Furnivall, Frederick J., ed., The Corpus MS of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (London: N. Trubner & Co. for the Chaucer Society. First series no. 5, 11, 18, 34, 41, 53, 67, 1868-1884). View Source Online

Text name(s): The Canterbury Tales

Number of pages of primary source text: 698

Medieval Author(s): Chaucer, Geoffrey

Dates: 1380 - 1400

Archival Reference: Corpus Christi College (Oxford) 198

Original Language(s): English - Middle English;

Translation: Original language included.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): England;

County/Region: Kent; Canterbury

Apparatus: Appendices

Comments:

This is a transcription of one of the manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales. The Corpus manuscript has the Tales following the Man of Law’s Tale in different order than does Ellesmere, one of the most often used manuscripts. It is not meant to be a student text, but a tool for scholarly work. It has very few notes. The other texts in this series are the Ellesmere MS, the Harleian MS, the Petworth MS, the Lansdowne MS, the Hengwrt MS, and the Cambridge MS. 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. The entire book is available on the Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse website.

Introduction Summary:

Cataloger: RLL