BA narrative or dramatic work in which the characters and action have an abstract significance beyond their identity on a literal level. Medieval Morality plays and fables are examples.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBallusion
BA reference in a text to another literary work or to a person, place, event, or object with which the reader might be expected to be familiar.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBanatomyB
The branch of science that deals with the structure of organisms.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAnglo-Saxon
BA Germanic-speaking tribe of people who invaded Britain as the Roman influence waned. They are the ancestors of the English people, and their language formed the basis of Old English.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBarchitectureB
the science, art, or profession of designing and constructing buildings or other structures
Ec[000000]f[16]LBAristotle
BGreek philosopher (384-322 B.C.) and scientist, tutor of Alexander the Great. He considered logic the basis of all knowledge and through logic arrived at the concept of the Prime Mover, or First Cause, which is God. Medieval scholastic philosophers, especially Thomas Aquinas, relied heavily Ec[000000]f[16]LFon Aristotle's work in their logical synthesis of his thought with Christian doctrine.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBauctoritee
BMiddle English version of the modern word "authority." Auctoritee meant power: the legal power of the king and other authoritative figures to rule, and also the power of wisdom contained in the books of ancient writers who were revered in the Middle Ages. The greatest authority was Ec[000000]f[16]LFthe Bible, and Aristotle and the writings of the Fathers of the Church were unquestioned. Medieval scholastics regarded the written word and the past with great awe.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBauthority
BBecause of the hierarchical worldview of Medieval society, authority of any sort was held in great respect. The power of authority maintained the status quo, and feudalism discouraged upward mobility. The authorities were also the ancient books held in great esteem by Medieval Scholasticism. See "auctoritee."
Ec[000000]f[16]LBbeast fable
BA beast fable is an allegorical story in which animals play the part of human types. There is often a moral lesson at the end, in the form of an epigram. Aesop, a slave in ancient Greece, wrote a collection of beast fables that are still read today.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCanterbury
BA city in England about 50 miles from London whose cathedral, considered a shrine to the martyrdom of Thomas a Becket, an English saint, was a popular destination for pilgrimages.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcharacterizationB
How an author portrays a fictional person; the establishment of a character's persona. It can be done dramatically (we observe the character in action), or the author can tell us what the character is like.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBchivalry
BThe Medieval code of knightly honor that sought to promote Christian virtues and civilized behavior among the powerful soldier class. Piety, honor, and respect for authority were its chief tenets. The term comes from the French word for horse.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBclerk
BIn the Middle Ages, a learned man. The term was applied to university students, young men studying for the priesthood, and members of the clergy.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBconvention
B1. In drama, a technique for the suspension of disbelief necessary for participating in and appreciating a dramatic presentation: accepting the stage set as the world, allowing a few moments to represent the passage of years, etc.
2. In literature, certain devices that Ec[000000]f[16]LFbecome characteristic of different types of literature. The knight's extravagant devotion to his lady in the tradition of courtly love is an example of a literary convention.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcouplet
BTwo successive lines of poetry having the same meter and end rhyme. A closed couplet expresses a complete thought, without needing the rest of the poem to make sense.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcourtly love
BA Medieval literary convention in which a knight placed himself in the service of a lady and honored her in an extravagantly elevated fashion. He was not the lady's husband, and his love was usually hopeless. Courtly love was a convention of Medieval romances.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBCrusades
BWars in which the powers of feudal Western Europe attempted to regain the Holy Land in the Middle East from Islamic Arabs. They lasted from 1096-1254. The Crusades were unsuccessful in winning the Holy Land, but they did discourage Islamic penetration of Europe, opened Ec[000000]f[16]LFtrade routes, and introduced feudal Europe to Islamic science and culture.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcuckold
B(n) A husband whose wife has been sexually unfaithful. (v) A wife's act of unfaithfulness, thereby making her husband a cuckold.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdialect
BA sub-branch of a language. For example, American English can be subdivided in southern, midwestern, and New England dialects. Differences in dialects are disappearing in modern times because of mass communications, but in Chaucer's time dialect differences were major Ec[000000]f[16]LFlanguage barriers. The Normans succeeded in grafting their language onto English because their Norse dialect contained many Germanic words. As third- and fourth-generation descendants of the Norsemen (Vikings) who settled Normandy in the tenth century, the Normans spoke a dialect that was already half-related to Old English. This made Norman French an Ec[000000]f[16]LFexcellent bridge between Old French and Old English. Middle English was the result.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdialect
BThe way a language is spoken in a certain area, usually an outlying district. A variation that sounds different from the way the language is spoken in the capitol or major cultural center.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdidactic
BIntending to teach. Didactic literature seeks to convey a lesson or to educate the reader.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBepigram
BA very short poem, usually polished and witty. In ancient Greece it meant an inscription, and the epigram is often still used in this way. Morals at the end of fables are usually epigrammatic in form.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBestate
BThree hierarchical divisions of feudal society. The First Estate was the clergy, the representatives of God, the supreme power. The Second Estate was the Knights. The Third Estate was the serfs, the laboring class.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBestates satire
BEstates satire was a literary tradition that sought to maintain the structure of feudalism by ridiculing people who tried to advance above their station in life. Chaucer's readers were familiar with the Estates Satire tradition and would have appreciated how he used it to his own purposes in IThe Canterbury TalesI.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBexemplum
BAn allegorical story told to illustrate (exemplify) the central theme of a sermon. The Pardonner's tale is an exemplum in which three wild young men go off to seek Death, find gold, and kill each other for possession of it.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBfabliau
BShort stories often using stock characters, fabliaux originated in 12th-century France. They were usually about the sexual exploits of lower-class people, especially making a cuckold of an old, jealous, or stupid husband. (plural: fabliaux)
Ec[000000]f[16]LBFathers of the Church
BChristian writers of the first ten centuries A.D. whose teachings were very influential in the Medieval Church.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBfeudalism
BThe dominant social system of Europe in early Medieval times, feudalism was hierarchical in structure and based upon reciprocal obligation. A lord gave land to his vassals in exchange for military service. The vassals' land was worked by serfs, the lowest class, who furnished the Ec[000000]f[16]LFlord and vassals with food and labor in exchange for protection, food, and shelter.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBfigurative language
BA way of speaking or writing that is different from normal, every day usage. Metaphor and simile are the most commonly used figurative language. Also called figures of speech.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBfrankeleyn
BA landowner. Frankeleyn and vavasour are the Middle English words for a feudal landholder.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBfranklin
BA member of the landed gentry, usually the independent owner of a small estate. The word dates from the Norman conquest, and originally meant a person to whom the Normans had granted land. In his IAutobiography, IBenjamin Franklin quoted Chaucer to prove that his family had been Ec[000000]f[16]LFof the small gentry at some point in history.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBfriar
BA member of a Christian monastic order, especially the Dominicans and the Franciscans, established to beg alms for the poor.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgenre
BA term used in literary criticism to designate different literary forms. The three main genres are lyric, epic or narrative, and drama. There are many subdivisions among these, and opinions differ as to classification.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgentillesse
BMiddle English term for the quality of nobility. It referred both to nobility of rank in society and to a person's character.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBGeoffrey Chaucer
BAuthor of IThe Canterbury TalesI, Chaucer's artistry demonstrated the suitability of Middle English for serious literary purposes. He introduced iambic pentameter into English. Chaucer lived from 1340-1400.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBglose
BMiddle English word for interpretation of a text; explaining the sense of a text to someone but not quoting the text itself.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgloss
BMarginal notes explaining the sense of a text. The gloss of Samuel Coleridge's IRime of the Ancient MarinerI is an excellent example.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgothic
BA style in art and architecture popular in Europe during the early Middle Ages, it is highly decorated in an ornate, somewhat primitive style, but less ornate than Baroque. In architecture, it is characterized by flying buttresses and lightness increasing with height. Named Ec[000000]f[16]LFafter early settlers of Europe, the Goths. Gothic cathedrals were the greatest works of this style.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgreat vowel shift
BA linguistic phenomenon of 15th-century England. During this time, speakers of English started pronouncing their vowels the way they sound today. Before then (in Chaucer's time) English vowels were pronounced as they are in romance languages today.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgrotesque
B(adj.) Extremely distorted, ugly, deformed. (n) A figure whose features are deformed, exaggerated, or unusual in the extreme.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBguilds
BMedieval merchants' and craftsmen's associations. Workers in the craft trades worked themselves up from apprentice, through journeyman, to master craftsman. The guilds became very powerful, and the middle class eventually rose from their ranks.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBhabergeon
BMiddle English for a knight's coat of mail; armor.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBheroic couplet
BTwo successive lines of poetry written in iambic pentameter and having the same end-rhyme.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBhierarchy
BA system of ranking things in ascending order. In the Middle Ages the universe was understood to have been created by God, the Supreme Being. Everything in creation was assigned a place in the hierarchical order, according to how fully it shared in God's attributes. Angels were Ec[000000]f[16]LFthe highest order, then human beings, the higher animals, and so forth. The stratified Medieval society reflected this order.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBhumours
BFour bodily fluids that were believed to reflect the qualities of the four elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. According to this theory, these fluids possessed intrinsic characteristics, and their mingling and balance within the body determined personality in general and moods in particular.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBhurdy-gurdy
BAn ancestor of today's stringed instruments. It was squat and pear-shaped, with a small wooden wheel at one end. The player turned the wheel to stroke the strings.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBiambic pentameter
BOne form of poetic meter, considered most representative of the pattern of English speech. It consists of five metric feet to a line, with the stress falling upon the second syllable. "IWhan that Aprille with his shoures soote...I"
Ec[000000]f[16]LBillumination
BThe decoration of the first letter of a manuscript, it literally "lit up" the page. Often it was greatly enlarged and colored. Sometimes an illumination became very elaborate and extended into the margins.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBindulgence
BThe term for the policy of the Christian Church, introduced in the 13th century, of pardoning punishment due for confessed sins. Many abuses crept into the practice, as indulgences came to be sold.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBjousts
BMedieval war game in which two mounted knights attempted to knock each other out of the saddle with huge blunted lances.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBKing Arthur
BLegendary Christian king of ancient Celtic Britain. He established the Order of the Round Table at his court at Camelot to enhance the influence of Christian ideals among his followers. Several of his knights entered upon the Quest of the Holy Grail--the chalice from which Christ drank at the Last Supper.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBknight
BIn the Middle Ages, a member of the nobility who served a feudal lord as a soldier. Knights also swore to serve God and to observe the rules of chivalry.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBlanguage family
BA group of languages that are related by sharing common root words. For example, Spanish, French, and Italian belong to the Romance family because they share common roots in Latin, the language of the Romans.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBlinguist
BA scientist who studies the evolution and languages. The science of linguistics compares words and grammatical usage in languages (structural linguistics) or compares languages at various stages in the past (historical linguistics). Linguistic studies have been vastly aided by Ec[000000]f[16]LFcomputers, and linguistics is evolving into a more exact science. The history of language is, of course, also the history of human society. The change from Old English to Middle English that resulted from the Norman Conquest is an excellent example of how language and culture interact.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBliterary device
BA method used by an author to augment the style of a literary work. Devices can be figurative speech, conventions, motifs, or methods of structuring the work.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBLondon Bridge
BThe large bridge at the south end of London that connects the banks of the Thames and which led to Bankside, the section of Elizabethan London where the theater district was located.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBlyric
BA rather short poem written from the first-person point of view expressing the speaker's emotions in a unified way.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmacrocosm
BThe universe, or the universal; the great world in comparison to the single instance or the individual. (From the Latin macro--big and cosmos--world). The comparison of macrocosm/microcosm was a popular motif of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. (See microcosm.)
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmanciple
BA food buyer for a college or other institutions. Chaucer's manciple bought food for the Inner Temple, the official institution of London lawyers. This position was held by Chaucer himself at one point in his career. This explains the smug note with which Chaucer asks, "INow Ec[000000]f[16]LIFisn't it a marvel of God's grace that an uneducated fellow can outpace the wisdom of a heap of learned men?I"
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmanorial system
BThe arrangement of land management in feudal society. A manor was a large tract of land farmed in individual sections by serfs in exchange for payment in produce and labor.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmanuscript
BA literary work that has not yet been set in type. Medieval handwritten texts are also manuscripts. They were copied by scribes on very finely tanned skins of sheep or calves, called parchment and vellum.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmartyr
BOne who suffers and dies for his/her religious beliefs.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmedieval
BThe Middle Ages. Period of time in Europe between the fall of the Roman empire and the end of the 15th century.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmetaphor
BA figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things simply by describing one as the other, without stating that a comparison is being made.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmeter
BThe structuring of English speech into units of recurrent rhythm so as to form verse. A foot is the basic metric unit, and is composed of the syllables of words.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmetrics
BThe study of versification; of the rhythms of writing poetry.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmicrocosm
BThe small world (from the Latin micro--small and cosmos--world). The minute, the individual as compared to the universal, or big world. The journey to Canterbury is the microcosm, the journey through life is the macrocosm. (See macrocosm.)
Ec[000000]f[16]LBMiddle Ages
BName given to the period of transition in Europe from the ancient to the modern world, generally marked by the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. and European discovery of the Americas in 1492.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmiddle classB
The social class between the lower and upper classes.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBMiddle English
BThe English language as it existed in the late Middle Ages, formed from the influence of Norman French upon the Anglo-Saxon language.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmonasticism
BA way of life that developed in Christian Europe in the early Middle Ages in which groups of people withdrew from the world to secluded residences called monasteries for the purpose of fostering their religious devotion. Three different types of monastic orders were monks, nuns, and Ec[000000]f[16]LFfriars. They generally took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmonk
BA male member of a monastic religious order. The word comes from a Greek root meaning solitary.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBnarrative
BA literary work that tells a story. IThe Canterbury TalesI is an example of narrative poetry.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBnarrator
BOne who tells a story. The character of Chaucer the Pilgrim is the narrator of the General Prologue of IThe Canterbury TalesI.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBNorman Conquest
BSuccessful invasion of Britain in 1066 by William I of Normandy (also called William the Conqueror), ended Anglo-Saxon rule and established feudalism in England. The influence of French on the Anglo-Saxon language led to the development of Middle English.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBNorman conquest
BThe conquest of England by Norman invaders that occurred in 1066, at the Battle of Hastings. The invasion divided England into Norman and Anglo-Saxon factions, but the two cultures had many roots in common. During the 10th century, Vikings, or Norsemen, had invaded and Ec[000000]f[16]LFsettled both England and northern France. The French Viking settlers became Normans. The Normans who invaded England in 1066 were only 100 years away from their Scandinavian roots, and because Scandinavian languages are Germanic, their dialect of Norman French already contained many Germanic words and sounds.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBoral tradition
BThe body of verse composed by members of primitive societies, memorized by selected members, and passed down through generations. Ancient epic poems such as IBeowulfI and many old ballads were part of the oral tradition until, eventually, they were written down.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpalmer
BA pilgrim who had been to the Holy Land. They often wore a leaf of palm in their hats as a badge attesting to this achievement.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpardoner
BA person licensed to sell indulgences from the Church.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpardonner
BDuring the Middle Ages, a member of the clergy licensed to sell indulgences.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBparson
BA country priest.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBparts of speech
BThe categories for how words function within sentences. The parts of English speech include verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpilgrim
BOne who journeys to religious shrines and holy places, usually as an act of penance or in fulfillment of a vow.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpilgrimage
BA journey to a religious shrine.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBplague
BSeveral varieties of a highly contagious disease. Bubonic plague, called the Black Death because it manifested itself in boils that turned black, ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpoemB
A composition, usually in metric verse.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpoetB
One who writes poetry.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpoetryB
Writings in metrical verse.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpoint of view
BThe perspective from which a story is told. In first-person point of view, the narrator is within the story and refers to him-/herself as "I." In third-person point of view, the narrator is outside the story and refers to its characters by name or as "she" or "he."
Ec[000000]f[16]LBportrait
BA likeness, a representation of someone. Chaucer's descriptions of the pilgrims in the General Prologue are usually referred to as portraits.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBprioress
BThe foremost nun in a convent of nuns; the female head of a monastic order. The term comes from the Latin (and English, also) prior--to come before.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBprologue
BA dramatic monologue introducing a play or a scene. In IThe Canterbury TalesI, the prologues precede the tales.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBProvidence
BGod; and especially the nurturing and care-taking master plan of an all-knowing God.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpsaltry
BSmall harp, related to instruments like zithers and autoharps.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBquyte
BA Middle English word meaning to match, to repay like with like. In the context of IThe Canterbury TalesI, it usually refers to insults.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBreeve
BThe steward of an estate.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBrelic
BPieces of the body of a saint (bones, teeth, hair), clothing, or objects associated with a deceased holy person.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBromance
BA Medieval narrative form in both verse and prose. The subject matter concerned the adventures of knights and ladies and courtly love, often with supernatural or magical elements.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBSargent at the Law
BIn Medieval times, a lawyer of the highest rank.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsatirical
BAn adjective describing satire, the ancient literary method of undermining an opponent by making the object of the author's attack appear ridiculous to the reader. Jonathan Swift's IA Modest ProposalI is an outstanding example of satire.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBscholasticism
BA medieval Christian philosophical movement whose practitioners constructed complex logical systems to arrive at truth within a Christian framework. It was taught and studied in the universities, and is noted for the complexity of its arguments.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBscienceB
knowledge that deals with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws; systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation
Ec[000000]f[16]LBscribe
BA person who copies manuscripts. In the days before printing, scribes were the only way of reproducing texts.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBserfs
BMembers of the laboring class in feudal society. Serfs were bound to the soil of the fief: they were not permitted to move to another place.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsquire
BAn apprentice knight. A young man in the service of a knight.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBstock character
BA flat, or representational character rather than a true-to-life one. Stock characters are figures that have come to play a standard role in some types of literature and drama. The wicked stepmother in fairy tales and the cuckolded husband in fabliaux are examples.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsummoner
BA person who served summonses from the law. In the Middle Ages, summoners served people with notices to appear in church, or ecclesiastical court. The Catholic Church was a most powerful institution during that time, and people were obligated to obey its rules.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsupernatural
BA power greater than those found in the natural world. A manifestation of God or magic in the natural world.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBtabard
BAn inn outside London that really existed in the 14th century. It was on the road to Canterbury, and so was a logical place for Chaucer to stage the meeting of his pilgrims.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBtext
BThe written words of a literary work; the work itself.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBThames
BThe river that flows down the middle of London.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBthematic
BAn adjective describing the underlying ideas that run through a literary work. An element in a lyric or narrative adding to the sense of certain ideas that emerge as the work develops.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBtheme
BThe underlying ideas that suggest themselves to the writer, and in turn, the reader, of a work of literature. The central idea of a literary work.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBThomas a Becket
BChancellor to King Henry II and later Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas a Becket (1117-1170) quarreled with Henry about the King's authority in Church matters. Because Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by supporters of the King, he is considered a martyr to the Ec[000000]f[16]LFChristian faith and is a canonized saint of the Catholic Church. Canterbury Cathedral is thus a shrine to "the holy blissful martyr."
Ec[000000]f[16]LBThomas Aquinas
BA medieval scholastic philosopher who combined the thought of Aristotle with Christian teachings.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBtournament
BA formal gathering of knights for the performance of martial sports, especially jousting. They were often scheduled as a means of settling disputes without resorting to real fighting.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBtypes
BCharacters who represent ideas or ideals rather than being many sided and lifelike.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBuniverseB
The body of planets in the Milky Way, the galaxy in which our solar system is located.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBvellum
BA very finely tanned calfskin used during the Middle Ages as a writing surface for manuscripts.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBvernacular
BThe language of a culture as it is commonly spoken.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBverse
BPoetry; language written in measured cadence. Also, one line of a poem.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBvertu
BA Middle English word meaning power or strength, both physical, and moral, as virtue.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBvows
BSolemn promises made before God; (sing.) A promise of love and fidelity; A solemn affirmation or assertion.
Ec[000000]f[16]LByeoman
BIn the Middle Ages, a free man who cultivated his own land and often served a knight or lord in various capacities.
