Pestilence in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature

Author / Editor
Grigsby, Bryon Lee.

Title
Pestilence in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature

Published
New York and London: Routledge, 2004.

Physical Description
xiv, 206 pp.

Series
Studies in Medieval History and Culture, no. 23.

Description
Grigsby considers leprosy, bubonic plague, and syphilis, focusing on how they were constructed as moral phenomena and how literary depictions contributed to historical developments in our (mis)understandings of them.
Examines a range of texts, including PardT, in which false oaths are connected to the plague; and the GP description of the Summoner, through which Chaucer condemns lechery and the failure of ecclesiastical supervision.

Chaucer Subjects
Pardoner and His Tale.
Summoner and His Tale.