A Companion To Chaucer And His Contemporaries

Download or read book A Companion to Chaucer and his Contemporaries written by Laurel Amtower and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2009-04-30 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Companion to Chaucer and his Contemporaries provides a detailed introduction to medieval culture, broadly considered. This sourcebook gives readers fuller access to Middle English literary works by situating these works within their sometimes alien historical and cultural contexts. Chapters open with an overview that suggests how contemporary debates and attitudes influence meaning in works like the Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman, and Mankind. The main body of the text is thematically arranged primary documents and illustrations, such as excerpts from the chronicles, law treatises, sermons, court records, medical and alchemical tracts, and performance records, as well as maps and manuscript illustrations.