The Chaucerian Apocrypha : A Selection

The poems in this volume were prized and preserved because of their association with Chaucer’s name and have been, paradoxically, almost entirely ignored by modern readers for the same reason. The various genres represented in this sampler attest to the diversity of late medieval literary tastes and to the flexibility of the courtly idiom.

This edition samples from Chaucerian apocrypha, works wrongly attributed to, inspired by, or associated with Geoffery Chaucer, the father of English poetry. These fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Middle English texts reflect the extent of Chaucer’s “brand name” appeal. The sixteen poems, united by courtly themes, are organized by Kathleen Forni into four sections. The Court of Love, an allegorical dream-vision, follows Philogenet who sues for the favor of Rosiall. Literature of Courtly Love includes John Lydgate’s Valentine poem Floure of Curtesye and The Lovers’ Mass, a satire that eroticizes Latin liturgy. The Antifeminist Tradition explores a misogynistic strain in Chaucerian poetry, including parodic catalogs of a woman’s faults rather than her charms. Good Counsel, Wisdom, and Advice depicts a preoccupation with traditional ethics and political guidance; a highlight is Scogan’s Moral Balade, which expands on Boethian ideas from Chaucer’s Gentillesse that nobility stems from one’s character, not birth. Forni brings to light a literary corpus which has long suffered critical neglect.