Gower, John.

Title
Gower, John.

Published
Gray, Douglas. "Gower, John." In In H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, eds. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 61 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). Vol. 23, pp. 125-30.

Review
Predictably in an ODNB article, Gray's biography covers the essential facts: unknown date of birth, family connections (Sir Robert Gower of Kent, a fact established by Weever in "Ancient Funeral Monuments" [1631]), the messy Septvauns affair, speculations about Gower's legal profession (or not--Gray sides with J.A.W. Bennett in imagining Gower not a practicing lawyer but rather "a Londoner versed in the law who was in touch with Kentish gentry, chose his friends chiefly from the legal and ecclesiastical professions, and had some knowledge of life at court," residence at St. Mary Overie ("perhaps because of benefactions towards the repairing of the priory. The priory probably provided him with a library and a scriptorium"), multiple land transactions, gifts of "SS" collar and pipes of wine from Henry IV, marriage to Agnes Groundolf in 1398 ("to describe it as a marriage of convenience between an ailing man and his nurse must remain speculation"), literary career (brief discussions of major works, balades), death and burial ("Though his tomb and effigy is still to be seen, it has been moved twice since 1800, and the chapel [of St. John] has now disappeared. The painting and lettering on the tomb have been restored from earlier descriptions [by Thomas Berthelette, who printed the Confessio amantis in 1532, Leland, and Stow])," Spanish and Portuguese translations, and an assessment of his career: "The Macaulay edition laid the foundation for serious study, and gradually modern criticism has done more justice to his poetic excellence. Chaucer's epithet 'moral' was a very exact one. Gower had a coherent and serious view of the need for love and concord and peace, but he was not always solemn: in his 'Confessio amantis' especially he brilliantly combined entertainment with doctrine--'somwhat of lust, somewhat of lore'." [RFY. Copyright. John Gower Society. eJGN 44.2]

Date
2004

Gower Subjects
Biography of Gower
Baclgrounds and General Criticism