Fictions of Advice: The Literature and Politics of Counsel in Late Medieval England

Judith Ferster

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 1996

Fictions of Advice

The Literature and Politics of Counsel in Late Medieval England

Judith Ferster

In the series Anniversary Collection

In the series The Middle Ages Series

https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512805529

Overview
Contents

About this book

Fictions of Advice historicizes the late medieval mirrors (or handbooks) for princes to reveal how the ambiguities and contradictions characteristic of the genre are responses to--as well as attempts to manage--the risks implicit in advising a king. Often thought of as moralizing advice unable to engage political conflicts, the mirrors for princes have been taken for dull and conventionalized testimonies to the medieval taste for platitude. Judith Ferster maintains that advice was at the center of one of the important political debates in the late Middle Ages: how to constrain the king and allow for his subjects' participation. Fictions of Advice rereads the English mirrors for princes to show how their moralizing was often highly topical and even subversive. Although overtly deferential to the rulers they address, the mirrors' authors were surprisingly capable of criticism and opposition. In putting the texts back into their historical contexts, Ferster reveals the vital cultural and political function they fulfilled in their societies.

Author / Editor information

Ferster Judith :

Judith Ferster is Professor Emerita of English at North Carolina State University.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XI
1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Context for Literature: Public Discourse in the Late Middle Ages Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
3. The Secretum Secretorum and the Governance of Kings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
4. The Secretum Secretorum in Ireland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
5. Council, Counsel, and the Politics of Advice Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
6. Chaucer's Tale of Melibee: Advice to the King and Advice to the King's Advisers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
7. O Political Gower Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
8. A Mirror for the Prince of Wales: Hoccleve's Regement of Princes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
9. Machiavelli's Prince Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
10. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	174
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Edition: Reprint 2016
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 224
Illustrations
- Other: 2 illus
Keywords: Literature; Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Literature; Cultural Studies

eBook

Published: November 11, 2016
ISBN: 9781512805529