Prior to the Prioress: Chaucer's "Clergeon" in Its Original Context.

Description: Reconsiders questions of the composition and occasion of PrT (here titled "Clergeon") before Chaucer incorporated it into the CT, arguing on biographical, stylistic, and liturgical grounds that Chaucer may have originally composed the poem as early as 1383, to be performed as a "boy-bishop sermon" at Lincoln Cathedral, "recited by and to youths on the Feast of the Holy Innocents." Considers analogous materials, argues that Chaucer's work helped to spread knowledge of Hugh of Lincoln, and suggests new directions for reading PrPT.