Pilgrim Signs and the Ellesmere Chaucer

Author / Editor
Wallace, David.

Title
Pilgrim Signs and the Ellesmere Chaucer

Published
Chaucer Newsletter 11:2 (1989)

Description
Discusses the medieval practice of selling "Canterbury signs" to the visitors of Beckett's shrine (as mentioned in 'The Tale of Beryn'), the archeological finds, and the possibility that Ellesmere portraits may have been modeled on the signs. The iconography of Beckett on horseback perhaps influenced the Ellesmere Chaucer protrait, especially the "disproportionate relationship of rider to horse."

Chaucer Subjects
Manuscripts and Textual Studies.