Medievalbookshop — ADI0113 West, Chaucer 1340-1400

Bargain books on the Middle Ages and all related subjects

See also | Chaucer |
Secondhand book for sale
Scanned image of the book’s front cover

Richard West.
Chaucer 1340-1400: The Life and Times of the First English Poet.
Published London: Constable, 2000.
ISBN 009479103;
ISBN-13: 9780094794108.
Binding: hardback, stitch bound.
Printed in the EU.
Size: 164×240×27mm.
Page count: xvii,302pp.
Main language: English.
Overall condition good: the dustjacket on this copy is a bit ruffled, especially on its edges and corners; the book itself has some mild wear but doesn’t look heavily used, text appears to be free of marking.

This item £6.00
P&P inc. within the UK
(delivery outside the UK not currently available)

[Paperback in print at £7.99]
Weight without packaging: 661g.

How to order this book

First published in 2000, the 600th anniversary of the death of Geoffrey Chaucer. This first and some would say greatest poet of the English language stands at the gateway of the early modern age. He lived and worked at a time when French and Latin were at last giving way to English, not just as the vernacular, but now used in the law, and in literature — and his robust command of it has kept his work in the forefront of our literary consciousness ever since.

Richard West weaves a fascinating picture of an age in his quest to reveal the nature of this extraordinary man, whose own character has always puzzled lovers of his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales. How did he remain so apparently cheerful and serene, through one of the cruellest eras of history? As a child he survived the Black Death, later he fought in France during the Hundred Years War, served as a diplomat in Italy during the turmoil leading up to the papal schism, and became a Member of Parliament at the angry beginnings of the Protestant Reformation, the bloody Peasants’ Revolt and the overthrow and murder of Richard II. The book begins and ends in Canterbury, the scene of Becket’s martyrdom and a focal point of English history for more than two thousand years.

All these events are mirrored in Chaucer’s work, as is his attitude to social phenomena such as fourteenth-century antisemitism and feminism — the latter caricatured in his immortal Wife of Bath.

Richard West sees Chaucer as the creator not only of English poetry, of the national character and humour, the forerunner of Shakespeare and Dickens — and in the cultural world, as the first Englishman.

Contents: Canterbury pilgrims; Edward III goes to war; Rise of the English merchant; Black Death — Chaucer & the Jews — Why it was soon forgotten; Chaucer as schoolboy & soldier; Romance of the Rose; Chaucer in Florence; Chaucer in Lombardy; Wyclif & the friars; Peasants’ Revolt; Troilus — war & chivalry; Chaucer & the novel; The Knight’s Tale; Wife of Bath on women & marriage; A trueborn Englishman.

Illustrations: 8 pages of monochrome plates
Maps & plans: 1

Notes: no
Tables: no
Genealogies: no
Chronology: yes
Glossary: no
Bibliography: 3pp
Index: yes

[BML/UB]
Bookmark and Share
(please note: this page and image will be deleted when the book is sold)

See the “book descriptions” page for explanations of the criteria used in this listing.

Back to previous page

Return to the used books shopfront

Use these scrollbars to navigate the attic…

You need javascript switched on for these scrollbars to work. If you can't see see them, there's a full set of links below.

Primary sources | anthologies | anononymous | facsimile | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Secondary sources | journals & partworks | author unknown | exhibition guides & ephemera | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | Mc | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Browse by subject | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Reference books | Reference index | general reference | bibliographies | biographical dictionaries | catalogues: auctions | catalogues: exhibitions | catalogues: museums & collections | chronology & dating | genealogy & heraldry | guides & gazetteers | lexical: concordances, dictionaries, glossaries | maps & atlases | medievalism | name & place-name studies | pass notes & study guides | numismatics

Medievalism | main page | general non-fiction | reference books | biography & autobiography | travelogues | arcana | folklore | arts and crafts | kid's books | fiction | poetry | drama | humour

Other stuff | browse by publisher | browse by series | browse by language | gift books | kids' stuff | incomplete sets | shop returns | signed copies | unused bargains | useful non-medieval | new books (with Amazon links)