The English Fabliau in the 15th and 16th Centuries

Abstract

The English Fabliau in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth CenturiesIn the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the fabliau attained a belated vogue in English. This paper offers a review of existing criticism on the English fabliaux, outlining the main issues it addresses, as well as suggesting the future directions scholarship might take. In particular, it offers a detailed analysis of how English writers after Chaucer tried to bring the fabliau genre into line with fifteenth-century notions of orthodoxy, a project which caused them to confront the challenges of the Lollard heresy in subtle but pervasive ways. It also notes that the very tactics used by the fabliaux to uphold latemedieval orthodoxy against Wycliffism rendered them all the more popular after the Reformation, despite their obvious Catholic sympathies. It is concluded that these two elements in the texts merit closer study, as they resonate with recent assessments of the period and its culture.Since Joseph Bédier revived interest in them in the 1890s, the French fabliaux have attracted an increasingly large body of commentary. These brief comic narratives in verse, focusing on trickery, violence and adultery, have been the subject of numerous studies, editions and essay-collections: the last decade alone has seen work on them by Keith Busby, Norris Levy, Holly Crocker, and several others.1 However, such attention stands in marked contrast to the critical reception of the fabliaux in English.