Languages of power in the age of Richard II / Lynn Staley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Staley, Lynn, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Richard II, King of England, 1367-1400--In literature.

Richard.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400--Political and social views.

Chaucer, Geoffrey.

Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400.

Richard II, King of England, 1367-1400.

English literature--Middle English, 1100-1500--History and criticism.

English literature.

Power (Social sciences) in literature.

Politics and literature--Great Britain--History--To 1500.

Politics and literature.

History.

Historiography.

Literature and history.

Power (Social sciences).

Political and social views.

Great Britain.

Power (Social sciences)--Great Britain--History--To 1500.

Literature and history--Great Britain--History--To 1500.

Kings and rulers in literature.

Monarchy in literature.

Great Britain--History--Richard II, 1377-1399--Historiography.

Physical Description:

xiv, 394 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, [2005]

Summary:

In this book, the distinguished medievalist Lynn Staley turns her attention to one of the most dramatic periods in English history, the reign of Richard II, as seen through a range of texts, including literary, political, chronicle, and pictorial.

Richard II, who ruled from 1377 to 1399, succeeded to the throne as a child after the fifty-year reign of Edward III and found himself beset throughout his reign by military, political, religious, economic, and social problems that would have tried even the most skilled of statesmen. At the same time, these years saw some of England's most gifted courtly writers, among them Chaucer and Gower, who were keenly attuned to the political machinations erupting around them.

In Languages of Power in the Age of Richard II, Staley does not so much "read" literature through history as offer a way of "reading" history through its refractions in literature. In essence, the text both isolates and traces what is an actual search for a language of power during the reign of Richard II and scrutinizes the ways in which Chaucer and other courtly writers participated in these attempts to articulate the concept of princely power. As one who took it upon himself to comment on the various means by which history is made, Chaucer emerges from Staley's narrative as a poet without peer.

Contents:

1 The Hawk on the Wrist and the Fool in the Chimney Corner 1

2 Inheritances and Translations 75

3 Princely Powers 165

4 French Georgics and English Ripostes 265.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [357]-386) and index.

ISBN:

0271025182

OCLC:

55738423