The 'Man of Law's Tale' and Crusade

Published: Christopher Cannon and Maura Nolan, eds. Medieval Latin and Middle English Literature: Essays in Honour of Jill Mann (Cambridge: Brewer, 2011), pp. 1-24.

Description: MLT engages with ideas found in Latin and French treatises advocating crusade and assesses the rhetoric and practices of crusades, critiquing their mercantile aims, the ignorance of cultural differences dooming efforts to convert Muslims, and poor planning. Examining Chaucer's adaptation of his sources, Calkin argues that successful conversion in the tale occurs when God's "'purveiaunce'" rather than human planning drives the endeavor, Chaucer presents a vision of cultural interaction between different Christianities, and while not an advocate of crusades, he highlights through Custance and Alla the heroism in accepting adversity and privation, which were experienced by crusading knights.

Alternative Title: Medieval Latin and Middle English Literature: Essays in Honour of Jill Mann.

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