Furnivall, F.J., ed., Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (London: N. Trubner & Co. The Chaucer Society first series no. 79, 1888).

Text name(s): Troilus and Criseyde

Number of pages of primary source text: 0

Medieval Author(s): Chaucer, Geoffrey

Dates: 1385 - 1387

Archival Reference: Campsall MS, Doncaster

Original Language(s): English - Middle English;

Translation: Original language included.

Translation Comments:

Geopolitical Region(s): England;

County/Region:

Apparatus: Appendices

Comments:

This edition has as a base text a manuscript made before 1413 for Henry V when he was prince. At the time this edition was made, the manuscript was in a private collection. The edition is meant for serious students or scholars, with a good knowledge of Middle English. There is no critical or secondary information; the strength of the edition is that it is based on one of the less frequently printed manuscripts of the poem. Troilus and Criseyde is the story of a Trojan prince and his love affair after the Trojan War. Chaucer’s version is based on Giovanni Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato, which is in turn baesd on Benoit de Sainte Maure’s Roman de Troie (1185). 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. This edition includes an appendix: Rhyme index by W.W. Skeat.

Introduction Summary:

Cataloger: RLL