Gentilesse/Gentil:

Refinement and courtesy resulting from good breeding A function of social class to a certain extent gentil is related to the modern term gentleman

Trouthe/Trewe: 1. fidelity, loyalty; 2. pledge, promise cf. modern English, to "pledge one's troth," meaning to

agree to marry It is more than simply the idea of truthfulness or trueness

to one's word. Courtly love and knightly behavior

Courtly Love (wrap up) Modeled on the feudal relationship between a knight

and his liege lord Idealized sort of relationship (could not exist within

the context of "real life" medieval marriages) The audience for romance was perfectly aware that

these romances were fictions Capellanus's "Art of Courtly Love“: a satire mocking

the conventions of courtly love

The Black Death: historical consequences People died without last rites and without having a

chance to confess their sins. There were not enough workers left to work the land It has been estimated that 40% of England's priests

died in the epidemic. The Church authority was questioned The Peasants' Revolt of 1381 was one result of the

social tension caused by the adjustments needed after the epidemic.

Chaucer (1343-1400): Social background Born in a well-to-do bourgeois family in London,

1343. Commoners who were advancing in wealth and

social prestige Excluded from the aristocracy by birth, and from the

country gentry by their city occupations They were somewhere in between: the beginning of

the English middle class.

Chaucer: Career Path Teenage: a page in the household of Prince Lionel

(son of King Edward III) His 1st great patron was John of Gaunt (5th son of

the king): the most powerful nobleman in England. Received offices, grants of money, and other

privileges for his services from successive kings, Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV.

Sent on diplomatic missions to Flanders, France and Italy

Became a public man but of modest importance

Formal and informal education His development: summed up as comprised in three

stages, French, Italian and English. Embedded the first translation of a Petrarch sonnet

into English. Other models were Boccaccio and Dante. The

influence was not directly exercised through Italy, but via the French.

His latest stories have no direct originals and in their humour and freedom anticipate the typically English temper.

Stages in Literary Development Translated incompletely the Roman de la Rose and

Wrote some short poems before 1360 The Book of the Duchess is a dream vision and an

elegy at once. Translated the Consolation of Philosophy of

Boethius, which influenced him profoundly The House of Fame: first typically Chaucerian work After 1370 the Italian influence on Chaucer’s work

became major in his poetry: The Parliament of Fowls, Troilus and Criseyde.

The Canterbury Tales: Background One of the landmarks of English literature. Had a continuous history of publication. Chaucer did not complete the entire Canterbury

Tales as designed. Tales structured so that each pilgrim would tell four

tales (only completed twenty-four tales). Dramatic illusion of the tellers within a framework

of tales: double fiction Include romantic adventures, fabliaux,

hagiographies, bestiaries, religious allegories, a sermon

Glossary 1: Fabliau

Short, humorous and typically bawdy poem. Abounded as elements of poetry in France of the 12th and

13th centuries. Appeared in English some 100 years later. Deals for the most part with domestic comedy full of sexual

innuendo of the merchant and middle classes. Some of the motifs are from oriental sources. Involve a lovers' triangle, trickery designed to gain favours

from a desired woman most likely married or otherwise unavailable (too young etc.).

Trickery designed to delude an ageing or otherwise undesirable husband to clear the way for a lover.

Glossary 2: Hagiography The study of saints. Refers literally to writings on the subject of holy persons:

biographies of ecclesiastical and secular leaders. Focus on the lives of men and women canonized by the Christian

Church Other religions such as Buddhism and Islam create and maintain

hagiographical texts concerning saints and other individuals believed to be imbued with the sacred.

The related term hagiology refers to the study of saints collectively, without focusing on the life of an individual saint.

The term "hagiography" has also come to be used as a pejorative reference to the works of contemporary biographers and historians whom critics perceive to be uncritical and even "reverential" in their writing.

Glossary 3: Bestiary A compendium of beasts Made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that

described various animals, birds and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast were usually

accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world itself was literally the

Word of God, and that every living thing had its own special meaning (the pelican, which was believed to tear open its breast to bring its young to life with its own blood, was a living representation of Jesus).

Also a reference to the symbolic language of animals in Western Christian art and literature.

Particularly popular in England and France around the 12th century and were mainly compilations of earlier texts.

Next Time Assignment The General Prologue

What was the purpose of a medieval pilgrimage? Who is the "holy blisful martyr" ? Why is he of interest to the pilgrims? How many pilgrims are there? How is this helpful to Chaucer in his ambition to show his art as a

poet? Which pilgrims represent new classes? Which figures are painted in a positive or in a negative light? What seems to be Chaucer's attitude toward the Church? What is the role of Chaucer the pilgrim within this group?