CHAUCER AND HIS ENGLAND
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
FROM ST. FRANCIS TO DANTE.
“A more enlightening picture than any we have yet read.”—Times.
“It will, I hope, be read by every one who wants to know what theMiddle Ages were really like.”—Dr. Rashdall in Independent Review.
“Extraordinarily vivacious, fresh, and vivid.”—Mr. C. F. G.Masterman, M.P., in Speaker.
FRIAR’S LANTERN: A Mediæval Fantasia.
“Written with undeniable ability.”—Times.
“Worthy of a place beside the ‘Cloister and the Hearth’ as a true workof art.”—Commonwealth.
FATHER RHINE; with 14 Illustrations.
“This is a very pleasant book of journeying.”—Spectator.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND PUBLIC NEEDS.
“If the ‘man in the street,’ who and whoever he be, will take thetrouble to read it, his eyes will be opened.”—Times.
MEDIÆVAL STUDIES: Seven Essays mostly reprinted from the monthly andquarterly reviews.
PORTRAIT OF CHAUCER
PAINTED BY ORDER OF HIS PUPIL THOMAS HOCCLEVE, IN A COPY OF THE LATTER’S“REGEMENT OF PRINCES.”
THE HAIR AND BEARD ARE GREY, THE EYES HAZEL: HE HASA ROSARY IN HIS LEFT HAND AND
A BLACK PENCASE OR PENKNIFE HANGS FROM HIS NECK
CHAUCER AND HIS
ENGLAND
BY
G. G. COULTON, M.A.
AUTHOR OF
“FROM ST. FRANCIS TO DANTE,” ETC.
WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
METHUEN & CO.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published in 1908
PREFACE
No book of this size can pretend to treat exhaustively of all thatconcerns Chaucer and his England; but the Author’s main aim has been tosupply an informal historical commentary on the poet’s works. He has nothesitated, in a book intended for the general public, to modernizeChaucer’s spelling, or even on rare occasions to change a word.
His best acknowledgments are due to those who have laboured so fruitfullyduring the last fifty years in publishing Chaucerian and other originaldocuments of the later Middle Ages; more especially to Dr. F. J.Furnivall, the indefatigable founder of the Chaucer Society and the EarlyEnglish Text Society; to Professor W. W. Skeat, whose ungrudginggenerosity in private help is necessarily known only to a small percentageof those who have been aided by his printed works; to Dr. R. R. Sharpe,archivist of the London Guildhall; to Prebendary F. C. Hingeston-Randolphand other editors of Episcopal Registers; to Messrs. W. Hudson and WalterRye for their contributions to Norfolk history; and to Mr. V. B.Redstone’s researches in Chaucerian genealogy. His proofs have enjoyed thegreat advantage of revision by Dr. Furnivall, who has made many valuablesuggestions and corrections, but who is in no way responsible for otherpossible errors or omissions. The