Imagined Romes

The Ancient City and Its Stories in Middle English Poetry

C. David Benson

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780271083209
• eBook ISBN: 9780271083971
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: Literature

This volume explores the conflicting representations of ancient Rome—one of the most important European cities in the medieval imagination—in late Middle English poetry.

Once the capital of a great pagan empire whose ruined monuments still inspired awe in the Middle Ages, Rome, the seat of the pope, became a site of Christian pilgrimage owing to the fame of its early martyrs, whose relics sanctified the city and whose help was sought by pilgrims to their shrines. C. David Benson analyzes the variety of ways that Rome and its citizens, both pre-Christian and Christian, are presented in a range of Middle English poems, from lesser-known, anonymous works to the poetry of Gower, Chaucer, Langland, and Lydgate. Benson discusses how these poets conceive of ancient Rome and its citizens—especially the women of Rome—as well as why this matters to their works.

An insightful and innovative study, Imagined Romes addresses a crucial lacuna in the scholarship of Rome in the medieval imaginary and provides fresh perspectives on the work of four of the most prominent Middle English poets.

Table of contents

• COVER front
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Notes to Introduction
• Part 1
• Chapter 1: The Relics of Rome: Christian Mercy and the Stacions of Rome
• Notes to Chapter 1
• Chapter 2: The Ruins of Rome: Pagan Marvels and the Metrical Mirabilia
• Notes to Chapter 2
• Chapter 3: Civic Romans in Gower’s Confessio Amantis
• Notes to Chapter 3
• Chapter 4: Heroic (Women) Romans in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and the Legend of Good Women
• Notes to Chapter 4
• Chapter 5: Virtuous Romans in Piers Plowman
• Notes to Chapter 5
• Chapter 6: Tragic Romans in Lydgate’s Fall of Princes
• Notes to Chapter 6
• Notes
• bibliography
• index