The Science of Flatulence: Possible Sources for the 'Summoner's Tale'

Author / Editor
Hasenfratz, Robert.

Title
The Science of Flatulence: Possible Sources for the 'Summoner's Tale'

Published
Chaucer Review 30 (1996): 241-61.

Description
The source for SumT 2253-79 can be found in the medieval notion of the "wheel of the twelve winds," where each wind (depicted in manuscript art as a "spoke") ends in the mouth of a human face. Such a motif was associated not only with atmospheric conditions in scientific texts but also with the scholastic-scientific traditions parodied by SumT.

Chaucer Subjects
Summoner and His Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.