Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

Through his translation of Boethius‟ Consolation of Philosophy, King Alfred demonstrated the
personal and political concerns that he was dealing with during his reign. The Consolation served as an
integral part of his program of educational and religious reform, because Boethius‟ philosophical treatise,
while colored by Alfred with a great deal of Christian language, was contextualized in a way that made it, an
antiquated classical text, socially and politically relevant. In fact, Alfred enabled the very survival of the
Consolation of Philosophy in Anglo-Saxon England. His work was disseminated and shared in monasteries
throughout England, and act that would eventually this text to be made available to the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom, a new audience for classical works. His concepts of kingship and law-giving helped to inform
subsequent social, historical, and religious, and literary developments in Anglo-Saxon England, and other
writers would continue to utilize Boethian philosophy in their works throughout the middle and later
periods of the Medieval ages. Geoffrey Chaucer‟s work echoes Boethian concepts, but he expands on
Boethian philosophies in Troilus and Criseyde in order to expose the flawed social ethos of fourteenth
century England.
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer is best known for his narrative collection, the Canterbury Tales, but it is the writings
in which Chaucer utilizes Boethius‟ works that are among his most compelling texts, namely Troilus and
Criseyde. In Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer revisits concepts and ideals first presented by Boethius in the
Consolation of Philosophy, including: the intervention of Fortune in man‟s life, the importance of selfknowledge,
the fickleness of desire for worldly goods and false felicity, and the fact that one‟s entrance into
the afterlife will bring joy. In addition to Chaucer‟s own translation of the Consolation of Philosophy, the
presence of such a multitude of Boethian themes in Troilus and Criseyde speaks to the effects of Boethian
philosophy on Chaucer‟s work, as Theodore Stroud acknowledges in his article, “Boethius‟ Influence on
Chaucer‟s „Troilus,‟” saying that, “Boethius was a basic stimulant to Chaucer‟s creative imagination…
although Boethius had already cast his work in narrative form, Chaucer might consider a further attempt to
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