Female-coded Spirituality in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

The works of Geoffrey Chaucer (c.1345-1400)—the so-called ‘Father’ of English—have been subject to a substantial amount of scholarly attention. Both Chaucer and his writings have been celebrated for their contribution to, and influence upon, English literature (especially poetry) and language. Despite this, the influence of the works and ideas of women visionaries on his writings has not been granted the attention it merits and has, indeed, been inexplicably overlooked and/or under-explored within criticism. This thesis aims to expose the importance of the influence of female-coded spirituality on the writings of Chaucer. In order to investigate this, the study engages closely with the work of a range of visionary women—such as Julian of Norwich (c.1343-1416), Margery Kempe (1373-c.1440), Mechthild of Hackeborn (d.1298), Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) and the Winchester anchoress who wrote A Revelation of Purgatory (1422)—alongside Chaucer’s influential text, The Canterbury Tales. The thesis is framed through a feminist theoretical lens, engaging closely with theories which interrogate women’s position(s) within Christian religious discourse. Of significant importance to this thesis, moreover, is the work of Sara Ahmed—Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others (2006)—and Grace Jantzen. Jantzen’s Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of Religion (1998) is of particular significance as I explore the tension (and entanglement) of flourishing and death-associated imagery in the texts under scrutiny. This project demonstrates that appreciating the influence of female-coded spirituality—which I posit is everywhere apparent in Chaucer’s work—grants us a greater understanding and appreciation of the complex and entangled nature of both the composition and the transmission of texts and ideas during the medieval period. Rather than simply being the products of a patriarchal, patrilineal model, I suggest that Chaucer’s writings draw upon and engage with imagery, language and typology characteristic of works written by visionary women.