A Companion to Chaucer and his Contemporaries: Texts and Contexts

by Laurel Amtower (Editor), Jacqueline Vanhoutte (Editor)

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.

Genres: Read For School, History

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009