The New Middle Ages is a series dedicated to transdisciplinary studies of medieval cultures, with particular emphasis on recuperating women's history and on feminist and gender analyses. This peer-reviewed series includes both scholarly monographs and essay collections.
Chaucer's reference to Saint Leonard in the House of Fame, lines 112–18, has been glossed as a humorous jest on the difficulty of marriage since the time of Skeat. This article reinterprets these lines in light of comparative textual analysis, the historical context of the cult of Saint Leonard, and the geographical context of Chaucer's travel from Lombardy in 1378. It finds that Chaucer likely passed through the port of Hythe, Kent, there visiting the Church of St. Leonard, where he would have encountered its marvelous “Eolus scepter” as part of the local maritime cult of Saint Leonard.
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