The Parliamentary Sources of Gower's Cronica Tripertita and Incommensurable Styles

Author/Editor
Carlson, David R

Title
The Parliamentary Sources of Gower's Cronica Tripertita and Incommensurable Styles

Published
Carlson, David R. "The Parliamentary Sources of Gower's Cronica Tripertita and Incommensurable Styles." In John Gower, Trilingual Poet: Language, Translation, and Tradition. Ed. Dutton, Elisabeth, and Hines, John, and Yeager, R.F. Cambridge: Brewer, 2010, pp. 98-111.

Review
Carlson demonstrates with persuasive detail that in its selection of incident (including its three-part structure) and in its attribution of cause and motive, Gower's Cronica Tripertita was based directly upon the official record of the parliamentary deposition of King Richard on 30 September 1399, supplemented by other sources, particularly but not exclusively for the events that followed the deposition, and when necessary by Gower's own powers of invention. Evidence of verbal borrowing, however, is very slight because of the incompatibility of the verbose, mannered, legalistic style of the official record and the demands of the rhyming leonine hexameters that Gower adopted – without any precedent – for the Cronica. [PN. Copyright. The John Gower Society. JGN 30.1]

Date
2010

Gower Subjects
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations
Cronica Tripertita