{"id":5209,"date":"2025-12-04T23:37:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T23:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=5209"},"modified":"2025-12-03T23:37:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T23:37:34","slug":"whan-that-aprill-with-his-shoures-soote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marigoldonline.net\/?p=5209","title":{"rendered":"Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Geoffrey Chaucer<\/p><\/div>\n

These are the first lines of the prologue of Chaucer\u2019s The Canterbury Tales <\/em>which I learned in high school. It\u2019s interesting (though not surprising) that I remember them clearly although often can\u2019t remember where I put my phone.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m taking a course at Hunter College in The Canterbury Tales<\/em> (hereafter TCT) which I\u2019ve always wanted to do. The course is taught by Professor Marlene Hennessy whose areas of interest include Middle English Literature, Medieval Manuscripts and the History of the Book, Late Medieval Scotland, and Medieval Religious Culture. Not only does she have<\/p>\n

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Marlene Hennessey at the Metropolitan Museum of Art<\/p><\/div>\n

deep knowledge of her subject matter, she also has a great sense of humor. Once she described the sauna-like temperature of our classroom as \u201cye olde hot box.\u201d She has referred our class to Monty Python and the Holy Grail;<\/em> a BBC animated version of TCT, and ancillary reading like the book On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages,<\/em> by Valerie Allen.<\/p>\n

Professor Hennessy has broadened our understanding of the period and of Chaucer by showing us illuminated manuscripts, (as digital projections and the real thing), \"\"and led a group to see selected items in the Medieval Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A field trip to the Morgan Library is coming up. Discussions of art, medieval culture, the Black Death, feminine power, magic, scientific and related topics make the class lively and memorable.<\/p>\n

We study The Tales in the original Middle English, often reading sections aloud in class. It\u2019s fun for those of us with a touch of ham.<\/p>\n

Geoffrey Chaucer lived c.\u20091343 -October 25,1400,and is often called the ‘father of English literature.’ In addition to TCT he wrote many other works; was a philosopher and astronomer and the first writer to be buried in what has since become Poets\u2019 Corner in Westminster Abbey. He came from an upwardly mobile family and had a wife and children. For the other details of his life\u2014and there are many\u2014if interested please do a little research. (I could reference Wikipedia but my own academic training stressed \u201cgo to the source\u201d so will refrain.)<\/p>\n

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Part of Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve always loved the Middle Ages, possibly stemming from many childhood visits to the Cloisters. I pretended I lived there clad in a green velvet gown and played with my personal unicorn.<\/p>\n

This recipe is from the British Museum, specifically The Medieval Cookb<\/em>ook by Maggie Black, published by British Museum Press.\u00a0 Note that the recipe is first rendered in a version of Middle English and then \u2018translated\u2019 into contemporary English.<\/p>\n

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Spit-roasted or grilled steak<\/strong><\/p>\n

Serves 6<\/p>\n

To make Stekys of venson or bef. Take Venyson or Bef, & leche & gredyl it vp broun; then take Vynegre & a litel verious, & a lytil Wyne, and putte pouder perpir ther-on y-now, and pouder Gyngere; and atte the dressoure straw on pouder Canelle y-now, that the stekys be al y-helid ther-wyth, and but a litel; Sawce & then serue it forth.<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n