Chaucer and Gentility

Author / Editor
Saul, Nigel.

Title
Chaucer and Gentility

Published
Barbara A. Hanawalt, ed. Chaucer's England: Literature in Historical Context (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992), pp. 41-55.

Description
Chaucer views gentility as a matter of virtue rather than of birth or economics, reflecting contemporary shifts in aristocratic lifestyles. Italian influences and decreasing military service made it necessary for the aristocracy to redefine superiority in terms of inner worth. Assesses Chaucer's views in Gent, WBP, the figure of the Knight, and FranT.

Alternative Title
Chaucer's England: Literature in Historical Context.

Chaucer Subjects
Background and General Criticism.
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.
Gentilesse.
Knight and His Tale.
Franklin and His Tale.