Cabinet 2: Secular Poetry

MS Fairfax 16 is an anthology of short poems popular in fifteenth-century England. What is emphasised in collections like this is the themes and styles of courtly love poetry; almost entirely ignored is the authorship of the works. Even works we know today to be authored by Geoffrey Chaucer, in this manuscript do not have his name attached at all.

Bodleian Library, MS Fairfax 16, edited by John Norton-Smith (London: Scolar Press, 1979) Central PR 1120 FG24