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  3. Following Chaucer: Offices of the Active Life

Following Chaucer: Offices of the Active Life

Lynn Staley
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Following Chaucer: Offices of the Active Life explores three representative figures—the royal woman, the poet, and the merchant—in relation to the concept of "office," which Cicero linked to the health of the republic, but Chaucer to that of the common good. Not usually conjoined to the term "office," these three figures, situated in the active life, were not firmly mapped onto the body politic, which was used to figure a relational and ordered social body ruled by the king, the head. These figures are points of entry into a set of questions rooted in Chaucer's understanding of his cultural and historical past and in his keen appraisal of the social dynamics of his own time that also reverberate in the centuries after Chaucer's death.

Following Chaucer does not trace influence but uses Chaucer's likely reading, circumstances, and literary and social affiliations as guides to understanding his poetry, within the context of late medieval English culture and the reshaping of the concept of these particular offices that suited the needs of a future whose dynamics he anticipated. His understanding of the importance of the Ciceronian concept of office within the active life, his profound cultural awareness, and his probing of the foundations of social change provide him with a keen sense of the persistent tensions and inconsistencies that are fundamental to his poetry.

  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1. Anne of Bohemia
  • Chapter 2. Chaucer and the Trinity
  • Illustrations
  • Chapter 3. Chaucer and Merchant Narratives
  • Epilogue
  • Notes
  • Works Cited
  • Index
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Published: 2020
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN(s)
  • 978-0-472-12662-0 (ebook)
  • 978-0-472-13187-7 (hardcover)
Subject
  • Classical Studies:Roman
  • Medieval and Renaissance Studies

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The miniature on folio 1r of the Speculum Dominarum is indebted to the iconographic tradition of The City of Ladies. The miniature depicts a crowned woman in a regal dress embellished with the fleur de lys of France. She supervises men engaged in the labor advocated by its opening scriptural quotation that the wise woman builds her house.

Speculum Dominarum, Paris. BN MS LATIN 6784 – fol. 1r.

From Chapter 1

Plate 1. Speculum Dominarum, Paris. BN MS LATIN 6784—fol. 1r. Reprinted courtesy of Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

This miniature depicts the opening of Christine de Pisan’s City of Ladies. Christine appears twice—in her study with the three virtues, Reason, Rectitude, and Justice—and mixing mortar under their direction to build the city of ladies. Christine wears a blue dress and a white head-dress; the virtues wear crowns.

Cité des dames, London. BL MS Harley 4431, fol. 290r.

From Chapter 1

Plate 2. Cité des dames, London. BL MS Harley 4431, fol. 290r.© The British Library Board.

The initial miniature of Miroir des Dames, a fourteenth-century translation of the Speculum Dominarum. It depicts a queen and behind her a small white dog; she stands to receive the book from a kneeling Franciscan, who is Durand de Champagne, the author of the treatise.

Le Miroir des Dames, Cambridge. MS Corpus Christi 324, fol. 1r.

From Chapter 1

Plate 3. Le Miroir des Dames, Cambridge MS Corpus Christi 324, fol. 1r. Reprinted courtesy of Parker Library, Corpus Christi College.

The initial miniature of a copy of the Miroir des Dames owned by the Duke of Berry (London, BL, MS Additional 29986) is similarly royal but subtly different from the preceding plate in that there is no dog by the queen. Instead, a crowned king crowned holding a scepter stands behind the seated queen as the Franciscan presents the book.

Le Miroir des Dames, London, BL MS Add. 29986.

From Chapter 1

Plate 4. Le Miroir des Dames, London, BL MS Add. 29986. © The British Library Board.

This is a detail from one of two psalters associated with Philippa of Hainault, queen of Edward III. Both psalters are focused around the theme of kingship. On some pages, such as this one, there are small women’s heads with fashionable hair styles. The well-coifed heads decorating this psalter may point to Philippa’s commissioning it for her husband.

Psalter page containing women's heads, London, BL MS Harley 2811, fol. 11r.

From Chapter 1

Plate 5. Psalter page containing women’s heads, London, BL MS Harley 2899, fol. 11r. © The British Library Board.

This is a miniature from the mid-fourteenth century Avis aus roys, which advises a prince about the qualities of a good king. This miniature depicts the prince as a personification of the state. The body of a naked crowned figure is divided into parts, each part identified by a banderole. The king’s subjects are the members of his body—counselors are the heart; knights who defend are the arms; because they move around the world, merchants are the legs. The prince is the head.

Regal Body Politic, Avis aus Roys, New York. Pierpont Morgan MS M.456.005r.

From Chapter 3

Plate 6. Regal Body Politic, Avis aus Roys, New York, Pierpont Morgan MS M.456.005r-Avis aus Roys. Reprinted courtesy of Pierpont Morgan Library.

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