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| Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery | 
| Authors: Terry Jones, Robert Yeager, Alan Fletcher, Juliette Dor, Terry Dolan
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 242251
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0312335881
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9780312335885
ASIN: 0312335881
Publication Date: June 13, 2006
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Product Description
In this spectacular work of historical speculation Terry Jones investigates the mystery surrounding the death of Geoffrey Chaucer over 600 years ago. A diplomat and brother-in-law to John of Gaunt, one of the most powerful men in the kingdom, Chaucer was celebrated as his country's finest living poet, rhetorician and scholar: the preeminent intellectual of his time. And yet nothing is known of his death. In 1400 his name simply disappears from the record. We don't know how he died, where or when; there is no official confirmation of his death and no chronicle mentions it; no notice of his funeral or burial. He left no will and there's nothing to tell us what happened to his estate. He didn't even leave any manuscripts. How could this be? What if he was murdered?
Terry Jones' hypothesis is the introduction to a reading of Chaucer's writings as evidence that might be held against him, interwoven with a portrait of one of the most turbulent periods in English history, its politics and its personalities.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 History out on a limb September 16, 2008
Not really a true-life crime story about Geoffrey Chaucer mysterious disappearance from the historical records, because the historical records are so scant and circumstantial that no one can say for sure if, how, why, by whom, or when Chaucer might have been murdered. Leaving aside foul play, historians don't even know when Chaucer died period!
So that leaves the authors (Jones is a former member of Monty Python, so the text sparkles with dry British wit) with little to go on except contextual documentation, textual criticism, and speculation. This results in an interesting but revisionist history of the period of King Richard II and the usurping King Henry II (basically 1375-1400). All the speculation makes for fascinating reading, but its history out on a limb. How much can you rely upon out of all the "maybes"?
It also makes for a wondering focus sometimes seemingly far afield from the title subject and a sometimes more detailed history of the surrounding characters and contexts than the title suggests. Not a bad effort, but don't judge the book by its title.
 Entertaining, but suspect August 3, 2008
I picked up this text as part of a presentation requirement for a graduate seminar on "The Canterbury Tales," so my intentions in reading it were largely academic in nature. The premise of the book (that is, that Chaucer himself may have been the victim of political assassination) is based on the lack of material evidence regarding Chaucer's last days, and what that lack of evidence (such as a will, funeral announcements, etc) may suggest about the poet's demise. Terry Jones and the four scholars he worked with present an interesting rereading of what is arguably a tainted history (limited records and the possibility of censorship render it difficult to gain an accurate account of the times), and situate their theories in the realm of possibility, while maintaining that speculation is all that is possible at this time.
From my perspective, Who Murdered Chaucer? is itself more speculation than scholarship, and Chaucer himself seems to often be lost among the shuffle of stories and plots (leading me to question the true focus of the book, be it Chaucer's death, or a reexamination of the political atmosphere from which he disappeared). As a casual read, Terry Jones' publication is grossly entertaining and rewarding in terms of style and presentation, and would certainly delight any Chaucer, medieval, or Jones enthusiast. As a scholarly text, I can't help but feel it falls short of its mark.
 My kind of history book January 15, 2008
I enjoyed this book on many fronts. It is interesting and thorough without being dense and burdensome. The style is casual and fun. The type and page/word density is attractive and breezy. Thirty minutes of reading actually gets you somewhere. I love that there are pictures sprinkled throughout the book -- rather than delegated to a big clump in the center -- each appearing near its pertinent text. This may not be most complete scholarly work on the life and times of Chaucer, but for a casual historian it is an excellent investment.
Murder and other things will out eventually June 28, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As is oft observed about the Medieval epoch, particularly the 14th and early 15th centuries, a lot got lost. Bloody warfare and political upheavals destroyed most of the relatively few documents that were produced in the era, and sheer passage of time between then and now challenges historians to come up with definitive answers to questions like, "What did happen to Chaucer, anyway?"
Geoffrey Chaucer, born circa 1343 A.D., is a remarkable figure on several accounts. First and foremost, he created an oeuvre of poetry that was very popular in his lifetime and has remained so across six centuries. He advanced the use of the English language as an expression of culture. He represented the rise of the commercial class to courtier status, as the crown increasingly relied on independent sources of council and money to fund warfare and courtly acquisitions. Famous in his own time, his life can be traced through contemporary chronicles and court records. But suddenly, the trail goes cold in 1400. There's nothing to say he died of natural causes but there is nothing to say he wasn't murdered. Nonetheless, Terry Jones and fellow scholars have titled their book, WHO MURDERED CHAUCER? They say at the outset that their chase back through the remains of the 14th century is more about the question than the answer because their evidence is circumstantial. It is, however, a very persuasive, thoroughly examined catalogue of evidence that suggests that one way or another, Chaucer was not in a good place come 1400 A.D.
Chaucer rose to eminence because of the cultural values held by the boy king, Richard II. Though Richard has been portrayed as weak and weird, Jones et al find him to be a man who wanted peace, emphasized culture and internationalism, and allowed critical and creative thinking to flourish under his watch. He was done in by his cousin, the conservative, hawkish Henry IV who allowed the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, to institute a reign of terror in the name of orthodoxy. And there stood Chaucer having just satirized several church figures in "The Canterbury Tales." And having the nerve to dun the crown for his annuity. Oh dear.
Jones et al are serious historians who sift through primary documents and interpret a considerable body of scholarship on their subject. They pull it all together in a well-documented, provocative text that is never dry. It is as much about Richard, Henry, Arundel and the world they inhabited as much as it is about Chaucer and his work. It tells us a lot about how the human race advances itself through literature and culture.
Extremely interesting December 9, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The book takes place in the ill fated reign of King Richard II (1377-1400.) But 1400 was not only the year that Richard II was disposed by Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV). It was also the same year that England's famous poet Geoffrey Chaucer, disappeared. No funeral...no written account...nothing. Doesn't it seem a bit odd that this poet who served both with King Edward III and Richard would suddenly just disappear?
Perhaps he was murdered!
This is the theory that this book lays out. Terry Jones does a superb of informing the reader of the opportunist and controversal politics of that time. Especially the conflict between church reformers and church conservatives; the "Lollards" vs the worldy bishops. And it's in this very conflict that Chaucer may have risked his life by writing the Canterbury Tales, which exposes the corruption of the worldy priest in those days.
Jones looks past the propaganda of that time and paints a more accurate picture of what was going on in England in that time. Who was really the bad guys of those times? The defeated or the conqueror? And to what great lengths would powerful individuals go to to stomp out unpopular opinion?
The book is far from just a boring romp through history. Their is a bit of humor added in and the book never tries to be too confusing for the reader.
Highly recommend!
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