The tragedy of Troilus and Criseyde is one of the greatest narrative poems in English literature. Set during the siege of Troy, it tells how the young knight Troilus, son of King Priam, falls in love with Criseyde, a beautiful widow. Brought together by Criseyde’s uncle, Pandarus, the lovers are then forced apart by the events of war, which test their oaths of fidelity and trust to the limits. Described by editor Barry Windeatt as Chaucer’s “most ambitious single achievement, his masterpiece,” Troilus and Criseyde is the first work in English to depict human passion with such sympathy and understanding.  (Amazon.com)

Troilus and Criseyde (circa 1380-87) is Geoffrey Chaucer's poem in rhyme royal (rime royale) re-telling the tragic love story of Troilus, a Trojan prince, and Criseyde. Scholarly consensus is that Chaucer completed Troilus and Criseyde by the mid 1380's. Many Chaucer scholars regard this as his best work, even including the better known but incomplete Canterbury Tales.

Troilus and Criseyde is an example of a courtly romance, and although it does contain many common features of the genre, generic classification is an area of significant debate in most Middle English literature. The character Troilus is mentioned once in Homer as a valiant son of Priam who died in combat, but the actual story is of Medieval origins and first written by Benoît de Sainte-Maure in his poem Roman de Troie; Boccaccio re-wrote the story in his Il Filostrato which in turn was Chaucer's main source. Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida was based in part on Chaucer's poem. The poem was continued by Robert Henryson in his Testament of Cresseid wherein Henryson, displeased by Chaucer's rather humane treatment of Criseyde, is determined to punish her more openly for her unfaithfulness.

The relationship between Chaucer's Troilus and his source material (Il Filostrato) is discussed extensively by C. S. Lewis in The Allegory of Love. Briefly, Chaucer's poem reflects a less cynical and less misogynistic world-view than Boccaccio's; his Pandarus is well-intentioned and his Criseyde sincere but fearful, rather than simply fickle. The sadness of the story is also lightened by humour. (Wikipedia.org)

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Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer, the Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18201-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them.

Cover Design: Jim Manis
Copyright © 1999 The Pennsylvania State University

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – October 25, 1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat.

Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin.

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