Description

Pilgrim Books, Published 1988. Hardcover, ix, 180 pp.; 24 cm. In Very Good condition, no dust jacket. Blue cloth-covered boards with silver lettering on the spine, mild shelf wear and edge wear. Binding is tight, pages are clean and unmarked. A scholarly study of the role of law in Chaucer's poetry, examining his legal background and the influence of medieval English canon law, secular law of agreements, and criminal law on his work. Hornsby argues that Chaucer's allusions to law are those that civil servants and courtiers of his audience would have readily understood, with a particular mastery of the law of agreements likely attributable to his mercantile background and dealings as a civil servant. Contents: Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chaucer's Legal Background; Chaucer and the English Canon Law of Agreements; Chaucer and the Secular Law of Agreements; Chaucer and Medieval English Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.