Details
This book, aimed at students of medieval English literature aims to provide a throrough grounding in the contexts in which that literature was produced. Drawing on historicist critical theory it provides a series of readings which shed light on the cultural environment in which authors such as Chaucer, Langland and Gower wrote, significantly widening the focus of what might be considered literary endeavour. Sections explore the development of ideas about the English language, the world of popular devotion and mysticism, violence and chivalry, knowledge and philosophy, book production, and legal and economic texts.