Being Boethius: Vitae, Politics, and Treason in Thomas Usk's Testament of Love.

AUTHORITY in literature; POLITICIANS in literature; TREASON in literature; POLITICS in literature; FREEDOM of religion in literature; LIBERTY in literature; TESTAMENT of Love (Book); USK, Thomas; 14TH century (Literary period)

Thomas Usk's Boethian imitation, the Testament of Love, draws much-needed attention to how manuscript paratextual material influenced medieval readings of authoritative texts such as de Consolatione philosophiae (hereafter, Consolatio). Although manuscript survival rates place the Consolatio as the second most popular medieval book after the scriptures, modern commentators have reduced the Boethian structure to a gradual process of education and abstraction from temporal concerns. On the contrary, Boethius's own self-representation, as well as Latin vitae and gloss, paint a portrait of Boethius as an active politician, who chose to appear treasonous to his ruler and uphold civic and religious liberty rather than disobey the dictates of philosophy. As such, Boethius became particularly accessible to medieval authors with political ambitions-- and missteps--of their own. By examining the Boethian tradition, which spans Latin commentary as well as vernacular sources like Geoffrey Chaucer's translation of the Consolatio and Troilus and Criseyde, one may understand more fully aspects of Boethian texts that do not appear to fit with the detached and contemplative paradigm ascribed to Boethian literature. Usk's comfort in aligning himself with Boethius--not despite, but because of his multiple political reversals--reveals how the darker side of Boethius influenced the reading and rewriting of English Boethian literature in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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