The Social Context of Medieval English Literature

Published: Boris Ford, ed. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature, Volume 1, Part 1: Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition (New York and Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1982), pp. 15-39.

Description: Describes the major social institutions and social practices of late-medieval England, identifying their roots, indicating their later developments, and illustrating their features from Middle English literary sources, especially the works of Chaucer. Although quite different, the court, the Church, the towns, and the universities were all fundamentally hierarchical, and the gaps between the church and state were closing toward the "achievement of a fully unified national culture in the mother tongue."

Alternative Title: Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition.

Chaucer Subjects: Background and General Criticism.; Language and Word Studies