Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 61, fol. 1v Language: English (Southeast Midland) Manuscript date: ca. 1420 Chaucer wrote his “book of Troilus” about 1381–6; it survives in 16 manuscripts and the same number of fragments; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 61 is one of the earliest manuscripts. Only two others and an early Caxton print… Continue reading Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde
Category: English Literature
Middle English Procession
London quickly received news of Henry V’s October 25, 1415, victory at Agincourt. Three days later, on October 28, the newly elected mayor, Nicholas Wotton, and many of London’s citizens processed on foot to Westminster to give thanks to God and praise for Henry before the queen and lords of the realm. In the month… Continue reading Middle English Procession
Sumptuary
Church writers, national and local administrations, and interested observers of society regularly condemned their contemporaries’ extravagant behavior and appearance. Manners, carriage, gestures, diet, drink, clothing, makeup, and hairstyles all formed a complex aggregation thought to be specific to particular estates, classes, genders, sexualities, and occupations (see “Feasts,” p. 190). The pestilences of the later fourteenth… Continue reading Sumptuary
Tournament (medieval)
Tournaments were part of a knight’s training for war, and they became the ritualistic occasion for demonstrations of military prowess and the development of male social status. More mock battles than jousts in lists, tournaments began to flourish in the twelfth century and tended more and more towards theatrical and elaborately decorated ceremonies as the… Continue reading Tournament (medieval)
Glossary
A abay see bay ac conj. but, and adighten, adyghtyn v. adorn adight, adyth p. adorned advoutri(e) see avouteri(e) after prep. according to agayn see ayen al conj. even if, although alday adv. always, all the time algate(s) adv. entirely, continually, nevertheless Alkaron n. Koran almes(se) n. pl. alms (almes-dede, good deed) als, also adv.… Continue reading Glossary
Enarratio (Analysis and Exposition of Texts)
Enarratio, the analysis and exposition of texts, was part of the discipline of grammar, itself one of the three major areas of study within the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic or dialectic). Medieval grammar encompassed reading practices from simple grammar as we know it today to sophisticated literary interpretation. Enarratio means literally to lift a… Continue reading Enarratio (Analysis and Exposition of Texts)
The English Language
The English Language Four principal dialects existed in late medieval England in addition to the western and northern Welsh and Scots. Latin was still the dominant institutional language and French was commonly spoken among the nobility and others. Gradually throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, however, written English would become the language of many kinds… Continue reading The English Language
Plays and Representations
Plays and Representations Lollards often objected to any visual representation of religious subjects, including paintings, illuminations, and sculptures (even crosses) (see “Lollardy Trials,” p. 59, “Censorship,” p. 242, and the “Chaucer portrait: Thomas Hoccleve, Regiment of Princes,” p. 141). Such a rejection of images was part of a more general late medieval desire for unmediated… Continue reading Plays and Representations
Style and Spectacle Feasts
Style and Spectacle Feasts Noble households were large socioeconomic enterprises, and meals were an integral part of their owners’ desire to display their status both at home and as they traveled around the countryside. Royal households employed anywhere from 300–800 indentured and other servants, while the households of lords and clergy employed an average of… Continue reading Style and Spectacle Feasts
Quick Sermons
Quick Sermons Audience Reactions to Sermons Medieval theoreticians and practitioners adapted the Classical arts of rhetoric – the artes dictaminis (letter-writing), artes poetriae (poetry), and artes praedicandi (speaking) – to their specific needs. The focus of the artes or ars praedicandi became the province of preachers, lawyers, and rulers, who learned the art of composing… Continue reading Quick Sermons