John Gower's poetry offers an important and immediate response to
the turbulent events of his day. The essays here examine his life
and his works from an historical angle, bringing out fresh new
insights. The late fourteenth century was the age of the Black
Death, the Peasants' Revolt, the Hundred Years War, the deposition
of Richard II, the papal schism and the emergence of the heretical
doctrines of John Wyclif and the Lollards. These social, political
and religious crises and conflicts were addressed not only by
preachers and by those involved in public affairs but also by
poets, including Chaucer and Langland. Above all, though, it is in
the verse of John Gower that we find the most direct engagement
with contemporary events. Yet, surprisingly, few historians have
examined Gower's responses to these events or have studied the
broader moral and philosophical outlook which he used to make sense
of them. Here, a number of eminent medievalists seek to demonstrate
what historians can add to our understanding of Gower's poetry and
his ideas about society (the nobility and chivalry, the peasants
and the 1381 revolt, urban life and the law), the Church (the
clergy, papacy, Lollardy, monasticism, and the friars) gender
(masculinity and women and power), politics (political theory and
the deposition of Richard II) and science and astronomy. The book
also offers an important reassessment of Gower's biography based on
newly-discovered primary sources. STEPHEN RIGBY is Emeritus
Professor of Medieval Social and Economic History at the University
of Manchester; SIAN ECHARD is Professor of English, University of
British Columbia. Contributors: Mark Bailey, Michael Bennett,
Martha Carlin, James Davis, Seb Falk, Christopher Fletcher, David
Green, David Lepine, Martin Heale, Katherine Lewis, Anthony Musson,
Stephen Rigby, Jens Roehrkasten.
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