• Marcus Boxhorn’s Misattribution of Verses from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to John Gower

    Author(s):
    Sjoerd Levelt (see profile)
    Date:
    2019
    Subject(s):
    Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400, Gower, John, 1325?-1408, Canterbury tales (Chaucer, Geoffrey), Boxhorn, Marcus Zuerius, 1612-1653, Selden, John, 1584-1654
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    mistranslation, Medieval literature, Early modern literature
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/qcxt-w797
    Abstract:
    A quotation of verses from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the work of Leiden University professor of History and Rhetoric Marcus Zuerius Boxhorn (1602-53) has been cited as evidence for acquaintance with Chaucer’s work in the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, though scholars have expressed surprise that Boxhorn attributed the verses not to Chaucer, but to his contemporary John Gower. No works by Chaucer or Gower appear in the catalogue of Boxhorn’s library, however, and his misattribution of the quote to Gower and his apparent ignorance of the underlying rhyme scheme in fact suggest that he was unfamiliar with Middle English literature. This conclusion is confirmed when we consider Boxton’s probable source for these lines, which is not Geoffrey Chaucer, but John Selden.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1093/notesj/gjz164
    Publisher:
    Oxford University Press (OUP)
    Pub. Date:
    2019-12-6
    Journal:
    Notes and Queries
    Volume:
    67
    Issue:
    1
    Page Range:
    14 - 16
    ISSN:
    0029-3970,1471-6941
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    10 months ago
    License:
    Attribution

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