Medieval Narratives of Accused Queens

Author / Editor
Black, Nancy B.

Title
Medieval Narratives of Accused Queens

Published
Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003.

Physical Description
xviii, 261 pp.

Description
In narratives of falsely accused queens, the queens frequently undergo periods of exile that refine their souls through poverty and suffering. Black compares the Constance narratives by Nicholas Trevet, Gower, and Chaucer, examining each version in light of its writer's generic and thematic aims: Trevet's interest in history and his association of an active, learned Custance with Mary of Woodstock; Gower's focus on didactic themes; and Chaucer's development of Constance (from her initial youthful simplicity to her deepening spirituality), the pathos of MLT, the narrator's untrustworthiness, and innovative allusions to Pope Innocent III's "De miseria condicionis humane."

Chaucer Subjects
Man of Law and His Tale.
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.