The Gawain-Poet and the Fourteenth-Century English Anticlerical Tradition

By (author) Ethan Campbell

Book cover: The Gawain-Poet and the Fourteenth-Century English Anticlerical Tradition

Hardback (Published)

(April 2018)

ISBN: 9781580443074

6.14 x 9.21 inches

Price: $99.00

In stock

PDF (Published)

(April 2018)

ISBN: 9781580443081

Price: $99.00

~ENG~A fresh contextual reading of the four Middle English Gawain poems that situates them within the rich tradition of fourteenth-century English anticlericalism.


Ethan Campbell argues that a central feature of the Gawain-poet’s Middle English works’ moral rhetoric is anticlerical critique. Written in an era when clerical corruption was a key concern for polemicists such as Richard FitzRalph and John Wyclif, as well as satirical poets such as John Gower, William Langland, and Geoffrey Chaucer, the Gawain poems feature an explicit attack on hypocritical priests in the opening lines of Cleanness as well as more subtle critiques embedded within depictions of flawed priest-like characters.

1. Introduction: The Sullied Sacrament 2. The Textual Environment of Fourteenth-Century English Anticlericalism 3. The Anticlerical Poetics of Cleanness 4. The Reluctant Priest of Patience 5. The Late-Arriving Priest of Pearl 6. The Devilish Priest of Sir Gawain,

1. Introduction: The Sullied Sacrament
2. The Textual Environment of Fourteenth-Century English Anticlericalism
3. The Anticlerical Poetics of Cleanness
4. The Reluctant Priest of Patience
5. The Late-Arriving Priest of Pearl
6. The Devilish Priest of Sir Gawain
  • By (author) Ethan Campbell