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| Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds. Ed. Robert P. Miller. Oxford, 1977. 507pp. A collection of primary source texts, illustrating the political, religious, and literary background to Chaucer's poetry. Includes readings on courtly love, chivalry, women, marriage, medieval Christianity, and medieval literary theory. This book is available from Amazon and, in Europe, from Amazon UK. |
Background: Culture
18 July 2008
Michael Hanly
Bonnie Duncan
Jane Zatta
Lee Patterson
James L. Matterer
New Advent
Derrick G.Pitard, of the Lollard Society
Harvard Chaucer Page
Life and Manners
Readings and documents on life and manners in the fourteenth century: courtly love, meals and manners, women in Chaucer, history, tournaments and court spectacles, the
Scrope-Grosvenor trial (in which Chaucer gave testimony), and pilgrimages.
Some Interesting and Essential Stuff
Outline notes on the four humors, allegory (including the four sensus), Augustine's two kinds of love, the seven liberal arts, and les trois matières of medieval romance.
Chaucer's England
The text of an introductory lecture: I. A deference society; II. The Three Estates; III. Christian Framework; IV. A Hierarchy of Responsibility; V. Social Mobility; VI. Divisions; VII. The Late Middle Ages (1300-1550); VIII. What was Chaucer's place in this scheme of things?
Canterbury Tales Page
Commentaries, illustrated from medieval MSS., on the background to the Knight's Tale, the Miller's Tale, the Man of Law's Tale, the Clerk's Tale, the Second Nun's Tale, the Friar's Tale, the Nun's Priest Tale, the Reeve's Tale, the Franklin's Tale, the Wife of Bath's Tale, and Chaucer's Tale of Melibee.
Chaucer
Text of an introductory lecture on the Canterbury Tales, which argues that the political upheavals of the 1380s "shook Chaucer loose from an aristocratic culture that he was already finding less and less satisfactory as a context for both artistic production and for life."
A Chaucerian Cookery
"A collection of Medieval recipes adapted for the modern kitchen, with period receipts, translations, & redactions. Included are graphics, photographs, descriptions of feasts, information on period cookery, & articles on related Medieval subjects."
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1914)
Well-written articles, intended for the layman, on almost every aspect of Christianity and Christendom.
Web Connections for Lollard Studies
Skip to the bottom of the page, where you will find links to: the Catholic Encyclopedia entries for Lollards and John Wyclif, "The Importance of Being Lollard" (which includes several primary texts), and a Kenyon College student project on Wycliffe and the Lollards.
Please send comments to David Wilson-Okamura at david@virgil.org.