"He nys nat gentil, be he duc or erl, / For vileyns synful dedes make a cherl./" A Historical Approach to Nobility in Chaucer's Poetry."

Author / Editor
Brenzel, Patrick.

Title
"He nys nat gentil, be he duc or erl, / For vileyns synful dedes make a cherl./" A Historical Approach to Nobility in Chaucer's Poetry."

Published
Open access Ph.D. dissertation (Ruhr-Universität, Bochum, 2018). Available at https://hss-opus.ub.ruhr-.de/opus4/frontdoor/index/index/year/2020/docId/7373 (accessed November 23, 2022).

Description
Clarifies the ambiguities of nobility and "gentilesse" in Chaucer's era, and examines the presentation of them in CT, particularly in WBT, ClT, NPT, and FranT, arguing that the Franklin's views align with Chaucer's own, i.e., both view virtues largely as matters of action rather than of birth. Three appendices comprise charts of the usage of these and related terms
in CT.

Chaucer Subjects
Canterbury Tales--General
Language and Word Studies
Wife of Bath and Her Tale
Clerk and His Tale
Franklin and His Tale
Nun's Priest and His Tale