A Crisis of Truth: Literature and Law in Ricardian England
- Author / Editor
- Green, Richard Firth.
A Crisis of Truth: Literature and Law in Ricardian England
- Published
- Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
- Physical Description
- xvi, 496 pp.
- Series
- The Middle Ages Series.
- Description
- Explores patterns in the meanings and applications of two fundamental concepts in late-medieval English tradition: truth (trouthe), which shifted from "integrity" to "conforming to fact"; and treason, which shifted from "personal betrayal" to a "crime against the state." Green confronts issues of orality and literacy, legal uses of the terms, and the rapid spread of vernacular literacy. He considers the notions in light of the revolt of 1381; the 1397 treason trial of Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel; and the rise of Lollardy. He examines literary treatments of promises and bargains, including Dorigen's rash promise in FranT, the "gratuitous" promise in FrT, and promises in Gower's Confessio Amantis, Piers Plowman, and elsewhere. Traces parallel issues in modern West African literature.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism.
- Language and Word Studies.
- Friar and His Tale.
- Franklin and His Tale.