This concise companion provides a succinct introduction to Chaucer's major works, the contexts in which he wrote, and to medieval thought more generally.

• Opens with a general introductory section discussing London life and politics, books and authority, manuscripts and readers.
• Subsequent sections focus on Chaucer’s major works – the dream visions, Troilus and Criseyde and The Canterbury Tales.
• Essays highlight the key religious, political and intellectual contexts for each major work.
• Also covers important general topics, including: medieval literary genres; dream theory; the Church; gender and sexuality; and reading Chaucer aloud.
• Designed so that each contextual essay can be read alongside one of Chaucer’s major works.

Corinne Saunders is Reader in Medieval Literature at the University of Durham. Her previous publications include The Forest of Medieval Romance (1993), Rape and Ravishment in the Literature of Medieval England (2001), Chaucer (2001) in the Blackwell Guides to Criticism series, and A Companion to Romance: From Classical to Contemporary (Blackwell Publishing, 2004).