Describes various kinds of poverty in England in the second half of the fourteenth century, summarizing economic and social factors and assessing their representation in various works of literature in English and Latin across a range of genres.…
Fifteen essays on topics related to sacred and secular English manuscripts of the late Middle Ages. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Tributes to Kathleen L. Scott under Alternative Title.
Kennedy, Kathleen E.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Examines a variety of medieval social relations as forms of "maintenance," i.e., "being provided or providing the wherewithal to live." Lord-retainer, master-servant, and husband-wife relations are analogous forms of maintenance that inform one…
Kowaleski, Maryanne, and P. J. P. Goldberg, eds.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Eleven essays by various authors (and an introduction by the editors) address a range of topics: domestic and monastic spaces, attitudes toward living alone, various literary and historical depictions of homes and households, etc. The collection…
Lewis, James R., and Evelyn Dorothy Oliver.
Detroit: Visible Ink, 2009.
A popular handbook to dream psychology, dream lore, the history of interpretations of dreams, and dreaming in various cultures, with an entry on Chaucer (pp. 38-40) that comments on his biography and his dream-vision poetry. First published in 1995.
Cavill, Paul, and Heather Ward.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2007.
Summaries of literary works, plus study questions designed for self-teaching, ranging from works of Bede and Caedmon to those of Philip Larkin and Edna O'Brien, with a summary of biblical plots, Christian history, hymns, and a glossary of terms. Two…
Classen, Albrecht, ed.
New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2009.
Twenty-three essays on literary and historical topics ranging from ideas of Rome to medieval European waste. For two essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Urban Space in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age under Alternative Title.
The essays in this special issue (43.4) of the "The Chaucer Review" open new perspectives on Chaucer's works, placing them in the context of the "new impulses toward quantification and measurement" in and beyond late medieval England.
D'Arcens, Louise.
Philologie im Netz, Supplement 4 (2009): 21-40.
Focusing on the role of Hermiene Ulrich in formulating the modern language curriculum at Queensland in 1911, D'Arcens notes the "frustrating" historical pattern of exclusion of women scholars from medieval studies, particularly Chaucer studies.
Di Rocco, Emilia.
Michelangelo Picone, ed. La letteratura cavalleresca dalle "Chansons de Geste" alla "Gerusalemme Liberata." Atti del II Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Certaldo Alto, Giugno 21-23, 2007 (Pisa: Pacini, 2008), pp. 191-205.
Di Rocco explores the role of Chaucer's works in the development of romance in England, commenting on the poet's fusion of classical material and romance in KnT and TC, the concern with gentilesse and trouthe in WBT and FranT, and the reference to…
Dor, Juliette.
Philologie im Netz, Supplement 4 (2009): 55-66.
Dor examines Caroline Spurgeon's impact on England's postwar reconstruction of the education system through the reestablishment of English studies and her involvement in founding the International Federation of University Women, which protected and…
Forgeng, Jeffrey L., and Will McLean.
Westport, Conn.; and London: Greenwood, 2009.
Updates and expands the first edition (1995), adding "primary source sidebars in all chapters" and a guide to digital resources. This social history of late medieval England has as its goal the creative re-creation of the period, providing a…
Production, consumption, and profit have helped to define individuals in more recent eras; however, an "economy of need" was an aspect of late medieval identity. Galloway traces the economy of need in sermons and prose writing and comments on its…
Galloway, Andrew, and R. F. Yeager, eds.
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.
Nineteen essays by students, friends, and colleagues of Winthrop (Pete) Wetherbee, along with an introduction by Galloway and a laudatory afterword by Robert Morgan. For seven essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for Through a Classical Eye under…
Green Richard Firth.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 33 (2011): 3-38.
Details of the tale of Griselda indicate that the "key to the tale's power" in the late Middle Ages is its "startling role reversal, from marchioness to chambermaid, and the fundamental questions about the marital relationship it so dramatically…
Butterfield, Ardis.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Explores the political, linguistic, and cultural relations between "France" and "England" before the stabilization of the areas' geographical boundaries. Interdependence between the two areas challenges modern notions of nationality, linguistic…
Vennemann, Theo.
English Language and Linguistics 13.2 (2009): 309-34.
Traces idiomatic usage of "yes" and "no" in responses to questions in the English language, comparing it with German usage to illustrate the influence of the Celtic, Brittonic language. Concludes by exploring roots of the English method of response…
Chaucer's uses of "verray felicitee parfit" and "verray parfit" evince his engagement with Boethius's concern with "the true and everlasting good, the 'summum bonum'" in the "Consolation of Philosophy." Whether meant ironically or used in the spirit…
Wentersdorf, Karl P.
Chaucer Review 44 (2009): 110-13.
The clear erotic context of the blacksmith's response to Absolon's late-night visit supports a gloss of "viritoot" as a derivation of "the Latin ablative cum virtute," meaning 'with manly ardor.'
Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn, and others, eds.
Woodbridge, Suffolk; and Rochester, N.Y.: York Medieval Press, 2009.
Thirty-four essays by various authors (and an introduction by the editor) on a variety of linguistic and literary topics. Essays are arranged in four categories: (1) Language and Socio-Linguistics; (2) Crossing the Conquest: New Linguistic and…
Readings in social and cultural history for classroom purposes, arranged in eight sections: politics and ideology, social structures, daily life, religious life and prayer, knighthood and war, reading and education, sciences and medicine, and…
Archibald, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Archibald, and Ad Putter, eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 139-53.
Archibald surveys subversions and satires of Arthurian literature, commenting that Chaucer "seems to be fairly hostile to the Arthurian world," even if implicitly so.
