Parliament and Literature in Late Medieval England

Author / Editor
Giancarlo, Matthew.

Title
Parliament and Literature in Late Medieval England

Published
New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Physical Description
xiii, 289 pp. 8 b&w illus.

Series
Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, no. 64.

Description
Studies the intersection between the "growth of parliament" and the "development of poetry" from c.1376 to 1414, focusing on depictions of parliaments in literature. Poets such as Langland, Gower, and Chaucer had "extensive parliamentary connections," and their works represent "anxieties about voice, representation, and the vision of a cohesive community in a fractured world." Giancarlo examines parliamentary records and commentaries, complaint literature, Gower's "Mirour de l'Omme" and "Cronica Tripertita," Langland's "Piers Plowman," and works by Chaucer. PF is a "unique representation of parliamentary practice," GP and Mel reflect the language and technique of parliaments, and CT is structured in accord with the "mediational dynamics" of parliamentarism.

Chaucer Subjects
Parliament of Fowls.
Canterbury Tales--General.
General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.
Tale of Melibee