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Ethics, Rhetorical Accommodation, and Vernacularity in Gower’s Confessio Amantis by T. Matthew N. McCabe A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Department of the Centre for Medieval Studies, in the University of Toronto © by T. Matthew N. McCabe Ethics, Rhetorical Accommodation, and Vernacularity in Gower’s Confessio Amantis T. Matthew N. McCabe Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto 2010 Abstract Many critics have seen Confessio Amantis as a work of reformist rhetoric that, drawing deeply on medieval Aristotelian conflations of ethics and politics, urges readers toward personal moral reform as the crucial means by which to heal the body politic. In such a view, the moral and public interests on full display in Mirour de l’Omme , Vox Clamantis , and elsewhere remain central to Gower’s purpose in Confessio . However, while Mirour and Vox also foreground religious concerns, Confessio is often seen as “secular” in a modern sense. I argue in this dissertation that Confessio indeed bears strong affinities to Gower’s other religious-ethical-political works, and that the main differences that set it apart from them must be understood in connection with Gower’s decision to write this work “in oure Englissh.” Notwithstanding its debt to aristocratic culture, Confessio imagines a broader and more popular audience than do Vox and Mirour . Gower’s novel language choice has major implications especially for Confessio ’s uncharacteristically delicate handling of religion. Chapter 1 examines Confessio ’s Ovidian debt and suggests that Confessio ’s many invocations of Metamorphoses , given that poem’s fourteenth-century reception, align Confessio with Ovidian universal satire in a way that suggests totalizing religious-ethical-political synthesis. However, Confessio departs from the mainstream of fourteenth-century commentated Ovids by stripping Metamorphoses of its clergial patina and, crucially, adopting a markedly lay stance. Investigating Gower’s attitude to English vernacularity, chapter 2 notes Confessio ’s ii association of translation with decay and demonstrates that scientific and theological passages in Gower’s English works adopt a lower register than analogous passages in his Latin works. Chapter 3 investigates the probable causes of these downward modulations, comparing Gower’s sense of linguistic decorum to those discernible in contemporary English vernacular theology. Chapters 4 and 5—on metamorphosis and art, respectively—argue that Gower finds in Ovidian writing rich resources particularly adaptable to the most delicate of Gower’s rhetorical tasks in Confessio : to address, as layman, a lay audience on matters that are unavoidably, and indeed largely, religious. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that Gower’s voice of lay religious critique plays an important role in the histories of laicization and secularization. iii Acknowledgments It would be hard to find a PhD supervisor who more perfectly combines judgment, curiosity, knowledge, energy, and generosity than Professor Suzanne Akbari, whose eagerness to discuss new possibilities for research on medieval literature is already legendary; I am extremely grateful for her guidance through every stage of my doctoral studies. I am also very grateful to Professor Ruth Harvey and Professor Will Robins for offering criticism and support without which I could not have written this thesis. I thank Professor Nicholas Watson of Harvard University for invaluable criticism, encouragement, and suggestions for future research. Although unfortunate circumstances prevented her from being present at my defense, I am grateful to Professor Alex Gillespie for serving as my internal examiner and offering insightful comments. Thanks are also due to the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the University of Toronto Fellowship, the Colin Chase Memorial Award, and the John Leyerle Scholarship for financial support. With joy, I thank my colleagues at Ambrose University College, especially Tim Heath and Rita Dirks Heath, for graciously easing my way as I adjusted to life in Calgary and assumed full teaching responsibilities during 2008-2009. Nick, Max, and of course Dad and Mom especially, have blessed me in countless ways throughout my long education, and I am deeply grateful. As for Holly, the love of my life, she has suffered more on account of this project and done more to support it than words can tell. Clearly the God of love and peace is more than kynde . iv Note on Abbreviations and Editions All references to the Confessio Amantis are from John Gower, The English Works , ed. G. C. Macaulay, EETS e.s. 81-82 (1900-1901; rpt. London: Oxford University Press, 1969). The tales of the Confessio are referred to by the titles assigned by Macaulay, though with occasional modifications. Quotations of Gower’s other works are from The Complete Works of John Gower , ed. G. C. Macaulay, 4 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899-1901), unless otherwise noted. All citations of the Latin Bible are from Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis Sixti V Pontificis Maximi Jussu Recognita et Clementis VIII Auctoritate Edita, Nova Editio Accuratissime Emendata (Paris: Garnier Fratres, 1868), translated as The Holy Bible Translated from the Latin Vulgate (Douay, A.D. 1609: Rheims, A.D. 1582) . London: Catholic Truth Society, 1956. The following abbreviations are used in the text. For classical and medieval texts, in cases where only one edition was consulted, full bibliographical information, not given in the text, may be found in the Bibliography. BD Chaucer, Book of the Duchess EETS e.s. Early English Text Society, Extra Series EETS o.s. Early English Text Society, Original Series ELN English Language Notes JGN John Gower Newsletter LGW Chaucer, Legend of Good Women Macaulay, Works Gower, John. The Complete Works . Ed. George C. Macaulay. 4 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899-1901. MED Middle English Dictionary . Met . Ovid, Metamorphoses NPT Chaucer, Nun’s Priest’s Tale OED Oxford English Dictionary Peck, Confessio Gower, John. Confessio Amantis . Ed. Russell A. Peck, with Latin translations by Andrew Galloway. 3 vols. Kalamazoo, MI: TEAMS, 2000- 2004. PF Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls PL Migne, J.-P., ed. Patrologiae cursus completus: series latina. Paris, 1844- 1864. PriT Chaucer, The Prioress’ Tale SAC Studies in the Age of Chaucer v ST Aquinas, Summa Theologica SumT Chaucer, The Summoner’s Tale vi Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Note on Abbreviations and Editions v Introduction 1 1 Ovidian Indirection and the Voice of the Confessio Introduction 22 1.1 “Upon a weer”: The Shape of the Confessio 23 1.2 Division at the Centre: Equivocations about Love 51 1.3 Going Public With Ovid 65 Conclusion 98 2 Clerical Discourse and the Problem of the Vernacular Introduction 100 2.1 The Idea of Vernacular Translation 101 2.2 Theology in English and Latin 115 Conclusion 140 3 At the Limits of Clerical Discourse: Gower and “lewed clergie” Introduction 141 3.1 Genius and “lewed clergie” 142 3.2 Gower’s “burel clerk” and Other Lay Voices 159 3.3 Incarnation and the Vernacular: “The Three Questions” and “Constantine and Silvester” 170 Conclusion 192 4 Kinde Grace: Metamorphosis and Accommodation Introduction 195 4.1 Metamorphosis and Accommodation 196 4.2 Unkynde Punishments, Kynde Equivocations 206 4.3 Metamorphosis as Reward: Between Nature and Grace 235 Conclusion 264 5 Art, Ethics, and Grace Introduction 266 5.1 Ethics, Art, and Textual “Experience” 266 5.2 Chance, Art, and Grace: “Apollonius of Tyre” 280 5.3 The Laughter of Venus 296 Conclusion 309 Conclusion: Gower, Vernacularity, and Lay Religion 311 Bibliography 322 vii Introduction Gower’s Confessio Amantis (1390-92) begins with a Prologue of more than one thousand lines meditating on the world’s present state of moral disarray.1 This comes as no surprise from the poet whose earlier works include the Mirour de l’Omme (complete c. 1379), a long poem that combines Christian psychomachy, estates satire, and meditation on the life of Mary, and the Vox Clamantis (substantially complete c. 1386), a voluminous estates satire, both of which treat questions of public and private morality that were current in late fourteenth-century England. 2 Indeed, Gower advertises the Confessio ’s continuity with his earlier works. He represents his major works as a kind of trilogy, since the three are described together in the “Quia vnusquisque” colophon, which appears as a kind of literary autobiography in enough manuscripts to be generally accepted as authoritative.3 The three works also appear together as the three books supporting the head of the poet’s effigy on his tomb in Southwark Cathedral, which was probably made according to Gower’s own design, 4 and, largely for this reason, John H. Fisher judged Gower’s three main books to be “one continuous work.” 5 But the Confessio 1 For the date of the Confessio , see Fisher, John Gower , 116-27. 2 For the three versions of the Vox and their approximate dates, see Fisher, John Gower , 99-108; for the more uncertain date of the Mirour , see ibid., 95, and Yeager, “Gower’s French Audience.” By “estates satire” I mean the species of satire which “comprises a comprehensive survey of society and its vices”; see Miller, “Satiric Poet,” which gives this as a definition of the medieval term satira comunis (qt. 87). See further Mann, Chaucer and Medieval Estates Satire . 3 For the text, see Macaulay, Works , 3:480. For the very likely authorial status of the Confessio ’s Latin apparatus, see Pearsall, “Latin and Vernacular,” 14 (“Quia Vnusquisque” is discussed at 24-25); for Macaulay’s discussion of the “Quia vnusquisque,” see Works , 2:clviii and 3:550. For more recent assessment of the “Quia vnusquisque,” see Echard, “Last Words”; and Gower, Minor Latin Works , ed. Yeager, 71. For a survey and catalogue of Gower MSS, see Pearsall, “Manuscripts”; and idem, “Descriptive Catalogue” (ongoing). In general, the manuscript tradition for Gower’s works is highly consistent, enough for Fisher to speculate about Gower’s employment of a scriptorium at St.