Chaucer And The Norse And Celtic Worlds

Through an examination of Old Norse and Celtic parallels to certain works of Chaucer, McTurk here identifies hitherto unrecognized sources for these works in early Irish tradition. He revives the idea that Chaucer visited Ireland between 1361 and 1366, placing new emphasis on the date of the enactment of the Statues of Kilkenny. Examining Chaucer's House of Fame, McTurk uncovers parallels involving eagles, perilous entrances, and scatological jokes about poetry in the Topographia Hibernie by Gerald of Wales, Snorri Sturluson's Edda, and the Old Irish sagas Fled Bricrend and Togail bruidne Da Derga. Arguing that Irish traditions influenced Chaucer's writing, he compares The Canterbury Tales with both Snorri's Edda and the Middle Irish saga Acallam na Senórach. Further, he surmises that Chaucer's five-stress line may derive from the tradition of Irish song known as amhrán, which probably existed in Ireland well before Chaucer's time.

Rory McTurk is Reader in Icelandic Studies at the University of Leeds, UK.