Shoaf, R.A., ed., Troilus and Criseyde (East Lansing, MI: Colleagues Press, 1989). ISBN: 937191108
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Text name(s): Troilus and Criseyde

Number of pages of primary source text: 309

Medieval Author(s): Chaucer, Geoffrey

Dates: 1380 - 1390

Archival Reference:

Original Language(s): English - Middle English;

Translation: Original language included.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): Greece;

County/Region: Troy

Apparatus: Bibliography Introduction

Comments:

This edition would be well-suited for a beginning or intermediate reader of Chaucer, as it has marginal glosses and explanatory footnotes. It does not have a glossary, only a one-page list of important words. The poem takes place in Troy during the ancient Greek siege, where King Priam’s son Troilus is in love with the widow Criseyde. Chaucer’s greatest source for this poem was Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato, although others include Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, The Romance of the Rose, and Dante’s Divine Comedy. The character Troilus appeared in Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid; Criseyde first appeared in Le Roman de Troie (1155-60) by Benoît de Sainte-Maure. Considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in the 1340s. He was a page in the household of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster, who was married to Prince Lionel, one of King Edward III’s sons, and fought in France in 1359. After that he served Edward as a messenger and diplomat, customs agent, clerk of the king’s works (where he oversaw construction and renovation of the king’s houses and properties), and Justice of the Peace. His literary career began in translating works such as the Romance of the Rose and Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy into English, and his first original work, the Book of the Duchess, was written in 1369-70. He died in or around 1400; the date on his 16th-century tomb in Westminster Abbey is October 25, 1400.

Introduction Summary:

The 12-page introduction discusses the date, sources, language, characters, and contexts of the poem.

Cataloger: RLL