Brunetto Latini and England

Author/Editor
Holloway, Julia Bolton

Title
Brunetto Latini and England

Published
Holloway, Julia Bolton. "Brunetto Latini and England." Manuscripta 31 (1987), pp. 11-21.

Review
Holloway surveys the knowledge and circulation of Latini's work in England during the late Middle Ages. She notes the existence of an Italian MS of c. 1425 (now B.L. Add. 39844) containing the Secretum Secretorum with interpolations from Il Tesoro, following closely the pattern of Gower's adaptation of both works in Book 7 of CA and suggesting that Gower had access to an earlier MS with the same arrangement, contrary to the usual assumption that Gower himself was responsible for the juxtaposition (though we might also expect that Gower's MS would have presented the French version of Latini's work rather than the Italian). The reference to Holloway's essay was provided by John M. Crafton, "Chaucer's Treasure Text: The Influence of Brunetto Latini on Chaucer's Developing Narrative Technique," Medieval Perspectives 4-5 (1989-90): 25-41. Crafton refers to Gower's use of Latini's Livres du Tresor as evidence for the availability of the work to Chaucer, citing Holloway and James J. Murphy's 1961 essay on Gower's discussion of rhetoric. [PN. Copyright The John Gower Society. JGN 15.2]

Date
1987

Gower Subjects
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Confessio Amantis
Manuscripts and Textual Studies