A Revelation of Purgatory by an Unknown, Fifteenth-Century Woman Visionary: Introduction, Critical Text, and Translation ed. by Martha Powell Harley

Abstract

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER valet or esquire in Edward Ill's household and, though perhaps technically classifiable as such in Richard's reign, was no longer attached to the court), his well-documented, much-studied life could have contributed to Given­ Wilson's account, and Given-Wilson might have supplied some interesting observations on the life and official career of the poet. So many figures are common to this book and to the Chaucer Lzfe­ Records, however, that Chaucerians will need to do some cross-indexing of the two andconsidersome of the questionsthat Given-Wilson did not have space to ask.For example, was Chaucer's career as a whole typical of that of a royal servant? Was he likely to have associated intimately, as some Chau­ cerians tend to assume, with the powerful and influential chamberknights, who had, presumably, daily access to the king? Given-Wilson notes that, contrary to our modern expectations, a member of the king's household or affinity was not usually rewarded by a promotion in rank: once an esquire, always anesquire; once even a chamber knight, almost never an earl. Was Chaucer nevertheless rewarded for services by increasingly better positions and rewards? Finally, why was Chaucer buried in Westminster Abbey, so near the shrine of Edward the Confessor and the tomb of Richard II? The only other courtier to be so honored was SirJohn Golafre, a chamber knight of Richard's and on occasion his ambassador to France. The common explanation is that Chaucer was rewardedfor his service to his kings; but on the evidence of this book, as an official he was not close to Richard. Could the old explanation, that Richard was honoring Chaucer as a poet, have something to it after all? These and similar questions remain to be an­ swered, and Given-Wilson's informative book may lead us in the direction of some of the answers. SUMNER FERRIS California University of Pennsylvania MARTHA POWELL HARLEY, ed. and trans. A Revelation ofPurgatory by an Unknown, Fifteenth-Century Woman Visionary: Introduction, Cn'ti­ cal Text, and Translation. Studies in Women and Religion, vol. 18. Lewiston, N.Y., and Queenston, Ont.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1985. Pp. 149. $49.95. The sense that purgatory was a soft option probably contributed less to its late-medieval popularity than that it supplied a connecting link between 152 REVIEWS the living and the dead which,with ecclesiastical sanction,made devout commemorations and benefactions in wills both useful and proper. Jacques Le Goff's recent La naissance du Purgatoire (1981) treated the twelfth­ century intellectual development of the doctrine and suggested that the zdea of purgatory touched on new concepts of sin and penance,though it did not treat the effect of the new teaching on popular attitudes. To this relatively unstudied area Martha Powell Harley's edition of a fifteenth­ century Revelation of purgatory makes a useful contribution,showing in some detail the complexity of the image in one popular Middle English work. The problems that the text poses are substantial-for one thing, it contains a number of problematic contemporary names, and these are identified with very great confidence-though Harley fights shy on the matter of intellectual influence,suggesting (but not examining) a greater degree of scribal influence than seems to me indicated. But this is a careful and thoughtful edition, which shows good historical scholarship and an editorial willingness to engage the text deeply. Sometimes a note will seem incomplete-those on "wells," for example,hardly suggest the extent of the image in late-medieval devotional literature-but the main concern here has been to offer a trustworthy edition,from the three extant manu­ scripts, of a neglected Middle English work. This Harley has done well (there are minor slips in lines 39,626,and 816),including textual variants, useful notes,and a translation instead of a glossary,in an edition based on her 1981 Columbia dissertation. But the book is short (the text is 899 prose lines,or 28 pages),reproduction is by photo-offset from word-processed sheets,and the price is hardly to be believed. The single most important question which arises with a new text is, W...