John Gower's poetry offers an important and immediate response to the turbulent events of his day. The essays here examine his life and his works from an historical angle, bringing out fresh new insights.

John Gower's poetry offers an important and immediate response to the turbulent events of his day. The essays here examine his life and his works from an historical angle, bringing out fresh new insights.

The late fourteenth century was the age of the Black Death, the Peasants' Revolt, the Hundred Years War, the deposition of Richard II, the papal schism and the emergence of the heretical doctrines of John Wyclif and the Lollards.These social, political and religious crises and conflicts were addressed not only by preachers and by those involved in public affairs but also by poets, including Chaucer and Langland. Above all, though, it is in the verse of John Gower that we find the most direct engagement with contemporary events. Yet, surprisingly, few historians have examined Gower's responses to these events or have studied the broader moral and philosophical outlook which he used to make sense of them.
Here, a number of eminent medievalists seek to demonstrate what historians can add to our understanding of Gower's poetry and his ideas about society (the nobility and chivalry, the peasants and the 1381 revolt, urban life and the law), the Church (the clergy, papacy, Lollardy, monasticism, and the friars) gender (masculinity and women and power), politics (political theory and the deposition of Richard II) and science and astronomy. The book also offers an important reassessment of Gower's biography based on newly-discovered primary sources.

STEPHEN RIGBY is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Social and Economic History at the University of Manchester; SIAN ECHARD is Professor of English, University of British Columbia.

Contributors: Mark Bailey, Michael Bennett, Martha Carlin, James Davis, Seb Falk, Christopher Fletcher, David Green, David Lepine, Martin Heale, Katherine Lewis, Anthony Musson, Stephen Rigby, Jens Röhrkasten.

Preface: Gower in Context - Sian Echard and Stephen Rigby
Chronology of Gower's Life Records - Martha Carlin
Gower's Life - Martha Carlin
Gower's Works - Stephen Rigby
Nobility and Chivalry - David Green
The Peasants and the Great Revolt - Mark Bailey
Towns and Trade - James Davis
Men of Law - Anthony Musson
The Papacy, Secular Clergy and Lollardy - David N Lepine
Monastic Life - Martin Heale
The Friars - Jens U. Rohrkasten
Women and Power - Katherine J. Lewis
Masculinity - Christopher Fletcher
Political Theory - Stephen Rigby
Gower, Richard II and Henry IV - Michael J Bennett
Natural Sciences - Seb Falk
Select Bibliography