Browse Items (16472 total)

Observes that the "ferses twelve" of BD 723, though impossible on a common chess board, was possible on some medieval boards (especially in Germany) of twelve squares by eight squares, with their twelve pawns. Then argues that the phrase has…

Suggests that Branch I b of "Le Roman de Renart" provides "a partial parallel or inspiratory background" to the exchange in FrT between the summoner and the devil in disguise.

Summarizes and comments on HF, with particular attention to previous scholarly opinions, unity and structural balance, whether or not the dreamer learns anything, the nature of the man of great authority, and the possibility that the poem is "a…

Explores medieval English marital laws and practices that underlie details of the WBP and her description in GP, particularly her marriages at "chirche dore," her dowers, and the transaction that gave Jankyn control of her lands--before she took it…

Corrects F. N. Robinson's claim that F. C. Riedel identified the man of great authority (HF 2158) as John of Gaunt; conjectures that the man may be a "Chaucerian counterpart" to Musaeus in Virgil's "Aeneid"; and observes parallels between HF 1520ff.…

Assesses the syntax and meanings of "derring-do" or "dorynge-do" in John Lydgate's "Troy Book," which follows in the first instance Chaucer's uses of the phrase to describe Troilus in TC 5.837-40.

Spanish prose adaptation of GP, KnT, MLT, ClT, and NPT.

Locates the origins of Pandarus's "proverbial expletive" about "haselwodes" (TC 3.890) in the tradition of magical divination by sticks (rhabdomancy), commenting on the "appositeness" of assigning the proverb to the "hard-headed, skeptical Pandarus."

Surveys readings of PrT as a reflection of the Prioress's GP character, and explores the relations of these readings to dramatic approaches to the CT. Argues that there is "devastating satire" of the Prioress in GP and in PrT: the Tale fits the…

Argues that the "organization and success" of MilT depends upon the "dramatic irony" of tensions between its courtly and common, sacred and profane, and realistic and fantastic elements, exploring such tensions in the signifying names of the…

Offers evidence that patristic commentary is a more likely immediate source of the Parson's proverb in GP 1.500 than is Lamentations 4.1.

Uses lines from FrT 3.1325ff. to help clarify the punning ambiguity of the reference to "pulling a finch" in the GP description of the Summoner.

Identifies patterns that indicate Chaucer's "careful planning" of a sequence of groupings of pilgrims in GP, focusing on audience expectations, points of views, tones, satirical targets, and the traditional three estates.

Articulates the evidence for an "antifeminist, antimatrimonial" tradition in medieval Oxford and Paris that lies behind the contents of Jankyn's book in WBP, describing the backgrounds, transmission, availability, and collocations of Walter Map's…

Revisits the concept of "Chaucerian tragedy," considering KnT, MLT, and NPPT, as well as TC and MkT, and explores the faults or faultlessness of Fortune's victims in these works, the moral sophistication of the narrators of the tales, classical…

Examines the style and techniques of Chaucer's quasi-optical, quasi-cinematic ("quasi-optische," "quasi-filmescher") scene changes in CT, with particular attention to those in MerT. Focuses on relations between external and internal drama in such…

Reviews evidence in GP that Chaucer's Summoner suffers from venereal disease rather than leprosy, using it as an example of little-known or overlooked scholarship that might be lost or ignored. Cites other examples more briefly, including the record…

Surveys "unreliable" information about Constantine Africanus in scholarly discussions of Chaucer's references to him in GP 1.433 (Doctour of Phisik) and MerT 4.1810-11. Then clarifies Constantinus's importance in the history of medicine, what is and…

Explores how exempla and citations of authority--both largely via allusive names--are used by the Friar and the Summoner in order to compete with the Wife of Bath and criticize each other.

Identifies ways that word-play, echoic details, and thematic patterning contribute to the "dramatic" irony in SumT whereby the friar's hypocritical glossing is revealed and insulted without overt glossing by the narrator.

Argues that several prominent figures in the "Troilus" frontispiece (Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 61) represent John of Gaunt; his second wife, Constance of Castile and Laon; his mistress, Katherine Swynford; his first wife, Blanche of…

Traces in biblical, classical, and political sources the development of the idea that the Pope and other rulers gain sovereignty through "mystical marriage" to their respective institutions, arguing that WBT "bears a striking similarity to [this]…

Surveys Chaucer's translations of passages from the Bible, commenting on his Biblical knowledge, his artistry in translating and using scripture, his mediating sources, his possible uses of the Vulgate and Wycliffite versions, and his "attitude" to…

Item not seen; Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Surveys the history of indulgences in Church history as background to Chaucer's character of the Pardoner, commenting on abuses and critiques of the practice recorded in English documents as corroboration of Chaucer's depiction.