Chaucer's Franklin and Others of the Vavasour Family

Author / Editor
Eckhardt, Caroline D.

Title
Chaucer's Franklin and Others of the Vavasour Family

Published
Modern Philology 87 (1990): 239-48.

Description
Chaucer's descripiton of the Franklin as a "vavasour" (GP 360) reflects his acquaintance with the Vavasour family. Like Chaucer, Sir William Vavasour testified in the Scrope-Grosvenor controversy; other Vavasours held offices similar to the Franklin's, although none was a sheriff. The allusion contributes to the poet's topicality, elusiveness, and juxtaposition of epistemological dichotomies.

Chaucer Subjects
General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
Franklin and His Tale.