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Boece (Chaucer)
''Boece'' is Geoffrey Chaucer's translation into Middle English of ''The Consolation of Philosophy'' by Boethius. The original work, written in Latin, stresses the importance of philosophy to everyday life and was one of the major works of philosophy in the Middle Ages. As well as using philosophy to understand and deal with hardship, it is also an attempt by Boethius to improve the minds of the people in 6th century Rome by introducing them to Greek philosophy. The translation Chaucer's own motive for his translation may have been that the ''Consolation'' was not fulfilling its purpose of educating the common people. '' The Romance of the Rose'', another literary work Chaucer translated, actively encourages translation of the ''Consolation'': :Where lewid men might lere wit, :Whoso that woulde translaten it. Chaucer worked, in part, from a translation of the ''Consolation'' into French by Jean de Meun but is clear he also worked from a Latin version, correcting some of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific ''A Treatise on the Astrolabe'' for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in public service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament, having been elected as Knight of the shire, shire knight for Kent. Among Chaucer's many other works are ''The Book of the Duchess'', ''The House of Fame'', ''The Legend of Good Women'', ''Troilus and Criseyde'', and ''Parlement of Foules''. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman Fren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guillaume De Conches
William of Conches (; ; ), historically sometimes anglicized as William Shelley, was a medieval Norman- French scholastic philosopher who sought to expand the bounds of Christian humanism by studying secular works of classical literature and fostering empirical science. He was a prominent (member of the School of Chartres). John of Salisbury, a bishop of Chartres and former student of William's, refers to William as the most talented grammarian of the time, after his former teacher Bernard of Chartres. Life William was born around 10851090 in a small village near Évreux, Normandy. From his surname, that village is generally taken to have been Conches although it was possibly nearby Tilleul instead, the location of his later grave. At the time, Normandy was still uneasily controlled by Norman England in notional homage to France. William studied under Bernard of Chartres in Chartres, Blois, and became a leading member of the School of Chartres, early Scholastics who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle English Literature
The term Middle English literature refers to the literature written in the form of the English language known as Middle English, from the late 12th century until the 1470s. During this time the Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, became widespread and the printing press regularized the language. Between the 1470s and the middle of the following century there was a transition to early Modern English. In literary terms, the characteristics of the literary works written did not change radically until the effects of the Renaissance and Reformed Christianity became more apparent in the reign of King Henry VIII. There are three main categories of Middle English literature, religious, courtly love, and Arthurian, though much of Geoffrey Chaucer's work stands outside these. Among the many religious works are those in the Katherine Group and the writings of Julian of Norwich and Richard Rolle. After the Norman Conquest of England, Law French became the standard language ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Walton (poet)
John Walton may refer to: People In sport * John Walton (darts player) (born 1961), former BDO World Darts Champion and BDO World Masters Champion * John Walton (Formula One), late Formula One team manager * John Walton (footballer) (1928–1979), former English footballer with several clubs * John Walton (American football) (born 1947), American football player * John Walton (rugby league), rugby league footballer of the 1900s * John Walton (cricketer) (1888–1970), English cricketer * John Walton (sports broadcaster), American radio sports announcer * John Walton (rugby union) (1879–1947), English rugby union international In politics * John Walton (Continental Congress) (1738–1783), Georgia Continental Congressman, signer of the Articles of Confederation *Sir John Lawson Walton (1852–1908), British MP and Attorney General of England and Wales * Jack C. Walton (John Calloway Walton, 1881–1949), former governor of Oklahoma * John Walton, Baron Walton of Detchant (1922– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Usk
Thomas Usk (died 4 March 1388) was appointed the under-sheriff of London by Richard II in 1387. His service in this role was brief and he was hanged in the following year. His life Born in London, Usk was a petty bureaucrat, scrivener, and author. The Westminster Chronicle records his inglorious death. Author of ''The Testament of Love'' and Contemporary of Chaucer Born in London, he is the author of ''The Testament of Love,'' which was once thought to be by Geoffrey Chaucer. Usk was a Collector of Customs from 1381 to 1384, when Geoffrey Chaucer was the Comptroller of Customs. If they were not familiar with each other, Usk at least was familiar with Chaucer's poetry. In ''The Testament of Love,'' the god of Love praises "mine own true servant, the noble philosophical poet in English" who had written a poem on Troilus (i.e. Chaucer). Informant Usk had been servant to John Northampton when the latter was Lord Mayor of London from 1381 to 1383. In 1384, he was arreste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tale Of Melibee
"The Tale of Melibee" (also called "The Tale of Melibeus") is one of ''The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer. This is the second tale in the collection told by Chaucer himself. After being interrupted by the host Harry Bailly and reprimanded for the poor quality of his first story, Sir Thopas, which was compared to a turd, Chaucer launches into one of the longest and some would say most boring of all the tales. Complaining of Sir Thopas's ', Bailly requests a prose tale with '. In response, Chaucer tells "The Tale of Melibee", which is exactly that. Bailly, seemingly pleased with this tale, says he wishes his wife had heard it as she might learn something from Dame Prudence. The tale's length has resulted in its omission in some modern English editions, such as Nevill Coghill's translation. Plot The story concerns Melibee who is away one day when three enemies break into his house, beat his wife Dame Prudence, and attack his daughter, leaving her for dead. The tale the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teseida
''Teseida'' (full title: ''Teseida delle Nozze d’Emilia'', or ''The Theseid, Concerning the Nuptials of Emily'') is a long epic poem written by Giovanni Boccaccio c.1340–41. Running to almost 10,000 lines divided into twelve books, its notional subject is the career and rule of the ancient Greek hero Theseus (Teseo), although the majority of the epic tells the story of the rivalry of Palemone and Arcita for the love of Emilia. It is the main source of "The Knight's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales'', and therefore is the original source of ''The Two Noble Kinsmen'', a collaboration by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher.''Before the Knight's tale : imitation of classical epic in Boccaccio's Teseida'' Anderson, David. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c1988. The exact sources of Boccaccio's knowledge about the ancient Greek world are unknown, but is likely that he gained the knowledge through his close friendship with Paolo de Perugia, a medieval c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was sometimes simply known as "the Certaldese" and one of the most important figures in the European literary panorama of the fourteenth century. Some scholars (including Vittore Branca) define him as the greatest European prose writer of his time, a versatile writer who amalgamated different literary trends and genres, making them converge in original works, thanks to a creative activity exercised under the banner of experimentalism. His most notable works are ''The Decameron'', a collection of short stories, and '' On Famous Women''. ''The Decameron'' became a determining element for the Italian literary tradition, especially after Pietro Bembo elevated the Boccaccian style to a model of Italian prose in the sixteenth century. Boccaccio wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Knight's Tale
"The Knight's Tale" () is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's '' The Canterbury Tales''. The Knight is described by Chaucer in the " General Prologue" as the person of highest social standing amongst the pilgrims, though his manners and clothes are unpretentious. We are told that he has taken part in some fifteen crusades in many countries and also fought for one pagan leader against another. Though the list of campaigns is real, his characterization is idealized. Most readers have taken Chaucer's description of him as "a verray, parfit gentil knyght" to be sincere but Terry Jones suggested that this description was ironic, and that Chaucer's readers would have deduced that the Knight was a mercenary. He is accompanied on his pilgrimage by the Squire, his 20-year-old son. The story introduces themes and arguments typically encountered in the literature of knighthood, including courtly love and ethical dilemmas. Sources and composition The epic poem '' Teseida'' (full ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Trivet
Nicholas Trivet (or Trevet, as he himself wrote) (c. 1258 – c. 1328) was an English Anglo-Norman chronicler. Life Trivet was born in Somerset and was the son of Sir Thomas Trevet (died 1283), a judge who came of a Norfolk or Somerset family. Nicholas became a Dominican friar in London, and studied first at Oxford and later in Paris, where he first took an interest in English and French chronicles. Little is known of the greater part of his life except that at one time he was prior of his order in London, and at another he was teaching at Oxford, also that he was at Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Works Trivet was the author of a large number of theological and historical works and commentaries on the classics, more especially the works of Seneca. A large number of these exist in manuscript in various libraries, but only two appear to have been printed, one being the work by which he is chiefly remembered, the chronicle of the Angevin kings of England; the other was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English period. Scholarly opinion varies, but the University of Valencia states the period when Middle English was spoken as being from 1150 to 1500. This stage of the development of the English language roughly coincided with the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages. Middle English saw significant changes to its vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and orthography. Writing conventions during the Middle English period varied widely. Examples of writing from this period that have survived show extensive regional variation. The more standardized Old English literary variety broke down and writing in English became fragmented and localized and was, for the most part, being improvised. By the end of the period (about 1470), and aided by the movabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean De Meun
Jean de Meun (or de Meung, ) () was a French author best known for his continuation of the '' Roman de la Rose''. Life He was born Jean Clopinel or Jean Chopinel at Meung-sur-Loire. Tradition asserts that he studied at the University of Paris. He was, like his contemporary, Rutebeuf, a defender of Guillaume de Saint-Amour and a bitter critic of the mendicant orders. Jean de Meung says that in his youth he composed songs that were sung in every public place and school in France. Most of his life seems to have been spent in Paris, where he possessed, in the Rue Saint-Jacques, a house with a tower, court and garden, which was described in 1305 as the house of the late Jean de Meun, and was then bestowed by a certain Adam d'Andely on the Dominicans. He was buried in the now-demolished church of Paris's Dominican monastery, which was also on Rue Saint-Jacques. ''Roman de la Rose'' In the enumeration of his own works he places first his continuation of the ''Roman de la Rose'' o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
