This Passing World

Michael Herzog

Description

It is 1398, and all of Europe is abuzz about the duel to be fought in September between Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, and Thomas Mowbray , Duke of Norfolk, to settle the question of which one has committed treason against King Richard II. Geoffrey Chaucer, courtier and well-known poet, is unexpectedly drawn into the intrigue surrounding the impending duel and compelled to perform an act so heinous that he is shaken to the core. The journal Chaucer begins and keeps for the remaining two and a half years of his life chronicles his unlikely rise as the son of a middle-class wine broker to become not only the pre-eminent poet of his age but the brother-in-law of John of Gaunt, uncle to the king, at times the most powerful man in England and, with his three wives, the ancestor of every ruler of England since the year 1400. This novel provides a fascinating look into life in late 14th century England, the women and men Chaucer loves, the intrigues of the Richardian court, and what compels someone who holds some of the most important jobs in the English bureaucracy to spend his nights writing poetry that is still being read and studied 600 years after his death.

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Will Dreamly Arts Llc
• Date de parution: 14 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781734138313
• Langue: English

Extrait

PRAISE FOR
THIS PASSING WORLD

Michael Herzog has written an opus, a life work that deftly touches mind and heart. The prose flows like a stylist’s and the characters emerge from history like they are contemporary friends, acquaintances, and in some cases, nemeses. This is a beautiful work I hope anyone who likes historical fiction will read and savor.
—Michael Gurian, New York Times bestselling author of The Wonder of Boys and The Miracle .
Author Michael Herzog has two things in common with his hero, the poet Geoffrey Chaucer: he has a wonderfully rich imagination and he creates a host of memorable characters. The result is a gripping and rewarding novel that opens a window on a world of intrigue, danger, soul-searching and personal struggle. It may well be set in the past but it has the power to haunt the reader in the present.
—Ken Pickering, English dramatist and playwright, Honorary Professor at the University of Kent, Canterbury, England
Michael B. Herzog provides for us a glimpse of an achingly human Geoffrey Chaucer grappling with wordcraft, love, and the murderous dangers of the 14th Century English Court. Here is an aging poet’s rumination, charmingly pensive, funny, frightened and decidedly focused as he watches his life and the world around him passing away. Here is breathtaking prose, heartbreak, hope, and ensnaring intrigue. Here is a beautiful book.
—Michael B. Koep, award winning author of The Newirth Mythology Trilogy
What Mike Herzog does in this fresh and inventive novel is bring Chaucer alive. Though grounded in the history and culture of the Middle Ages, this is a man who sounds like us and thinks like us. His voice is our voice, his struggle ours. With humor and insight, deftness and detail, Herzog gives a Chaucer for the twenty-first century.
—Chris Anderson, Professor of English, published poet .
This novel combines the strength of summer page-turners with psychologically complex development of character. There are plots and sub plots and turning-wheel sub plots within subplots as well as gradual revealing of depths not previously imagined. Chaucer’s inner life not only unfolds before us, but it is also being discovered by Chaucer himself as he writes—almost spiritual autobiography
—John C. Bean, Professor of English, author .
This Passing World, The Journal of Geoffrey Chaucer is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used to serve this fiction. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any other resemblance to actual events, persons, living or dead is coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Michael B. Herzog. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Will Dreamly Arts Publishing: www.WillDreamlyArts.com
FIRST Will Dreamly Arts hardcover edition
Book and jacket design by Michael B. Koep Jacket portrait by Rajah Bose
This Passing World: The Journal of Geoffrey Chaucer is also available in eBook and ePub formats.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
(hardcover edition) ISBN# 978-0-9976234-6-8
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THIS PASSING WORLD
THE JOURNAL OF GEOFFREY CHAUCER
Michael B. Herzog
Contents
Some Cultural Idiosyncrasies of 14 th Century England
Cast of Relevant Characters / Individuals Referenced
Relevant Genealogy and History
Works Consulted
Translator’s Note
The Journal of Geoffrey Chaucer
May 3, 1398, A.D.
May 4, 1398
May 5, 1398
May 10, 1398
May 18, 1398
May 24, 1398
May 27, 1398
June 1, 1398
June 2, 1398
June 3, 1398
June 9, 1398
June 10, 1398
June 11, 1398
June 12, 1398
June 13, 1398
June 17, 1398
June 19, 1398
June 24, 1398
June 27, 1398
June 30, 1398
July 3, 1398
July 6, 1398
July 10, 1398
July 12, 1398
July 14, 1398
July 15, 1398
July 17, 1398
July 17, 1398
July 19, 1398
July 30, 1398
August 5, 1398
August 11, 1398
August 12, 1398
August 15, 1398
August 21, 1398
August 30, 1398
September 4, 1398
September 10, 1398
September 12, 1398
September 13, 1398
September 15, 1398
September 17, 1398
September 23, 1398
September 30, 1398
October 4, 1398
October 14, 1398
January 6, 1399
January 12, 1399
February 5, 1399
March 3, 1399
April 24, 1399
May 4, 1399
July 10, 1399
July 19, 1399
August 1, 1399
August 20, 1399
August 29, 1399
September 5, 1399
September 25, 1399
September 30, 1399
October 7, 1399
October 14, 1399
October 19, 1399
November 22, 1399
November 23, 1399
December 29, 1399
January 6, 1400
January 17, 1400
February 15, 1400
March 10, 1400
March 15, 1400
April 24, 1400
April 30, 1400
May 3, 1400
May 4, 1400
June 16, 1400
July 15, 1400
August 12, 1400
August 14, 1398
September 24, 1400
October 1, 1400
October 5, 1400
October 12, 1400
October 22, 1400
October 23, 1400
October 25, 1400
November 22, 1400
Translator’s Final Note
Acknowledgements
Some Cultural Idiosyncrasies of 14 th Century England
The Western Middle Ages were socially stratified and very class-conscious. Clothing (style and color), the length of an individual’s hair, the kind of weapon one could carry, food that could be eaten on certain days, the kind of work one could do, etc., were all regulated in various ways by law and custom.
Although Parliament is assembled at the pleasure of the king and can be manipulated significantly by the crown and the nobility, it becomes increasingly powerful during Chaucer’s time. There is an extensive and complex legal system, and the English bureaucratic system is known and admired throughout Europe for its perceived efficiency.
By Chaucer’s time, the spoken language (Middle English) is the Anglo-Saxon that has survived the Norman Conquest, has absorbed much French vocabulary, and undergone significant grammatical change from the time of Beowulf (Old English). The language of scholarship is Latin and the official language of the court system (until 1362) is French. By writing in English only, Chaucer is both betting on the survival and primacy of English and helping to shape it through his writings. Compared to our own times, the language is in flux and changes very quickly, undergoing major changes in grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation that make it dramatically different from the language of Shakespeare, 200 years after Chaucer’s death.
While there was an extensive legal system, pervasive public violence made day-to-day survival uncertain. The idea that all are equal under the law is an ideal rather than reality. The rich and powerful essentially have their own police systems, paying for private protection from random violence that commoners experienced as a daily reality; on one occasion, Chaucer himself is legally charged with beating a friar. With the continuing disputes between the rulers of England and France over who owns large tracts of Europe, and whether Ireland and Scotland are meant to be ruled by English monarchs, not to mention forty years of papal schism (two warring popes each claiming to be the only true spiritual head of Christianity), Chaucer’s life time is filled with uncertainty and violence, public and private, personal and international.
Wealth was largely land-based, and there were enormous discrepancies between the ultra-rich and the inordinately poor. Wars are fought over land, and victory was generally measured by how many survived on each side to take control of the disputed land. An elaborate ransom system made war lucrative, in that captured combatants would be exchanged for large sums of money (sometimes regulated and stipulated by law). Thus nobles were more valuable alive than dead; royal captives would be treated like cherished guests, provided with all of the luxuries they would have enjoyed at home, including the elaborate and costly ritual known as the medieval hunt.
Because water was often unsafe to drink, as streams around towns and cities tended to be toxic from human and animal waste as well as dyes used by tanners, adults and children alike imbibed considerable alcohol, including various forms of beer and wine. Diners normally used their hands to pick up food and, when eating with others, tended to share a ”trencher’ (large slab of bread used like a plate), wiping their mouths on their sleeves.
Privacy, as we know and value it, was rare. Most people slept in the nude in a common room with the other members of the household. All human activities were practiced in these common rooms, making the sexual taboos with which we are familiar, quite impractical. Children were exposed at a very early age, to the realities of life and death, as they were sheltered from neither. Consequently, Chaucer and his contemporaries minced few words, referring to body parts and bodily functions in ways that even in our modern liberated society would be considered crude and inappropriate.
Flowers, spices, and perfumes were heavily relied on to cover the odors of a population that rarely bathed; also, spices generally both inhibited the growth of bacteria in foods and made foods more palatable.
Medical treatment was limited, and physicians were generally distrusted. They tended to rely on extensive folk treatments, and astrology played a significant role in training and practice. Many people still believed in witchcraft and interpreted religious and secular signs and omens. Medieval physicians believed that humans were governed by four elemental body fluids, illness being both symptom and result of imbalances among these four elements. These four humors correlated to the four seasons, to the four elements that were believed to make up all of crea