Who Murdered Chaucer?; A Medieval Mystery

by Terry Jones; With Robert Yeager, Terry Dolan, Alan Fletcher, and Juliette Dor

• ISBN13: 9780312335878
• ISBN10: 0312335873
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2005-01-05
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Summary

Written by a founding member of Monty Python, this is a groundbreaking historical whodunit about the mysterious death of England's greatest medieval writer.

Author Biography

Terry Jones is the author of several acclaimed works on the Middle Ages including Chaucer's Knight, Crusades, and Medieval Lives, the basis for his popular PBS series. A former member of Monty Python, he lives in London.

Terry Dolan is professor of English at University College, Dublin, and a lexicographer and broadcaster.

Juliette Dor is professor of medieval English literature at the University of Liege.

Alan Fletcher is a lecturer in medieval English literature at University College, Dublin.

Robert F. Yeager teaches Old and Middle English literature at the University of West Florida.

Table of Contents

How this book came about	vii
Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction The Suspicious circumstances of Chaucer's death	1	(8)
CHAPTER 1 The court that Chaucer lived in	9	(10)
CHAPTER 2 Chaucer and Richard II	19	(28)
CHAPTER 3 nature of Richard's rule	47	(13)
CHAPTER 4 A time of intellectual ferment	60	(23)
CHAPTER 5 The church strikes back	83	(13)
CHAPTER 6 Was Richard really unpopular?	96	(22)
CHAPTER 7 Chaucer's world changes	118	(19)
CHAPTER 8 Chaucer's last bloody year	137	(9)
CHAPTER 9 Chaucer's enemies gain power	146	(19)
CHAPTER 10 Chaucer in the eye of the storm	165	(18)
CHAPTER 11 The Canterbury Tales as death-warrant	183	(45)
CHAPTER 12 What happened to Chaucer's work?	228	(18)
CHAPTER 13 How the Ellesmere MS was censored	246	(12)
CHAPTER 14 Chaucer as a political icon	258	(18)
CHAPTER 15 Chaucer's final days	276	(20)
CHAPTER 16 Did Chaucer really die in 1400?	296	(23)
CHAPTER 17 Did Chaucer repent?	319	(18)
CHAPTER 18 Chaucer and Archbishop Arundel (An ABC and The Parson's Tale)	337	(22)
CHAPTER 19 We accuse...	359	(4)
Abbreviations	363	(3)
Notes	366	(20)
Bibliography
Primary sources	386	(4)
Secondary sources	390	(9)
Index	399	(8)
Picture acknowledgements	407