Sources Flashcards
Man of Law’s
Nicholas Trivet’s “Les Chronicles”; also appears in John Gower’s “Confessio Amantis”; also belongs to tradition of EXILED QUEENS; the Breton Lai “Èmare”
Wife of Bath’s Prologue
Long monologue of La Vieille in the “Roman de la rose”; long tradition of bawdy older women; St. Jerome’s “Treatise adversus Joviniamum”; Theophrastus’ “Golden Book of Marriage’
Wife of Bath’s Tale
Widespread theme of “loathly lady”; John Gower’s “Tale of Florent” is very similar- shared source?; Ovid’s TALE OF MIDAS; Dante’s “Convivio”
Friar’s
Based on widespread story of the damnation of an unpopular official; Caesarius of Heisterbach’s “Dialogue on Miracles”; widespread motif of the “heartfelt curse”
Summoner’s
No known exact literary sources
What can the joke in the Prologue of the Summoner’s be compared to?
The Friars in Heaven- this is a blasphemous perversion of a story popular among friars at the time
Clerk’s
Petrarch’s adaptation of the last tale in Boccaccio’s “Decameron” & on a French version of Petrarch’s work; a folk tale of the Cupid and Psyche type, first told by Apuleius
Merchant’s
No known exact literary sources- but the ‘Pear Tree’ story is a widely known tale that could have come to Chaucer in many forms
What does The Merchant’s quote almost as much as The Wife of Bath’s Prologue?
St. Jerome’s “Adversus Joviniamum’
What are the similarities between The Merchant’s and Le Roman de la Rose?
Merchant’s account of his own unhappy marriage and the discussion of marriage in the latter
What is often compared to The Merchant’s, although they don’t actually have that much in common?
“A Rich Man and his Wife” from an early Italian collection, the Novellino; Boccaccio’s more elaborate version of this in the “Decameron”
Squire’s
No known exact literary sources- but Chaucer apparently drew on contemporary travel literature
What is the episode of the falcon and the tercelet in The Squire’s Tale similar to?
Part of “Anelida and Arcite”, an early work of Chaucer’s
Franklin’s
Boccaccio’s “FILOCOLO” and “DECAMERON” (w “DECAMERON”, they shared a common French source); Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “Histories of the Kings of Britain”; St. Jerome’s “Adversus Joviniamum”; an exemplum told by the “Goodman of Paris”; Book of the Knight of LaTour Landry
Which of the other tales does The Franklin’s draw on?
Merchant’s
Physician’s
Roman history of TITUS LIVIUS; Gower’s “Confessio Amantis”; Le Roman de la Rose; biblical story of JEPHTHA
Pardoner’s
Le Roman de la Rose- the confession of Fals-Semblant; Boccaccio’s “Decameron”; two Italian novelle; tale of the three rioters is widespread in world literature
Shipman’s
A similar story can be found in Boccaccio’s “Decameron”, but it’s a retelling of a common folk tale: ‘The Lover’s Gift Regained’
Prioress’s
Popular story at time, surviving in a number of versions
Sir Thopas
Hardly a line is without its parallel in surviving romances- but no direct source
The Tale of Melibee
Renaud de Louens French translation (“Livre de Melibée et de Dame Prudence”) of Albertanus of Brescia’s “Liber consolationi et consilii”; some of the same authorities cited in Wife of Bath’s Prologue
Monk’s
Chaucer’s subtitle refers to Boccaccio’s “De casibus virorum illustrium”; Boccaccio’s “De claris mulieribus”; LE ROMAN DE LA ROSE; Bible; Dante; Latin histories; general hearsay
Nun’s Priest’s
“Del cok e del gupil” (“The Cock and the Fox”) by Marie de France; Roman de Renart
Second Nun’s
“Golden Legend (Legenda aurea)” of Jacob of Genoa/Jacobus de Voraigne, though he also knew some other Latin versions of THE LIFE; Dante’s “Divine Comedy”
Canon’s Yeoman’s
No known exact literary sources
Manciple’s
Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”, possibly as it appears in “Ovide moralisé”, with some hints of Gower’s “Confessio Amantis” and Machaut’s “Livre de Voir Dit”; Chaucer also knew the version of the tale which appeared in the popular Book of the Seven Sages of Rome
Parson’s
A treatise on penance by Raymond of Pennaforte; a treatise on the Deadly Sins by William Peraldus; anonymous “Summa virtutem et remedie anime” for the ‘remedies’; Gower’s ‘Confessio Amantis’ POSSIBLY
Knight’s
Boccaccio’ “Teseida”- but greatly edited; Boethius’s “Consolation of Philosophy”; Statius’s “Thebaid”
Miller’s
It embodies 2 widespread motifs: “The Misdirected Kiss” and the “Second Flood”
What does Chaucer parody in The Miller’s?
Courtly love so often found in the fabliaux; the now old-fashioned diction of earlier English attempts at the courtly style, such as the HARLEY LYRICS
Reeve’s
Probably based directly on a French fabliau, since 2 surviving fabliaux, both differing versions of the same story, offer a number of close parallels to Chaucer’s work; Boccaccio’s “Decameron”; “cradle-trick” tale
Cook’s
No known exact literary sources
Which sophisticated French poets influenced THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS?
Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun (authors of the Roman de la Rose); Froissart; Machaut
Who does Chaucer borrow many lines from for THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS, as well as the form of his elegy?
Machaut
Which of Guillaume de Machaut’s “dits” has a very similar plot to THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS?
The “Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne”
What is the companion poem to the “Jugement dou Roy de Behaingne” called?
The “Jugement dou Roy de Navarre”
What are the differences between Machaut’s pair of poems?
The “Jugement dou Roy de Navarre” gives judgement in favour of a woman; it also sets the ideals of FIN’AMOR against a backdrop of tragedy, describing the horrors of the outbreak of the Black Death (1349)
What makes it unlikely that the narrator-persona in THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS is autobiographical?
Comic touches of exaggeration or incompetence that seem so individual can be found in Machaut
What sources impact on THE HOUSE OF FAME that don’t on THE BOOK OF THE DUCHESS?
Beginning of the Italian influence on Chaucer’s poetry- Dante and Boccaccio
The House of Fame
Virgil and Ovid; other classical and medieval Latin authors; the Bible; Boethius; French love poets; Dante
The Parliament of Fowls
Boccaccio’s TESEIDA
