Chaucer and the 'Bona Matrimonii'

Author / Editor
Mogan, Joseph J., Jr.

Title
Chaucer and the 'Bona Matrimonii'

Published
Chaucer Review 4.2 (1969): 123-41.

Description
Studies the "theology of marital relations" in MilT, WBP, and MerT, using ParsT as a partial statement of orthodoxy, surveying views from Augustine to Wyclif of the roles of procreation and pleasure in sexual relations between married partners, and arguing that Chaucer's Tales represent a comprehensive gamut of theological concerns and perspectives. A rigorous Augustinian view of good marriage is put forward in ParsT, moderated in MerT, and relaxed and modernized in WBP.

Chaucer Subjects
Miller and His Tale
Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Merchant and His Tale
Parson and His Tale
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations