England in the Age of Chaucer

Description: Social history of England, particularly London, in the late fourteenth century, focusing on the laboring class and the Uprising of 1381 (Peasants' Revolt). Concentrates on economic conditions, legal practice, sanitation and medicine, plague, urban growth, activities of the seasons, entertainments and rituals--all illustrated with black and white figures and wide-ranging examples drawn from historical records and contemporary literature, especially Chaucer, Langland, Froissart, and other chronicles. Includes a section on literature and patronage which includes commentary on Chaucer's works, and recurrently characterizes Chaucer and Wycliffe as harbingers of future attitudes and perspectives.