Cecily Champain v. Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Look at an Old Dispute

Author / Editor
Green, Richard Firth.

Title
Cecily Champain v. Geoffrey Chaucer: A New Look at an Old Dispute

Published
Robert S. Sturges, ed. Law and Sovereignty in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (Turnhout: Brepols, 2011), pp. 261-85.

Description
Reassesses the implications of the two copies of the quitclaim pertaining to Cecily Champain and Chaucer, clarifying the meaning of "quitclaim," describing the process of issuing claims in the medieval period, and arguing that Champain issued two different quitclaims, one specific and one general, in accord with medieval practice. Corollary evidence pertaining to Richard Goodchild and John Grove helps elucidate actions of the case but does not change the likelihood that sexual assault was involved.

Contributor
Sturges, Robert S. Sturges, ed.

Alternative Title
Law and Sovereignty in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Life