Chaucer's mysterious end

Not my field, but under the circumstances to be taken cum grano salis:

Geoffrey Chaucer, the 14th century author of The Canterbury Tales, may have been murdered, according to a new book authored by former "Monty Python" member Terry Jones and backed by a team of English literature scholars.

According to Jones and his team, both Chaucer and his writings, including The Canterbury Tales, could have become "politically inconvenient" during the turbulent overthrow of King Richard II by Henry IV in 1399.

Jones' new book, Who Murdered Chaucer?, is itself a bit of a mystery. A representative for the publisher, Methuen, refused to send a review copy to Discovery News. Three authors of the book did not respond to queries. Terry Jones' representative at Methuen also did not respond.

The real problem with theses like this is that they are ultimately unprovable. When there is no direct evidence of what happened to Chaucer, it may be useful to remember all the manifold possibilities for his end; on the other hand, once one makes an argument for one such possibility, it can -- with no real justification -- take on a life of its own, overshadowing all the other, equally likely, possibilities. Which is why cautious and conscientious historians generally prefer not to try to fill in every gap: when you really don't know, it's best not to forget it.

In his book, The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer, Derek Pearsall agrees that controversial commentary on issues could have put Chaucer's life in danger. Pearsall, however, disagrees with the theories presented in Jones' book. He told a BBC Radio 4 interviewer that the arguments occupied some place between "the deeply implausible and the wholly preposterous."

Before the October release in England of Who Murdered Chaucer? Pearsall added, "Terry Jones has got a habit of hanging onto ideas and pressing on with them, and so the book is coming out."

From Discovery News.

A BIT MORE on Terry Jones here in The Scotsman.

AND A REVIEW in The Telegraph; I like the concluding paragraph:

A few years ago, there was a flurry of excitement in the academic world over claims - based on a legal deposition - that Chaucer was a rapist. Now we are asked to believe, on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, that he was the victim of assassination and an establishment cover-up. One suspects that Terry Jones doesn't really believe in the plot, but he is to be applauded for inventing it so as to gain attention for a complicated story about politics, religion and literature in the late 14th century.

Posted by David on November 10, 2003 9:54 AM