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An Online Compendium and Companion
to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
4. Sources, Analogues, & Related
Texts
This heading contains the following sections
below:
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Literary Sources & Other Medieval
Authors
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Mythology and Folklore
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Bibles and Biblical Texts
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Theological Sources
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Websites Devoted to Other Medieval
Authors
Literary
Sources & Other Medieval Authors
Michigan's Corpus
of Middle English Prose and Verse added a number of works in Middle
English directly related Chaucer and other medieval authors, including
Anglo-Saxon and Early Middle English (Paul
Schaffner & Perry Willett, UMichigan). A generous and admirable example
of online scholarship, now numbering 146 items (but without copyrighted
critical apparatus). There are far too many titles to list completely,
but a sampling includes the following treats:
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The Babees Book, ed. F.J. Furnivall, EETS OS 32 (1868).
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The Wycliffe Bible, ed. J. Forshall & F. Madden (Oxford, 1850).
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An English Chronicle of the Reigns of Richard II,
Henry IV, and Henry V . . . ed. J.S.
Davies, Camden Society 64 (1856).
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Cursor Mundi: A Northumbrian Poem of the XIVth
Century in Four Versions, ed. R. Morris,
EETS OS 57,59,62,66,68,99,101 (1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1892,1893).
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Fifty Earliest English Wills in the Court of Probate, London:
A. D. 1387-1439, ed. F. J. Furnivall, EETS OS 78 (1882).
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Hali Meidenhad, ed. O. Cockayne; rev. F.J. Furnivall, EETS OS 18
(1922).
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Hymns to the Virgin & Christ, the Parliament of devils, and Other
Religious Poems, ed. F.J. Furnivall, EETS OS 24 (1867).
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King Horn; A Middle-English romance, ed. J.Hall (Oxford, 1901).
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Altenglische legenden: Kindheit Jesu, Geburt Jesu, Barlaam und
Josaphat, St. Patrik's Fegefeuer, ed. C. Horstmann (Paderborn,
1875).
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The Alliterative Morte Arthure, ed. V. Krishna (New York, 1976).
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Pierce the Ploughmans Crede, ed. W.W. Skeat, EETS OS 30 (1867).
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The Stonor Letters and Papers, 1290-1483, ed. C.L. Kingsford,
Camden Society, ser. 3, vols. 29 and 30 (1919).
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Book of the Knight of La Tour-Landry, ed. T. Wright, rev. ed.,
EETS OS 33 (1906).
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The Cision of Piers Plowman: A Critical Edition of the B-text...,
ed. A.V.C. Schmidt (London, 1978).
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Lydgate's
The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man, ed. F.J. Furnivall, EETS ES
77, 83, 92 (1899, 1901, 1904).
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Mannyng's
Handlyng Synne, ed. F.J. Furnivall, EETS OS 119, 123 (1901,
1903).
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Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century. Part I only,
ed. N. Davis (Oxford, 1971).
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The English Works of Wyclif Hitherto Unprinted, ed. F. D.
Matthew, EETS OS 74 (1880).
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Select English works of John Wyclif. Vol.1 only, ed. T. Arnold
(Oxford, 1869).
TEAMS Middle English Text
Series (Russell Peck, URochester) houses a number of lesser known and
hard to find medieval texts in helpful student editions. A generous and fascinating
selection not to be missed! Each selection includes a scholarly introduction
and full notes.
The Middle English Collection of
the University of Virginia Electronic Text Center
includes searchable editions of a number of important ME texts (generally from older
editions without the critical apparatus), including:
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Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales (Robinson, 1957) & Troilus
and Criseyde (Windeatt, 1984)
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Pearl Poet's Pearl
(Gordon, 1953) & Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight (Tolkien & Gordon, 1925, rev. ed.
1967)
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Drama: York
Plays (Beadle, 1982); Towneley
Plays (England & Pollard, 1897), & Everyman
(Cawley, 1961)
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Romance: Alliterative
Morte Arthure (Robbins, 1967) & Siege
of Jerusalem (Kolbing & Day, 1932)
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Langland's Piers
Plowman: A Critical Edition of the B-text (Schmidt, 1978)
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Gower's Confessio
Amantis (Macaulay, 1899-1902)
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Others include works by Henryson and Dunbar, Layamon's Brut
(2 versions), Owl and the Nightingale, the Paston Letters, and more!
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Search
the entire Middle English Collection at UVa.
The Middle English Compendium (UMichigan)
includes many of the UVa texts, plus a few extra features--some limited to University of
Michigan users. One important initiative at Michigan is their digitizing of a number
of volumes from the Early English Text Society:
CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts
(University College, Cork) houses cornucopia of material related to
medieval Ireland, many in modern English translation, including:
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The Annals of Ulster AD 431-1201
(HTML
& PLAIN)
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The Annals of Ulster AD
1202-1378 (HTML
& PLAIN)
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The Annals of Ulster AD
1379-1541(HTML
and PLAIN)
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Chronicon Scotorum
(HTML
& PLAIN)
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St. Columba
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On the Life of Saint
Columba [Betha Choluim Chille] (W.
Stokes) (HTML
& PLAIN)
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The Life of Columba,
written by Adamnan (W. Reeves)(HTML
& PLAIN)
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Monks' Rules of
Columbanus (G. S. M. Walker) (HTML
& PLAIN)
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Sermons of Columbanus
(G. S. M. Walker) (HTML
& PLAIN)
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Letters of Columbanus
(G. S. M. Walker) (HTML
& PLAIN)
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The Irish Lives of Guy of Warwick
& Bevis of Hampton (HTML
& PLAIN)
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The Irish Version of the Historia
Britonum of Nennius (HTML
& PLAIN)
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The Kildare Poems
Modern English by A. Lucas (HTML
and PLAIN)
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On the Life of Saint
Patrick [Betha Phatraic] (W. Stokes) (HTML
& PLAIN)
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On the Life of Saint Brigit
[Betha Brigte] (W. Stokes)(HTML
& PLAIN)
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Tidings of Doomsday (W.
Stokes) (HTML
& PLAIN)
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The Tidings of the Resurrection
(W. Stokes)
(HTML
& PLAIN)
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The fifteen tokens of Doomsday
(W. Stokes) (HTML
& PLAIN)
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The vision of Laisrén (HTML
& PLAIN)
As of 31 July 2006, CELT offered 649
texts (many from later periods of literature, and also in SGML).
Ovid's Metamorphosis,
an absolutely vital text to medieval authors, is available at the Internet
Classics Archive.
See the
Harvard Chaucer Page entries on
Chaucer's classical and contemporary influences (Larry D. Benson):
Several webpages are dedicated to Chaucer's
contemporary, William Langland, and the great poem, Piers Plowman:
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An ambitious and astonishing project: The
Piers Plowman Electronic Archive - "The long-range goal of
the Piers Plowman Electronic Archive is the creation of
a multi-level, hyper-textually linked electronic archive of the
textual tradition of all three versions of the fourteenth-century
allegorical dream vision Piers Plowman." Among the current
gold standard examples of advanced humanities computing and
digitization.
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The Luminarium
Langland Page is good starting place for web research.
The Online Classical and Medieval Library
(Douglas B. Killings, Berkeley) "is a collection of
some of the most important literary works of Classical and Medieval civilization,"
including:
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Chaucer and Related Texts
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Romances, by Chretien de Troyes
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Epics, Sagas, and Historical Works
An online publishing venture on a par with The
Cambridge History of English and American Literature (1907-21) is the
appearance of the renowned Harvard
Classics (New
York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909-17),
which according to Bartleby.com is
"The most
comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the
50-volume '5-foot
shelf of books'
and the the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major
literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject
through the twentieth century."
Indeed! Texts especially related to Chaucer and the medieval period include:
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The
Odyssey (Harvard Classics, 22) & The
Aeneid (HC, 13)
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Aesop's Fables
(HC, 17.1)
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Plutarch's Lives
(HC, 12)
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Augustin'e
Confessions (HC, 7.1)
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Epic & Saga (HC, 40): Beowulf,
The Song of Roland, The
Destruction of Dá Derga’s Hostel & The
Volsungs and Niblungs
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Dante's Divine
Comedy (HC, 20)
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Thomas a Kempis's The
Imitation of Christ (HC, 7.2)
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Froissart's Chronicles
(HC, 35.1)
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English
Poetry 1: From Chaucer to Gray (HC 40)
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Books 13-17 of Caxton's printing of
Malory's Morte Darthur (HC
35.2)
Harvard Classics (vol. 40), English
Poetry I, From Chaucer to Gray reproduces a number of traditional (and
some) medieval ballads, including Sir
Patrick Spence, The
Twa Corbie, The
Three Ravens, Edward,
The
Twa Sisters, Hugh
of Lincoln, and A Gest of
Robyn Hode.
Bartleby.com continues to do a great
service to the educational community by making available out-of-copyright
editions of valuable older scholarly texts, including:
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The
Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900, ed. Arthur Quiller-Couch
(1919), includes
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Medieval Lyrics: Cuckoo
Song, Alison,
Spring-tide, Blow,
Northern Wind, This
World's Joy, A
Hymn to the Virgin, Of
a Rose, a Lovely Rose
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Robert Mannyng of Brunne (1269–1340):
Praise of Women
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John Barbour (d. 1395): Freedom
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Thomas Hoccleve (1368–1450?):
Lament for Chaucer
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John Lydgate (1370?–1450?): Vox
ultima Crucis
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King James I of Scotland (1394–1437):
Spring Song of the
Birds
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Robert Henryson (1425–1500):
Robin and Makyne,
The Bludy Serk
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William Dunbar (1465–1520?): To
a Lady, In
Honour of the City of London, On
the Nativity of Christ, Lament
for the Makers
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John Skelton (1460?–1529): To
Mistress Margery Wentworth, To
Mistress Margaret Hussey
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Stephen Hawes (d. 1523): The
True Knight, An
Epitaph
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The
Oxford Book of Ballads, ed. Arthur Quiller-Couch (1910), includes
dozens of traditional (and some medieval) ballads that have some
bearing on Chaucerian themes and topics:
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The
Oxford Book of French Verse, ed St. John
Lucas (1920), includes the work of a number of medieval French
authors, some of whom were known to Chaucer, writing at the same
time, or influenced by him, including Guillaume de Machault (c. 1290–d.1377),
Jean Froissart (1337–d. c. 1410), Eustache Deschamps (1340–d.1410),
Christine de Pisan (c. 1363–d. c. 1430), Alain Chartier (c.
1386–d.1449), Charles D’Orleans (1391–d.1465), François
Villon (b. 1431), and Marguerite de Navarre (1492–d.1549).
All texts are in French.
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The classic 1914
Oxford Shakespeare, ed. W. J. Craig, includes the Bard's 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and
miscellaneous verse. Shakespeare drew freely from Chaucer--in
Talbot Donaldson's beautiful image, "the Swan at the
Well"--for several plays, and Shakespeare famously rewrote
English history during Chaucer's time in the Henry plays:
Mythology
and Folklore
Although Chaucer drew from sources like Ovid for his
mythology, Bob Fisher has done a very nice, easily accessible, and award winning online
edition of Bulfinch's Mythology,
in three parts:
A searchable edition (by keyword and
table of contents) of Bulfinch's
Mythology is also available online via Project Bartleby, in addition
to Bulfinch's
Chaucer also drew upon common folktales for some of his
material. See the following:
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D. L. Ashliman's Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
(Pittsburg) provides a collection of folktales from the world over, both ancient and
modern.
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When you're stuck on a classical or
mythological reference, Encyclopedia Mythica's
4300 definitions can probably help (M.F. Lindemans).
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E. Cobham Brewer's, Dictionary
of Phrase and Fable (Rev. ed. 1898) comprises over 18,000 entries
that reveal the etymologies, trace the origins and otherwise catalog
“words with a tale to tell.”
For a real treat of 19th century
anthropological thinking, you might also consider checking out the 1922
abridged edition of J.G. Frazer's classic, The
Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (69 chapters!), for
mythological themes, patterns in ancient religion, the dynamics of evil
and taboos, and comparative ritual. Frazer has been superceded by
more recent research, but disciplines as diverse as anthropology,
sociology, psychology, religion, and literature owe a debt to Frazer's
pioneering work of synthesis.
Bibles and Biblical Texts
The Vulgate Bible, the Latin
version in use in the Middle Ages (gopher), and the Douay-Rheims Bible, an English
translation of the Vulgate and the best translation to cite when you're
working with medieval texts.
The
Challoner Revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible. According to
CCEL, "The Old Testament was first published by the English College
at Douay A.D. 1609 & 1610. The New Testament was first published
by the English College at Rheims A.D. 1582. The whole translation
was revised and diligently compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop
Richard Challoner A.D. 1749-1752. He is also credited with the
annotations included in this revision."
The CCEL also has compiled Bible reference works in the World
Wide Study Bible, accessible by book of the Bible.
Just in
case you get a hankering, here's H. B. Sweete's edition of The
Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, in
three volumes (in Greek) plus an introduction in English. Or The
Septuagint Version of the Old Testament with an English Translation
with facing page in Greek, by Lancelot Brenton. Both of these are digital
facsimiles. Theological Sources
St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa
Theologica, the pinnacle of high medieval systematic theology, is
certainly worth investigating both for the rigorous form as well as the
systematic content!
The St. Pachomius Library
strives "to make the literature of the early Christian Church available
to all in electronic form -- for free!" Specializes in Orthodox sources.
The Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) offers
an unsurpassed wealth of primary sources in a variety of formats (although
the digitization quality varies from text to text). Like the online
edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, many of older secondary sources in
the CCEL take polemical or apologetic stances toward their material.
Nonetheless, some of the goodies include:
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Primary Sources
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Secondary Sources
Deserving its own listing, the complete 38 volume set of the Writings of the Early Church Fathers,
ver.
2.0 (the Ante-, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers series) is available online and searchable
from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
(CCEL)
at Wheaton College. Try not to get lost in the treasures here!
Evelyn Underhill's influential text Mysticism
is now available online through CCEL.
Websites Devoted to Other Medieval Authors
Several of the most important influences on
Chaucer have marvelous websites devoted to them and their works:
How to Document
Print & Electronic Sources:
The Chaucer Pedagogy
Documentation Primer
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Robert Miller's Venerable Edition on Chaucer's Sources & Analogues
The kinds of texts Chaucer likely knew or read himself
Additional
Chaucer Pages in The Electronic Canterbury Tales
Chaucer the Pilgrim-Narrator & Author
Chaucer's "Orphan" Pilgrims
- Those without a Tale
The
Frame Tale, Later Continuations,
&
Chaucerian Apocrypha
Manuscripts,
Printed Editions, & Electronic Texts
Electronic
Chaucer Texts:
What's Available Online?
Chaucer
in / and Popular Culture
Troilus
and Criseyde
Documentation Primer
Chaucer Pedagogy Page
Something Extra?
Free Books!
The
Poor Medieval Scholar's Electronic Bookshelf
(no cost, older academic books,
in .pdf
form from the
Google Library Project &
Microsoft Book Search Live)
Cheap Books!
The
Electronic Canterbury Tales
Bookshop
(recommended books for the study of
Chaucer and Late-Medieval England)
The
Kankedort
Gift Shoppe
(with many serious and some silly offerings for the medievalist
in your
life)
1800flowers.com
Check out Geoffrey Chaucer
Hath a Blog, well, just because. And, no, it ain't me. And, no, I
don't get a piece of
this
either, but I like it!
Looking for Calls for Papers?
Call
for Papers database from the University of Pennsylvania CFP listserv
Build Your Chaucer & Medieval
Studies Library!
Save 50-80%
at The Electronic Canterbury Tales
Bookshop (a new page with affiliated online booksellers)
Visit
The
Electronic Canterbury Tales
Bookshop, hosted by Amazon.com
The Lives of the Saints
Chaucer was also aware of a vast number of "saints
lives," the stories told about Christians who lived exemplary lives,
performed miracles, and often died a martyr's death.
The most widely circulated collection of these holy
writings, or hagiography, was Jacobus de Voragine's
Legenda Aurea or
The Golden Legend
William H. Granger's two-volume translation from the
Latin provides an eminently readable version of what has been called "the
second most read book in Christendom."
If you have any interest in the
saints, this is a required set of texts.
Be sure to get both
Volume 1 and Volume 2.
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from Amazon.com