Article Review: “Chaucer at School” by Edith Rickert

Although it is significantly dated (written in 1932), Edith Rickert’s “Chaucer at School” is a very worthwhile read. Rickert does some fantastic sleuth work, examining the will of William de Ravenstone, medieval schoolmaster of the Almonry School in London, in order to determine probable conditions under which Chaucer received his education. She examines the contents of the will, as well as the language used to describe items in order to draw conclusions about medieval education.

One of the more interesting (and perhaps more applicable) aspects of Rickert’s study is in her discussion of the Almonry School’s library located on pages 257-259. Amongst other things, we learn, “a boy interested in reading, as young Chaucer certainly was, could have drawn books from the library after he had left the School” (258). By having such a wide access to books, students could experience them outside of an academic context.

Rickert’s article is built upon probability—the article is riddled with “could be” and “might have” language. Therefore, take this article with a grain of salt because while extremely interesting and insightful, it is a work of conjecture.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/433612?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents