Fashion of Middle England and its Image in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

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 Fashion of Middle England and its Image in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

Petra Štěpánková

Bachelor Thesis, Masaryk University – Brno, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, Brno (2012)

Abstract

This thesis deals with the main features of fashion in medieval England and focuses particularly on the second half of the fourteenth century. It compares period clothing with its image in Chaucer‟s The Canterbury Tales . Thus the first part depicts the way of dressing in the late Middle Ages and includes the descriptions of male and female attires worn by people of all ranks. The second part examines costumes described in the Canterbury tales and focuses especially on the main characters. 

This thesis aims to confront the image of medieval English fashion in Chaucer‟s Canterbury Tales with reality. It tries to ascertain to what extent clothing described in this piece of writing was true to life. This paper deals with the matter of fashion in Medieval England and concentrates primarily on the second half of the fourteenth century, when the author of The Canterbury Tales lived and was composing his most celebrated work. This period is usually called the “late fourteenth century” and corresponds to the reign of the king Richard II who ruled the country for twenty-two years since 1377 to 1399.

Click here to read this article from Masaryk University – Brno