Fallible Authors. Alastair Minnis

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      Fallible Authors

      THE MIDDLE AGES SERIES

      RUTH MAZO KARRAS

      Series Editor

      EDWARD PETERS

      Founding Editor

      A complete list of books in the series is available from the publisher.

      Fallible Authors

       Chaucer’s Pardoner and Wife of Bath

      ALASTAIR MINNIS

       PENE

      UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS

      PHILADELPHIA

      Copyright © 2008 University of Pennsylvania Press

      All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.

      Published by

      University of Pennsylvania Press

      Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112

      Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Minnis, A. J. (Alastair J.)

      Fallible authors : Chaucer’s Pardoner and Wife of Bath /

      Alastair Minnis.

      p. cm. — (Middle ages series)

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN-13: 978-0-8122-4030-6 (alk. paper)

      ISBN-10: 0-8122-4030-8 (alk. paper)

      1. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400. Pardoner’s tale.

      2. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400. Wife of Bath’s tale. I. Title.

      PR1868.p3 M56 2007

      821´.1 22

      2007017366

      To SARAH and KATHERINE

      Contents

       Preface

       Introduction: Authority and Fallibility in Medieval Textual Culture

       Chapter 1. De officio praedicatoris: Of Preaching, Pardons, and Power

       I. Constructing the Preacher: Authority, Knowledge, Attributes

       The Sinful Preacher: Secrecy, Scandal, and Skill

       Art versus Virtue: The Challenge of Aristotle

       Theory into Practice: Codes of Conduct in Preachers’ Handbooks

       II. Consecrating the Sacraments: Priestly Power and the Keys to Heaven

       Sin versus Sacrament: Evil Ministers of the Mass

       Vetula baptizat, et baptizatum est: The Power to Baptize

       Authority and Agency in the Tribunal of Penance

       III. Making Indulgences: Spiritual and Material Economies

       Marketing the Divine Mercy

       Authority and Jurisdiction in the Dispensing of Pardon

       Honoring Becket: The Case for Canterbury

       Chapter 2. Moral Fallibility: Chaucer’s Pardoner and the Office of Preacher

       I. Alms and the Man: The Deviant Pardoner

       II. Prechyng for coveityse: The Deviant Preacher

       III. Breaking Bodies: The Drunkard’s Eucharist

       IV. Geldyng or mare: The Deviant Body

       Chaucer and the Queering Eunuch

       Reclaiming Public Deviancy

       Chapter 3. De impedimento sexus: Women’s Bodies and the Prohibition of Priestly Power

       I. Sex versus Sacrament: The Constrictions of Symbolism

       Sexus non est in anima: Orthodox Positions

       Crowning Glories

       A Woman’s Touch

       II. Silence in Church: Private Teaching and the Denial of Public Office

       Confining the auditrix and doctrix

       Limiting Biblical Precedent

       III. Unnatural Selection: Authorization Through Inspiration

       Prophecy and Purity of Life: In Defense of Holy Women

       Affirming Biblical Precedent

       IV. Sexus non est in anima: Heterodox Reactions

       John Wyclif: A Shameless Worker for Women?

       Walter Brut: Female Ministry in the Absence of Men

       Confronting the praedicatrix

       Feminizing Donatism

       Women Priests and Absolute Power

       Changing Bodies: Pythagoras and the Transactions of Polemic

       Chapter 4. Gender as Fallibility: Chaucer’s Wife of Bath and the Impediment of Sex

       I. Alisoun Among the auctoritees

       II. Unbridling Desire: Female Sexuality and the Making of Marriage

       An Unstable Human Matter

       Only for Amorous Love

       III. Old Wives’ Tales: Vetularity and Virtue

       Challenging Obscenity: From coilles to bel chose

       The Wisdom of Old Women

       IV. Beyond the Body? Alisoun on Sovereignty of Soul