Nolan, Maura.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Studies how John Lydgate's occasional poetry, including mummings and diguisings, reacts to and helps to shape an emergent notion of "public culture" that differs from that of his predecessor, Chaucer. Lydgate, Nolan argues, translated "the poetic…
Flannery, Mary C.
Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2012.
Looks at fame in medieval texts and argues that although Lydgate was Chaucer's fifteenth-century successor, he "diverges from Chaucer's treatment" of fame by "constructing a more confident model of authorship."
Provides an "anatomy of Lydgate's engagement with" ClT, documenting his "many Griseldas": muse, "haughty beloved," "antithesis of contemporary women," "exemplary spouse," woman who "falls short of being the Virgin Mary," "victim of…
Farvolden, Pamela, ed.
Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2016.
Edits Lydgate's two poems for classroom study, and includes as an appendix the Latin source of his "Guy of Warwyk." The introduction to the "Fabula" addresses Lydgate's debts to Chaucer in this poem: particularly how its view of friendship was…
Edits twelve of Lydgate's poems, with end-of-text notes, glossary, and other apparatus. Includes "On the Departing of Thomas Chaucer," a selection from the "Troy Book," and "The Temple of Glas," among others. The Introduction (pp. ix-xii) and the…
Scanlon, Larry, and James Simpson, eds.
Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006.
An introduction by the editors and eleven essays by various authors seek to vitalize Lydgate studies, exploring the status of poet laureate, Lydgate's poetic style, his political poetry, and a number of literary poems and forms (e.g., mumming,…
Kane, George.
Paul Ruggiers, ed. Editing Chaucer: The Great Tradition (Norman, Okla.: Pilgrim Books, 1984), pp. 207-29.
Denounces Manly and Rickert's "The Text of the Canterbury Tales," asserting the editors' failure to state and maintain consistent editorial methods, their confused and confusing classification of manuscripts, and their error in attempting to apply…
Reconsiders Manly's distinction between the "Abhorrent Doctrine" (that Chaucer, in GP, "merely photographed his friends and acquaintances") and the "More Abhorrent Doctrine" (that Chaucer built his characters by piecing together "scraps from old…
The influence of Lydgate's "Troy Book" on Metham's work is often cited by critics. However, in terms of scene and tone, Metham is more indebted to Chaucer's TC and "Legend of Thisbe" (LGW) than to Lydgate.
Heretofore noted for its allusions to TC, the romance "Amoryus and Cleopes" also develops many of the themes, motifs, and stylistic traits of Fragment 5 of CT (SqT and FranT), in particular "its portrayal of pagan religion, its treatment of…
Hone, Ralph E., ed.
San Francisco: Chandler, 1966.
A textbook edition of "Samson Agonistes" that includes among the poem's "Antecedents" the Samson section of MkT (CT 7. 3205-3284) from Skeat's 1894 edition.
John of Arderne's contemporary treatise "Fistula in Ano" is a manual for the medieval physician. Comparison with it indicates that "Chaucer's physician commits malpractice."
Bland, Cynthia Renee.
Charlotte Cook Morse, Penelope Reed Doob, and Marjorie Curry Woods, eds. The Uses of Manuscripts in Literary Studies: Essays in Memory of Judson Boyce Allen (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1992), pp. 213-35.
John of Cornwall's "Speculum grammaticale" uses English as well as Latin sentences for examples, and such vernacular pedagogy seems to have been widely established by late fourteenth century. The unidiomatic phrase "conservatyf the soun" (HF 847)…
Taggie, Benjamin F.
Fifteenth-Century Studies 10 (1984): 195-228.
Treats Chaucer's use of the story of Pedro of Castile in MkT and BD; argues that Chaucer was unique in showing Pedro favorably--which suggests Gaunt was Chaucer's patron.
Goodman, Anthony.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.
Historical biography that emphasizes John of Gaunt's reverence for royal authority and his consistent service to the English Crown. Unlike many magnates, Gaunt pursued personal ambitions within a royalist ideology, foreshadowing Tudor ideals of…
Surveys scholarship pertaining to Chaucer's 1366 visit to Spain and Gaunt's 1386-87 campaign in Spain, commenting on historical events and Chaucer's involvement with them.
Dor, Juliette.
Pieter De Leemans and Clément Goyens, eds. Translation and Authority--Authorities in Translation (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016), pp. 143-53.
The Medieval Traslator/ Traduire au Moyen Age 16 (2017): 143-54.
Describes John of Trevisa's ideas about translating scientific and religious texts from Latin into English, commenting on similarities among these ideas, Wycliffite theory of translation, and Chaucer's approach in Astr.
Although of "no use to chaucerians," the fragmentary text of John Rastell's version of PF reflects the humanist's admiration of Chaucer's works even though he mangled the text.
Edwards, A. S. G.
Evelyn Mullally and John Thompson, eds. The Court and Cultural Diversity: Selected Papers from the Eighth Triennial Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society, The Queen's University of Belfast, 26 July-1 August 1995 (Woodbridge, Suffolk; and Rochester, N. Y.: D. S. Brewer, 1997), pp. 309-17.
John Shirley lived on the "fringes of the aristocracy," and aspects of the manuscripts he produced suggest that he desired to emulate courtliness in his book production.
Edwards, A. S. G.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 38 (2016): 245-54.
Suggests that John Shirley's motives for his scribal activities were "commercial," rather than antiquarian or courtly, motivated by a "shared interest" with John Lydgate.
A biography of John Shirley (d. 1456) that examines available life-records and assesses his scribal output and influence. Shirley was a scribe of several important manuscripts that include works by Chaucer, Lydgate, and Gower; a collector and…
Veeman, Kathryn.
Studies in the Age of Chaucer 38 (2016): 255-63.
Establishes that scribe John Shirley lived in Westminster/London early in his career (in the 1390s) and therefore may have been familiar with Chaucer at the time, lending credibility to Shirley's opinions about Chaucer's works and their dates of…
Gadd, Ian, and Alexandra Gillespie, eds.
London: British Library, 2004.
Fifteen essays explore the life and legacy of John Stow, the sixteenth-century author of Survey of London (1598) and the editor of the 1561 edition of Chaucer. For four essays that pertain to Chaucer, search for John Stow (1525-1605) under…
Hudson, Anne.
Paul Ruggiers, ed. Editing Chaucer: The Great Tradition (Norman, Okla.: Pilgrim Books, 1984), pp. 53-70.
Best known for his "Survey of London," John Stow produced an edition of Chaucer's works in 1561 that influenced Elizabethan readers, even though it is largely a reprint of William Thynne's edition of 1532 (1550 reprint) that adds several works,…
