ballade
Strictly a poem consisting of one or more triplets of seven‐ or (afterwards) eight‐lined stanzas, each ending with the same line as refrain, and usually an envoy addressed to a prince or his ...
Boethius
(c. 480–524),Roman statesman and philosopher, best known for The Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote while in prison on a charge of treason. He argued that the soul can attain happiness in ...
Book of the Duchess
A dream‐poem in 1,334 lines by Chaucer, probably written in 1369, in octosyllabic couplets. It is believed to be an allegorical lament on the death of Blanche of Lancaster, the first wife of John of ...
Carvilius Maximus, Spurius
(RE 9)of non-senatorial origins, was consul twice (293; 272 bc) with L. Papirius Cursor (2). Both secured triumphs for decisive victories in northern central Samnium (293) and for ending ...
causation
N.The relationship between an act and the consequences it produces. It is one of the elements that must be proved before an accused can be convicted of a crime in which the effect of the act is part ...
Cenobia
Queen of Palmyra (Palymerie) in Syria, who succeeded her husband Odenathus (Odenake) in ad 266 or 267 and, in spite of the fact that her city had long enjoyed the ...
Clerk's Tale
Is the first tale in Fragment IV of the Canterbury Tales, and is followed immediately by the Merchant's Tale. In the Prologue (in couplets) the Clerk is asked to tell ...
consolation
The practice of offering words of comfort to those afflicted by grief is reflected in the earliest Greek poetry. Later, under the twin influences of rhetoric and philosophy, a specialized consolatory ...
Croesus
(6th century bc),last king of Lydia c. 560–546bc. Renowned for his great wealth, he subjugated the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor before being overthrown by Cyrus the Great.
dream vision
A kind of narrative (usually but not always in verse) in which the narrator falls asleep and dreams the events of the tale. The story is often a kind of allegory, and commonly consists of a tour of ...
Fame
(see also House of Fame). The word (like its original, L. fama) had a number of related senses which Chaucer plays with. (1) It can mean ‘renown’: thus, the ‘fame’ ...
fate
A fate worse than death rape; the term is recorded from the early 19th century, although earlier in the mid 17th century Dorothy Osborne in a letter refers to ‘the Roman courage, when they killed ...
fool
All Fools' Day a humorous term for 1 April as a day for testing the credulity of others; recorded from the early 18th century, and probably modelled on All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.fools and ...
Fortune
One of Chaucer's ‘Boethian’ lyrics, is a triple ballade, surviving in ten MSS. It is sometimes entitled ‘Balades de Visage sanz Peinture’, a rather mysterious description. It may mean ‘ballades ...
forum Boārium
The area of ancient Rome bounded by the Capitol, Palatine, and Aventine hills, near Tiber island, named after the city's cattle market (See markets). Its importance as a commercial and port area from ...
Franklin's Tale
The second and final tale in Fragment V of The Canterbury Tales, following the apparently unfinished Squire's Tale. It is introduced by an exchange between the Franklin and the Squire ...
gesture
A meaningful body movement, usually of the hand or head, though the term can include facial expression and expressive movements of the whole body. The main kinds of gestures are manual ones, ...
Hugelyn of Pyze
Whose tale is told by the Monk (VII.2407–62). He plotted with his grandson Nino Visconti for the control of Pisa. He was blamed for a number of Pisan defeats. After ...
joy
In the Bible, more than an emotion. It combines a sense of happiness with a state of blessedness. But in the OT it is marked by public excitement at times of festival (Deut. 12: 6 f.) and by relief ...
Kingis Quair
(‘The King's Book’),a poem of 379 lines of rhyme‐royal written by James I of Scotland while he was a prisoner in England and about the time of his marriage (c.1424) to Lady Jane Beaufort, the poem's ...
