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Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery
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Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Author: Terry Jones, Robert Yeager, Alan Fletcher, Juliette Dor, Terry Dolan
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $13.57
You Save: $ 6.38 ( 32% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Author: Terry Jones, Robert Yeager, Alan Fletcher, Juliette Dor, Terry Dolan
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Average Customer Rating:
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Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9780312335885
ISBN: 0312335881
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2006-06-13
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Product Release Date: 2006-06-13
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9780312335885
ISBN: 0312335881
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2006-06-13
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Product Release Date: 2006-06-13
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
Editorial Review of Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery
In this spectacular work of historical speculation Terry Jones investigates the mystery surrounding the death of Geoffrey Chaucer over 600 years ago. A diplomat and brother-in-law to John of Gaunt, one of the most powerful men in the kingdom, Chaucer was celebrated as his country's finest living poet, rhetorician and scholar: the preeminent intellectual of his time. And yet nothing is known of his death. In 1400 his name simply disappears from the record. We don't know how he died, where or when; there is no official confirmation of his death and no chronicle mentions it; no notice of his funeral or burial. He left no will and there's nothing to tell us what happened to his estate. He didn't even leave any manuscripts. How could this be? What if he was murdered?
Terry Jones' hypothesis is the introduction to a reading of Chaucer's writings as evidence that might be held against him, interwoven with a portrait of one of the most turbulent periods in English history, its politics and its personalities.
Terry Jones' hypothesis is the introduction to a reading of Chaucer's writings as evidence that might be held against him, interwoven with a portrait of one of the most turbulent periods in English history, its politics and its personalities.
Customer Reviews of Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: My kind of history book
Review: I enjoyed this book on many fronts. It is interesting and thorough without being dense and burdensome. The style is casual and fun. The type and page/word density is attractive and breezy. Thirty minutes of reading actually gets you somewhere. I love that there are pictures sprinkled throughout the book -- rather than delegated to a big clump in the center -- each appearing near its pertinent text. This may not be most complete scholarly work on the life and times of Chaucer, but for a casual historian it is an excellent investment.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Murder and other things will out eventually
Review: As is oft observed about the Medieval epoch, particularly the 14th and early 15th centuries, a lot got lost. Bloody warfare and political upheavals destroyed most of the relatively few documents that were produced in the era, and sheer passage of time between then and now challenges historians to come up with definitive answers to questions like, "What did happen to Chaucer, anyway?"
Geoffrey Chaucer, born circa 1343 A.D., is a remarkable figure on several accounts. First and foremost, he created an oeuvre of poetry that was very popular in his lifetime and has remained so across six centuries. He advanced the use of the English language as an expression of culture. He represented the rise of the commercial class to courtier status, as the crown increasingly relied on independent sources of council and money to fund warfare and courtly acquisitions. Famous in his own time, his life can be traced through contemporary chronicles and court records. But suddenly, the trail goes cold in 1400. There's nothing to say he died of natural causes but there is nothing to say he wasn't murdered. Nonetheless, Terry Jones and fellow scholars have titled their book, WHO MURDERED CHAUCER? They say at the outset that their chase back through the remains of the 14th century is more about the question than the answer because their evidence is circumstantial. It is, however, a very persuasive, thoroughly examined catalogue of evidence that suggests that one way or another, Chaucer was not in a good place come 1400 A.D.
Chaucer rose to eminence because of the cultural values held by the boy king, Richard II. Though Richard has been portrayed as weak and weird, Jones et al find him to be a man who wanted peace, emphasized culture and internationalism, and allowed critical and creative thinking to flourish under his watch. He was done in by his cousin, the conservative, hawkish Henry IV who allowed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, to institute a reign of terror in the name of orthodoxy. And there stood Chaucer having just satirized several church figures in "The Canterbury Tales." And having the nerve to dun the crown for his annuity. Oh dear.
Jones et al are serious historians who sift through primary documents and interpret a considerable body of scholarship on their subject. They pull it all together in a well-documented, provocative text that is never dry. It is as much about Richard, Henry, Arundel and the world they inhabited as much as it is about Chaucer and his work. It tells us a lot about how the human race advances itself through literature and culture.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Extremely interesting
Review:
The book takes place in the ill fated reign of King Richard II (1377-1400.) But 1400 was not only the year that Richard II was disposed by Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV). It was also the same year that England's famous poet Geoffrey Chaucer, disappeared. No funeral...no written account...nothing. Doesn't it seem a bit odd that this poet who served both with King Edward III and Richard would suddenly just disappear?
Perhaps he was murdered!
This is the theory that this book lays out. Terry Jones does a superb of informing the reader of the opportunist and controversal politics of that time. Especially the conflict between church reformers and church conservatives; the "Lollards" vs the worldy bishops. And it's in this very conflict that Chaucer may have risked his life by writing the Canterbury Tales, which exposes the corruption of the worldy priest in those days.
Jones looks past the propaganda of that time and paints a more accurate picture of what was going on in England in that time. Who was really the bad guys of those times? The defeated or the conqueror? And to what great lengths would powerful individuals go to to stomp out unpopular opinion?
The book is far from just a boring romp through history. Their is a bit of humor added in and the book never tries to be too confusing for the reader.
Highly recommend!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Heroic
Review: This is an absolutely amazing feat. Impeccable scholarship, daunting research of primary artifacts, and a brilliant distillation of available evidence all merge for this beautiful publication. The end result is remarkable on a multitude of levels.
The primary success is that this is a delightful read for anyone. The fact that it's title character is the father of English literature only adds to it's radiance. Those who dismiss this signature effort as little more than a well bound picture book, clearly failed to give it a read. It is exceptionally well presented because the work itself merits such attention.
Mr. Jones vivacious presentation of this monolithic probe of Chaucer and his environment breathes such life into his subject that he is all but resurrected. He and his colleagues may not have proven Chaucer's murder, but vastly more than reasonable doubt arises after their case is made.
Mr. Jones first work on Chaucer 25 years ago (Chaucer's Knight) was revolutionary. In that work, his exploration of Chaucer's intent insisted on reconsideration of the knight in The Canterbury Tales. He blew the dust off of the conventional interpretation of the knight's tale and revealed the actualities. In this regard, informed academia has never been the same since. Who Murdered Chaucer calls for another reassesment of this fourteenth century innovator. Those who wish to discount Mr. Jones authority because of his theatrical enterprises (which may well include the occaisional dubious historical stretch) are obviously unaware of his formidable expertise in this territory. He is one of the preeminent Chaucerian scholars of our day.
The crowning glory of this endeavor is the animation of Chaucer himself. He is no longer a distant stick figure poised against a diorama. He lives and breathes in his truculent era. We are all the richer for being drawn into his world with our eyes open to it and him.
You'll leave this treatise with an inkling that Chaucer might well be the hero in the end.
A fine, fine, book.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Beautiful and intriguing
Review: Normally, when I read a history book, I am most interested in the factual content and the bibliography and footnotes.
If I were to review this book based solely on academic content, I've got to be honest and say that the authors never really answer the question in the title or prove the thesis of the book. Instead they lay out the evidence for how and why Richard II was deposed and suggest what impact that may have had on Richard's servants and ministers like Geoffrey Chaucer. The footnotes and bilbiography are fairly thorough and add much to their description. I particularly liked how the original text is provided for all quotes along with modern English renderings of the Middle English and Late Latin citations. Moreover the sheer scope of materials consulted is impressive ranging from contemporary English and French chronicles to modern statistical studies and linguistic analysis.
However, the central thesis still eludes this painstaking effort. In fact, the book may do much to show that the central thesis can never be proved. For one thing, the tremendous breadth of the evidence consulted suggests that every stone has been turned over and that we may never be able to answer the question of how Chaucer died at all if we must rely on the sources we now have.
But the authors also admit as much.
They acknowledge that it is not even clear if Chaucer was murdered at all. Instead, they use the conceit that they are laying out a coroner's case.
As a lawyer, I find that description a little too generous. The prima facie case is still missing. But what they do lay out is a plausible motive and some evidence of opportunity. They describe the milieu Chaucer lived in near the time of his death and then suggest some areas where we might continue looking for clues to what happened to him in the end.
That's enough to make a good book. . . and a book I would read for its content alone.
But this book goes one better. The publisher has made an eye-catching package that I couldn't pass up. When I say the book is "beautiful" I'm not exaggerating. The entire book is illustrated like the finest manuscripts of the Middle Ages, --because the illustrations are from those manuscripts themselves. It is printed on sturdy white, glossy paper like a fine art book. Never have the late middle ages come so alive for me.
It is as if we are reading an alternative account of the end of Richard II written almost contemporaneously with our received histories of that era somehow miraculously . If there had been op-ed features in medieval manuscripts this would be the counterpoint to our received Lancastrian opinion of history.
It's more than just a deconstruction of history. It's a re-illumination of it.
I think it may be the best book of its kind I have ever read.
Review Summary: My kind of history book
Review: I enjoyed this book on many fronts. It is interesting and thorough without being dense and burdensome. The style is casual and fun. The type and page/word density is attractive and breezy. Thirty minutes of reading actually gets you somewhere. I love that there are pictures sprinkled throughout the book -- rather than delegated to a big clump in the center -- each appearing near its pertinent text. This may not be most complete scholarly work on the life and times of Chaucer, but for a casual historian it is an excellent investment.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Murder and other things will out eventually
Review: As is oft observed about the Medieval epoch, particularly the 14th and early 15th centuries, a lot got lost. Bloody warfare and political upheavals destroyed most of the relatively few documents that were produced in the era, and sheer passage of time between then and now challenges historians to come up with definitive answers to questions like, "What did happen to Chaucer, anyway?"
Geoffrey Chaucer, born circa 1343 A.D., is a remarkable figure on several accounts. First and foremost, he created an oeuvre of poetry that was very popular in his lifetime and has remained so across six centuries. He advanced the use of the English language as an expression of culture. He represented the rise of the commercial class to courtier status, as the crown increasingly relied on independent sources of council and money to fund warfare and courtly acquisitions. Famous in his own time, his life can be traced through contemporary chronicles and court records. But suddenly, the trail goes cold in 1400. There's nothing to say he died of natural causes but there is nothing to say he wasn't murdered. Nonetheless, Terry Jones and fellow scholars have titled their book, WHO MURDERED CHAUCER? They say at the outset that their chase back through the remains of the 14th century is more about the question than the answer because their evidence is circumstantial. It is, however, a very persuasive, thoroughly examined catalogue of evidence that suggests that one way or another, Chaucer was not in a good place come 1400 A.D.
Chaucer rose to eminence because of the cultural values held by the boy king, Richard II. Though Richard has been portrayed as weak and weird, Jones et al find him to be a man who wanted peace, emphasized culture and internationalism, and allowed critical and creative thinking to flourish under his watch. He was done in by his cousin, the conservative, hawkish Henry IV who allowed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, to institute a reign of terror in the name of orthodoxy. And there stood Chaucer having just satirized several church figures in "The Canterbury Tales." And having the nerve to dun the crown for his annuity. Oh dear.
Jones et al are serious historians who sift through primary documents and interpret a considerable body of scholarship on their subject. They pull it all together in a well-documented, provocative text that is never dry. It is as much about Richard, Henry, Arundel and the world they inhabited as much as it is about Chaucer and his work. It tells us a lot about how the human race advances itself through literature and culture.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Extremely interesting
Review:
The book takes place in the ill fated reign of King Richard II (1377-1400.) But 1400 was not only the year that Richard II was disposed by Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV). It was also the same year that England's famous poet Geoffrey Chaucer, disappeared. No funeral...no written account...nothing. Doesn't it seem a bit odd that this poet who served both with King Edward III and Richard would suddenly just disappear?
Perhaps he was murdered!
This is the theory that this book lays out. Terry Jones does a superb of informing the reader of the opportunist and controversal politics of that time. Especially the conflict between church reformers and church conservatives; the "Lollards" vs the worldy bishops. And it's in this very conflict that Chaucer may have risked his life by writing the Canterbury Tales, which exposes the corruption of the worldy priest in those days.
Jones looks past the propaganda of that time and paints a more accurate picture of what was going on in England in that time. Who was really the bad guys of those times? The defeated or the conqueror? And to what great lengths would powerful individuals go to to stomp out unpopular opinion?
The book is far from just a boring romp through history. Their is a bit of humor added in and the book never tries to be too confusing for the reader.
Highly recommend!
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Heroic
Review: This is an absolutely amazing feat. Impeccable scholarship, daunting research of primary artifacts, and a brilliant distillation of available evidence all merge for this beautiful publication. The end result is remarkable on a multitude of levels.
The primary success is that this is a delightful read for anyone. The fact that it's title character is the father of English literature only adds to it's radiance. Those who dismiss this signature effort as little more than a well bound picture book, clearly failed to give it a read. It is exceptionally well presented because the work itself merits such attention.
Mr. Jones vivacious presentation of this monolithic probe of Chaucer and his environment breathes such life into his subject that he is all but resurrected. He and his colleagues may not have proven Chaucer's murder, but vastly more than reasonable doubt arises after their case is made.
Mr. Jones first work on Chaucer 25 years ago (Chaucer's Knight) was revolutionary. In that work, his exploration of Chaucer's intent insisted on reconsideration of the knight in The Canterbury Tales. He blew the dust off of the conventional interpretation of the knight's tale and revealed the actualities. In this regard, informed academia has never been the same since. Who Murdered Chaucer calls for another reassesment of this fourteenth century innovator. Those who wish to discount Mr. Jones authority because of his theatrical enterprises (which may well include the occaisional dubious historical stretch) are obviously unaware of his formidable expertise in this territory. He is one of the preeminent Chaucerian scholars of our day.
The crowning glory of this endeavor is the animation of Chaucer himself. He is no longer a distant stick figure poised against a diorama. He lives and breathes in his truculent era. We are all the richer for being drawn into his world with our eyes open to it and him.
You'll leave this treatise with an inkling that Chaucer might well be the hero in the end.
A fine, fine, book.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Beautiful and intriguing
Review: Normally, when I read a history book, I am most interested in the factual content and the bibliography and footnotes.
If I were to review this book based solely on academic content, I've got to be honest and say that the authors never really answer the question in the title or prove the thesis of the book. Instead they lay out the evidence for how and why Richard II was deposed and suggest what impact that may have had on Richard's servants and ministers like Geoffrey Chaucer. The footnotes and bilbiography are fairly thorough and add much to their description. I particularly liked how the original text is provided for all quotes along with modern English renderings of the Middle English and Late Latin citations. Moreover the sheer scope of materials consulted is impressive ranging from contemporary English and French chronicles to modern statistical studies and linguistic analysis.
However, the central thesis still eludes this painstaking effort. In fact, the book may do much to show that the central thesis can never be proved. For one thing, the tremendous breadth of the evidence consulted suggests that every stone has been turned over and that we may never be able to answer the question of how Chaucer died at all if we must rely on the sources we now have.
But the authors also admit as much.
They acknowledge that it is not even clear if Chaucer was murdered at all. Instead, they use the conceit that they are laying out a coroner's case.
As a lawyer, I find that description a little too generous. The prima facie case is still missing. But what they do lay out is a plausible motive and some evidence of opportunity. They describe the milieu Chaucer lived in near the time of his death and then suggest some areas where we might continue looking for clues to what happened to him in the end.
That's enough to make a good book. . . and a book I would read for its content alone.
But this book goes one better. The publisher has made an eye-catching package that I couldn't pass up. When I say the book is "beautiful" I'm not exaggerating. The entire book is illustrated like the finest manuscripts of the Middle Ages, --because the illustrations are from those manuscripts themselves. It is printed on sturdy white, glossy paper like a fine art book. Never have the late middle ages come so alive for me.
It is as if we are reading an alternative account of the end of Richard II written almost contemporaneously with our received histories of that era somehow miraculously . If there had been op-ed features in medieval manuscripts this would be the counterpoint to our received Lancastrian opinion of history.
It's more than just a deconstruction of history. It's a re-illumination of it.
I think it may be the best book of its kind I have ever read.