John Mandeville

 The non-existent writer of The Voyage and Travels of Sir John Mandeville, Knight.
 Nowadays the existence of John Mandeville is denied – real author of book considered to be John de
Bourgogne who compiled several books of voyage into a work with little original material – written in a
colloquial fashion so as to appeal to the masses.
 Originally in French.

Name and Year Plot Characters Quotes Comments

The Voyage and The “supposed” travelogue of a knight named Sir Sir John - (Already
Travels of Sir John John Mandeville who crossed the sea in 1322 and Mandeville mentioned.)
Mandeville (1357-71) travelled in many strange regions, especially the
exotic wonders of the East.

John Gower (ca. 1330-1408)

 Quite well to do – landowner in Kent.
 Close to Chaucer, who sent Troilus and Criseyde (ca. 1385) to “moral Gower” for “correction” – his
reputation was nearly on par with that of Chaucer.
 Wrote with utmost care.
 Wrote in three languages: French, Latin and English.
 Brought into limelight by George Campbell Macaulay; he published an edition of Gower’s collected works
in 1901.
Name and Plot
Year
Mirour de The union of the Devil and Sin
l’omme produces the seven daughters: Pride,
(1376-78) Envy, Ire, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony
and Lechery. Reason and Conscience
are unable to save mankind from the
daughters and their granddaughters.
In the second third of Mirour, God
sends the seven Virtues who have
granddaughters who oppose the
Devil's forces. Much of the final third
is an "extensive examination of the
corruption of the Three Estates of
society -- Church, State and Workers.
Everyone is tainted." Repentance
requires the intercession of the
Virgin. The conclusion of the poem
has been lost.
Vox Book 1 is a dream-vision regarding
Clamantis the peasant revolts of 1831. The rest
(before of the books are musings upon the
1386) different classes (estates) of the
society.
Characters Quote Comments
s
- - Written in Anglo-Norman; French.
Iambic octosyllables.
Addressed to an upper-class audience
capable of reading.
An example of estates satire, along
with Vox. (Estates satire praised the
glories and purity of each class in its
ideal form, but was also used as a
window to show how society had
gotten out of hand. The Norton
Anthology of English Literature
describes the duty of estates satire:
"They set forth the functions and
duties of each estate and castigate the
failure of the estates in the present
world to live up to their divinely
assigned social roles".)
Latin.
Estates satire, as above.
Gower accosts the peasantry for their
part in the Easter Uprising of 1831.
 Seven parts.
Confessio A 30,000-line poem in octosyllabic Genius: English.
Amantis English couplets, which makes use listens.
(1390) of the structure of a Christian One scholar asserts that Confessio
confession (presented allegorically Amans: Amantis "almost exclusively" made
as a confession of sins against Love) confesses. Gower's "poetic reputation."
as a narrative frame within which a
multitude of individual tales are told. Book 5 draws upon the tale of
Like his previous works, the theme is “Pyramus and Thisbe” from Ovid’s
very much morality, even where the Metamorphosis.
stories themselves have a tendency to
describe rather immoral behaviour.
The priest figure, Genius, uses
several stories as a model to preach.
In the end, Amans finds his true
identity as “John Gower” –
recognizes his position as citizen,
lover, Christian.