Influence of Italian humanism on Chaucer

Contact between Geoffrey Chaucer and the Italian humanists Petrarch or Boccaccio has been proposed by scholars for centuries.[1] More recent scholarship tends to discount these earlier speculations because of lack of evidence. As Leonard Koff remarks, the story of their meeting is "a 'tydying' worthy of Chaucer himself".[2][3][4][5][6]

Chaucer's trips to mainland Europe

There are government records that show Chaucer was absent from England visiting Genoa and Florence from December 1372 until the middle of 1373.[5][7] He went with Sir James de Provan and John de Mari, eminent merchants hired by the king, and some soldiers and servants.[7][8] During this Italian business trip for the king to arrange for a settlement of Genoese merchants these scholars say it is likely that sometime in 1373 Chaucer made contact with Petrarch or Boccaccio.[5][9][10][11][12][13][14]

Milan 1368: The wedding of the Duke of Clarence and Violante Visconti

They believe it plausible that Chaucer not only met Petrarch at this wedding but also Boccaccio.[7][11] This view today, however, is far from universally accepted. William T. Rossiter, in his 2010 book on Chaucer and Petrarch argues that the key evidence supporting a visit to the continent in this year is a warrant permitting Chaucer to pass at Dover, dated 17 July. No destination is given, but even if this does represent a trip to Milan, he would have missed not only the wedding, but also Petrarch, who had returned to Pavia on 3 July.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

Canterbury Tales

The Clerk's Tale

However, this does not mean necessarily that Chaucer himself met Petrarch.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]

Other works

The Legend of Good Women

Chaucer followed the general plan of Boccaccio's work On Famous Women in The Legend of Good Women.[29][35][37][38][39][22][40][41][42][43][44][45]

Alternative viewpoints

The Knight's Tale uses Boccaccio's Teseida and the Filostrato is the major source of Troilus and Creseyde.

References

  1. ^ Thomas Warton, The history of English poetry, from the close of the eleventh to the commencement of the eighteenth century (first published London: J. Dodsley, etc.; Oxford: Fletcher, 1774–81) and William Hazlitt, Lectures on the English poets: delivered at the Surrey Institution (first published London: Taylor and Hessey, 1818): both extracted in Brewer 1995, pp. 226–30 (p.227) and 272–83 (p. 277)
  2. ^ Koff 11
  3. ^ anon, The World of Chaucer 2008
  4. ^ Skeat 1910
  5. ^ a b c Skeat 1900, p. 454 (Scholars being Professor Walter William Skeat and Dr. Furnivall)
  6. ^ Coulton 1908, p. 40
  7. ^ a b c Gray 2003, p. 251
  8. ^ Howard 1987, p. 169
  9. ^ Howard 1987, p. 191
  10. ^ Crow, Martin M. et al, Chaucer Life-records.
  11. ^ a b Thomas Warton, The history of English poetry, from the close of the eleventh to the commencement of the eighteenth century (first published London: J. Dodsley, etc.; Oxford: Fletcher, 1774–81) extracted in Brewer 1995, pp. 226–30 (p.227))
  12. ^ Howard 1987, p. 189
  13. ^ Curry 1869, pp. 157, 158, 159
  14. ^ Warton 1871, p. 296 (footnotes: Froissart was also present.)
  15. ^ Rossiter 2010
  16. ^ Meiklejohn 1887
  17. ^ Skeat 1906
  18. ^ Ames 1900, p. 98
  19. ^ Skeat 1900, pp. 382, 453, 454, 455
  20. ^ Skeat 1894, pp. 454–456
  21. ^ Skeat (1900), p. xvii
  22. ^ a b Borghesi 1903, p. 20
  23. ^ Boccaccio's Decameron
  24. ^ Florence Nightengale Jones (1910). Boccaccio and his imitators in German, English, French, Spanish, and Italian literature, The Decameron. The University of Chicago Press – via Internet Archive.
  25. ^ Warton 1871, p. 349
  26. ^ anon, American Society for the Extension of University Teaching 1898, p. 82
  27. ^ Skeat (1906), p. 182
  28. ^ Boitani, p. 291
  29. ^ a b The Chaucer Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 163–165 (Fall, 1989), p. 164; Penn State University Press
  30. ^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Petrarch". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 12 March 2010.
  31. ^ Boccaccio
  32. ^ Wallace, Chaucerian Polity (Bishop)
  33. ^ "The Monk's Tale – Middle English". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
  34. ^ "The Monk's Tale – Modern English". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
  35. ^ a b Howard 1987, p. 195
  36. ^ Gray 2003, p. 375
  37. ^ Skeat (1900), p. xxviii
  38. ^ Gray 2003, p. 58
  39. ^ Skeat (1900), p. xxix
  40. ^ "Boccaccio and Chaucer" by Peter Borghesi, Bologna, 1912
  41. ^ Howard 1987, p. 187
  42. ^ Gray 2003, p. 57
  43. ^ Ames 1900, p. 99
  44. ^ Gray 2003, p. 376
  45. ^ Howard 1987, p. 282

Sources

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