The Historical Context of the 'Book of the Duchess'

Author / Editor
Palmer, J. J. N.

Title
The Historical Context of the 'Book of the Duchess'

Published
Chaucer Review 8 (1974): 253-61.

Description
Discusses the dating of BD, correcting previous scholarship by adducing evidence from a letter by Louis de Mà‚le, count of Flanders, that helps to establish the death of Blanche of Lancaster as 12 September 1368. Comments on the identity of the Black Knight (John of Gaunt), the narrator's eight-year illness, and the likelihood that the poem was completed before the end of November 1368.

Chaucer Subjects
Book of the Duchess