"Geoffrey Chaucer vs. Cecily Champain: New Light on an Old Case"
Richard Firth Green, Humanities Distinguised Professor of English
Probably no aspect of Geoffrey Chaucer's biography has occasioned
more discussion than the record of a quitclaim granted to him in 1380
by a woman called Cecily Champain, relieving him of the threat of an
action for rape. This discussion took a fresh turn in 1993 with the
publication of a newly-discovered second record of a quitclaim
between Champain and Chaucer. The fact that this record makes no
mention of rape has been taken as a sign that Chaucer was trying to
hush up a potential scandal, but this paper will argue that the
relationship between the two quitclaims has been completely
misunderstood and that read correctly this second document throws
important new light on the legal differences between the two parties.
Autumn Quarter
Friday, October 26
2:30 p.m., 226 University Hall
What Not to Say: Dangerous Speech in Early Modern England
David Cressy, History
Ranging from the fifteenth century to the seventeenth, from the reign of Henry VI to the reign of Charles I, David Cressy shows how outspoken English men and women collided with the strictures of the law. He shows how spoken words became treason or sedition, and how the state dealt with these "crimes of the tongue."
If you are interested in presenting during the 2007-08 academic year, please contact Richard Firth Green at green.693@osu.edu or Ethan Knapp at knapp.79@osu.edu.
