Nicholas's Psaltery

Author / Editor
Boenig, Robert.

Title
Nicholas's Psaltery

Published
Robert Boenig and Kathleen Davis, eds. Manuscript, Narrative, Lexicon: Essays on Literary and Cultural Transmission in Honor of Whitney F. Bolton (Lewisburg, Penn: Bucknell University Press; and London: Associated University Presses, 2000), pp. 96-110.

Description
Surveys medieval representations and understandings of the psaltery, a musical instrument, as background to reading its meanings in MilT. The psaltery clashes ironically with Nicholas's amorous escapades, and his playing it to accompany his singing of Angelus ad Virginem would have led him to cacaphony, an analogue to his loss of control in the Tale.

Alternative Title
Manuscript, Narrative, Lexicon: Essays on Literary and Cultural Transmission in Honor of Whitney F. Bolton.

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale.