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Chapter 21 - Secularity

from Part III - Humans, the World and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2019

Ian Johnson
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews, Scotland
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Summary

‘Secularity’ is here taken to involve matters which are lay and earthly as opposed to otherworldly and spiritual. Personal experience was being allowed its own authority, a principle which often features in Chaucer’s poetry, as when he portrays a woman with much experience of marriage and a marquis who obsessively tests his wife’s virtue. Certain marvels were acknowledged to have natural rather than miraculous causes; this belief features in the tales told by the Squire and Franklin. Chaucer condemns false alchemists who dupe victims into believing that they are seeing precious metals being created. As far as astrology/astronomy is concerned, he makes use of secular science whilst disassociating himself from the pagan beliefs held by its ancient proponents. His sociopolitical values often reflect those associated with recently recovered works by Aristotle. Secularity and religiosity were not invariably in opposition, but sometimes the strains showed – as in Chaucer’s Retractions.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Secularity
  • Edited by Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Book: Geoffrey Chaucer in Context
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139565141.022
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  • Secularity
  • Edited by Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Book: Geoffrey Chaucer in Context
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139565141.022
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Secularity
  • Edited by Ian Johnson, University of St Andrews, Scotland
  • Book: Geoffrey Chaucer in Context
  • Online publication: 24 June 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139565141.022
Available formats
×