Matthews, David.
Frank Grady, ed. The Cambridge Companion to "The Canterbury Tales" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), pp. 233-37.
Discusses how professors can help students approach difficult texts such as CT, whether by helping students choose good translations or by sharing methods with non-medievalists, in particular modernists, who also confront hard-to-read.
materials.
Matthews, Kathleen Douglas.
Ph.D. Dissertation. University of New Hampshire, 1982. Fully accessible via https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1321 (accessed April 7, 2026).
Explores aspects of Williams' development of his poetic identity, including the importance of Chaucer as a model, emphasizing the modern poet's knowledge of Chaucer and Chaucer criticism and his emulation in "Paterson" of Chaucer's comic techniques.
Matthews, Lloyd J.
English Language Notes 13 (1975): 249-55.
Criseyde's allusion to Prudence with "eyen thre" is derived from Dante's "Purgatorio," 29.132; but since the Italian reference is cryptic in style and symbology, Chaucer was probably also influenced by glosses and illuminations for the passage,…
Matthews, Lloyd J.
Chaucer Review 20 (1986): 221-34.
Chaucer's acquaintance with Dante and his return from the Italian journey in 1373 provide termini of 1372-74 for Mel. Later, Mel was included among the CT to be narrated by the Man of Law. Finally, it was moved to its place in fragment 7 or B2.
Matthews, Lloyd J.
Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 82 (1981): 211-13.
The lines of Matteo Frescobaldi's "Canzone XI" provide the nearest analogue for Chaucer's description of Prudence with "eyen thre." As bankers to the crown, the Frescobaldi had direct links with fourteenth-century England, and the verbal parallels…
Identifies thematic concerns in Mel that it shares with other narratives in CT (WBPT, ShT, Clerk's Envoy, MerT, and NPT), exploring how pedantry, suspect counsel, the struggle for "maisterie," and antifeminism convey humor in Mel, especially in…
Matthews, Ricardo.
Dissertation Abstracts International A77.10 (2016): n.p. Open access at https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2cz1v5sv; accessed January 31, 2023.
Uses KnT, among other works, in a study of medieval works combining prose and lyric poetry (common in France, but less studied in English.)
Explores prosimetrum in the Arthurian "Tristan en prose" as a way to understand Palamon's actions after he overhears Arcite's "formally elegant rondeau" in KnT 1.1510ff.
Treats prosimetrum as "a unique medieval genre that mixes not only prose and verse but also narrative and lyric," and studies its implications for theorizations of the lyric mode, particularly the opposition between the Romantic notion of lyrics as…
Matthews, William, ed.
New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts; London: Peter Owen, 1963.
Anthologizes some sixty modernized examples and excerpts from late-medieval English prose writing, arranged by topic, form, or genre (e.g., Historians, Mystics, Religious Controversialists, etc.), with a brief introduction to each section. Includes a…
Considers medieval depictions of old age as part of the tradition of "contemptus mundi," focusing on female old age. Treats Chaucer's Wife of Bath as the most individual and entertaining of the comic randy old women of medieval narrative, here…
Contests N. F. Blake's views of Caxton, Caxton's publishing plans, and his motives and quality as an editor, discussing at length the Canterbury Tales editions of 1478 and 1484 and other works of Chaucer. Matthews defends Caxton as a careful editor,…
Matthews, William.
Bonnie Wheeler, Robert L. Kindrick, and Michael D. Salda, eds. The Malory Debate: Essays on the Texts of Le Morte Darthur. Arthurian Studies, no. 47. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2000, pp. 1-34.
A revision (by Robert L. Kindrick) of Matthews's "Caxton and Malory: A Re-View" (SAC 24 [2002], no. 34), with a corrected title.
Matthews, William.
Modern Language Review 51 (1956): 217-20.
Identifies a ballade by Eustache Deschamps (number 880: "Que diriez vous du froit mois de Janvier") as an analogue, possibly a source, of several details in MerT.
Describes the pedagogical use of museum objects (from the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame) in support of a Freshman Seminar in medieval literature, with particular focus on CT, Santiago de Compostela, and pilgrimage.
Analyzes Chaucer's "universalizing doublets," such as "up and doun," with those appearing in the Auchinleck Manuscript to suggest that Chaucer was not simply
imitating the diction of medieval romance: his usage mirrors that of Middle English…
Mattord, Carola Louise.
Dissertation Abstracts International A71.05 (2010): n.p.
Suggests that Chaucer's CT, the "Lais" of Marie de France, and the "Book of Margery Kempe" include "theopolitical" ideas and thus are informed by the Church's influence on these ideas and on the notion of identity.
Matukhin, Max.
Ph.D. dissertation (Princeton University, 2023), Dissertation Abstracts International A84.08(E). Fully accessible via ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (accessed February 1, 2025).
Explores how "false confessions and sermons" in late medieval literature "investigat[e] the boundaries between truthfulness and falsehood, literature and reality, the profane and the sacred." Includes discussion of PardPT.
Mauck, Deanna.
[Jay Ruud, ed.] Papers on the "Canterbury Tales": From the 1989 NEH Chaucer Institute, Northern State University, Aberdeen, South Dakota ([Aberdeen, S.D.: Northern State University, 1989), pp. 94-103.
Locates in SumT several violations of William of Saint-Amour's claims about false friars.
Maule, Jeremy.
H. S. Cobb, ed. Parliamentary History, Libraries and Records: Essays Presented to Maurice Bond ([London]: House of Lords Record Office, 1981), pp. 9-16.
Describes various kinds of "parliament-poems" in Middle English, focusing on PF as a model for others, and commenting on the depiction of the parliament scene in TC, Book 4, and its concern with "voting by voices" or assent. Summarizes Chaucer's…
Maveety, Stanley R.
CLA Journal 4.2 (1960): 132-37.
Recommends showing students how digressive, "extra-narrative passages" in NPT "are the essence of Chaucer's intention, not obstructions." Includes discussion of contrasts between NPT and the Cock and Fox fable of Marie de France, focusing on…
Maxfield, David K.
Chaucer Review 28 (1993): 148-63.
Viewed in historical context, the pardons of Chaucer's Pardoner likely were based on forged papal bulls associated with St. Mary's, a hospital with a questionable reputation. The Pardoner's lack of character provides an ironic contrast to the ideal…
