The Chaucer Review: An Indexed Bibliography (Vols. 1-30)
Return to the Subject ListBornstein, Diane. "An Analogue to Chaucer's Clerk's Tale." 15 (1981): 322-31.
The material of the Clerk's Tale was popular as didactic material promoting wifely obedience. Even Christine de Pisan refers to Griselda in her Cité des Dames. Brian Anslay of Henry VIII's household translated the material analogous to the Clerk's Tale, closely following Christine's French version. Anslay's text is reprinted here.
Laird, Judith. "Good Women and Bonnes Dames: Virtuous Females in Chaucer and Christine de Pizan." 30 (1995): 58-70.
In the Legend of Good Women Chaucer defines women only in relation to men and portrays them in such a way that even if they are constant, they are rejected as duplicitous. Christine de Pisan, in Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, treats a similar subject, but her women appear much more virtuous and less foolish. In the Prologue to the Legend of Good Women Chaucer establishes women as lovers, thereby forcing men to examine them in terms of their physicality and nothing more. Christine's opening establishes a non-gendered definition of goodness that goes beyond sexual purity and specifically addresses the tales of wicked women. Though both authors examine the same women, their portraits are very different. Ultimately, Christine's portraits reveal that women are good regardless of how they relate to men, whereas Chaucer's women are good only in their relationships to men.