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Forging Boethius in Medieval Intellectual Fantasies reconsiders the influence of the thirteenth-century Pseudo-Boethian forgery De disciplina scolarium on medieval understandings of Boethius (d. 524). Tracing the medieval popularity of De disciplina's reimagined vision of Boethius alongside the current scholarly neglect of this forged Boethian persona offers insight into how medieval schoolmen saw themselves and the past, and how modern scholars imagine the medieval past. In exploring this alternate Boethian persona through a variety of different works including texts of translatio studii et imperii, common school texts, the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, and humanist writings, this book reveals a new vein of medieval Boethianism that is earthy, practical, and even humorous.
Forging Boethius is an essential reference book for students and researchers in the fields of medieval literature and philosophy, as well as for anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of one the most significant authors of the Middle Ages.
List of contents
Introduction: De disciplina scolarium and the Boethian Corpus
Chapter One: Reproduction and Philosophical Life in the Consolatio Philosophiae
Chapter Two: De disciplina and Translatio Studii
Chapter Three: Boethian Humor
Chapter Four: ‘Bitwixen game and ernest’: Contrary Boethianism in Troilus and Criseyde
Chapter Five: Boethius and the Humanists: Valla, Badius, and Persistence of De disciplina in Print
References
Index
About the author
Brooke Hunter is Assistant Professor of English at Villanova University, USA.
Summary
Forging Boethius reconsiders the influence of the thirteenth-century Pseudo-Boethian forgery De disciplina scolarium on medieval understandings of Boethius, using a a variety of different works including texts of translatio studii et imperii, the poetry of Chaucer, and humanist writings.
