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THE MAGIC OF SCIENCE IN THE FRANKLIN'S TALE

Year 2016, Volume: 40 Issue: 1, 189 - 202, 12.07.2016

Abstract

Medieval university education provided an individual not only with a profession, which would provide him with great esteem and prestige, but also with scientific knowledge, which was unattainable for laymen. Accordingly, a medieval clerk was regarded to be a privileged individual who was endowed with theoretical and scientific knowledge, which might seem magical to laymen as reflected in Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Tale. Although he is not one of the main characters, there is a clerk from Orleans, who is important for the working of the plot as much as the main characters of the tale. This clerk is the very person to help Aurelius clear the shore off the rocks in accordance with Dorigen’s only condition for accepting Aurelius’s love. The clerk, firstly, calculates the movements of the moon and tides, and then decides the proper hour to show Aurelius that the rocks have disappeared from the shore. At this point, the scientific knowledge of the university educated clerk about the high tide times is believed to be magical and a product of occult sciences by Aurelius and all the other uneducated people. In line with these, the aim of this article is to discuss the scientific knowledge of the clerk in The Franklin’s Tale, which seemed magical to lay people, who did not have the magical scientific knowledge of the clerk and to present the perceptions of magic and science in the late Middle Ages as reflected in The Franklin’s Tale.

References

  • ASTELL, Ann W. (1969). Chaucer and the Universe of Learning. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
  • BOWLIN, Steele (2006). “Between Precedent and Possibility: Liminality, Historicity, and Narrative in Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Tale. Studies in Philology 103.1, 47- 67.
  • CHAUCER, Geoffrey (2008). The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry D. Benson. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • COOPER, Helen (2004). The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • HODGSON, Phyllis, ed (1960). The Franklin’s Tale. London: Athlone.
  • KIECKHEFER, Richard (1989). Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • KNOPP, Sherron (2004). “Poetry as Conjuring Act: The Franklin’s Tale and The Tempest.” The Chaucer Review 38.4, 337-354.
  • LEE, B. S. (2010) “Apollo’s Chariot and the Christian Subtext of The Franklin’s Tale.” Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 36.1, 47-67.
  • “MAGICIEN” (n.d.). The Middle English Dictionary. 1952-2001 ed. University of Michigan. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  • “MAUGIK” (n.d.). The Middle English Dictionary. 1952-2001 ed. University of Michigan. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  • NORTH, John. “Astronomy and Astrology.” In The Cambridge History of Science, Eds. David C. Lindberg and Michael H. Shank. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 456-484.
  • OSBORN, Marijane (2002). Time and the Astrolabe in the Canterbury Tales. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • PEARSALL, Derek (1985). The Canterbury Tales. London: George Allen & Unwin.
  • ROBERTSON, D. W. (1962). A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • SAUNDERS, Corinne (2004). “Chaucer’s Romances.” In A Companion to Romance from Classical to Contemporary, Ed. Corinne Saunders. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell, 85-103.
  • SAUNDERS, Corinne (2010). Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romances. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
  • “SCIENCE.” (n.d.). The Middle English Dictionary. 1952-2001 ed. University of Michigan. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  • TATLOCK, John S. P. (1913). “Astrology and Magic in Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale.” In Anniversary Papers by Colleagues and Pupils of George Lyman Kittredge, Boston and London: Ginn and Company, 339-350.
  • WOOD, Chauncey (1970). Chaucer and the Country of the Stars: Poetic Uses of Astrological Imagery. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Toprak Sahibi’nin Hikâyesi’nde Bilimin Büyüsü

Year 2016, Volume: 40 Issue: 1, 189 - 202, 12.07.2016

Abstract

Ortaçağ üniversite eğitimi bir kişiyi, sadece kendisine saygı ve prestij getirecek olan bir meslek sahibi yapmakla kalmayıp, aynı zamanda bu kişiyi avam kimseler için ulaşılmaz olan bilimsel bilgi sahibi de yapmıştı. Bu sebeple, ortaçağ üniversite öğrencisi, Chaucer’ın Toprak Sahibi’nin Hikâyesi eserinde de yansıtıldığı gibi, avam kişilere büyülü gelen bilimsel bilgi ile donatılmış ayrıcalıklı bir kişi olarak görülmekteydi. Hikâyenin ana karakterlerinden biri olmamasına rağmen, hikâyenin işleyişi için ana karakterler kadar önemli olan Orleans’lı bir üniversiteli vardır. Dorigen’in Aurelius’un aşkını kabul etmek için tek şartı olan kıyıdaki kayaları yok etmesi için Aurelius’a yardım edecek kişi tam da bu öğrencidir. Üniversiteli, ilk olarak, ayın ve dalgaların hareketlerini, sonrasında ise Aurelius’a kayaların kıyıdan yok olduğunu göstermek için doğru saati hesaplar. Bu noktada, üniversite eğitimi almış olan bu öğrencinin dalgaların yükseldiği zamanlar hakkındaki bilimsel bilgisi Aurelius ve diğer tüm avam kişiler tarafından büyülü ve okült bilimlerin bir ürünü olarak görülür. Bu bağlamda, bu makalenin amacı, Toprak Sahibi’nin Hikâyesi’ndeki büyülü bilimsel bilgiye sahip olmayan avam kişilere büyülü görünen bilimsel bilgiyi tartışmak ve Toprak Sahibi’nin Hikâyesi’nde yansıtıldığı üzere Ortaçağ’daki büyü ve bilim algılarını sunmaktır

References

  • ASTELL, Ann W. (1969). Chaucer and the Universe of Learning. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
  • BOWLIN, Steele (2006). “Between Precedent and Possibility: Liminality, Historicity, and Narrative in Chaucer’s The Franklin’s Tale. Studies in Philology 103.1, 47- 67.
  • CHAUCER, Geoffrey (2008). The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. Larry D. Benson. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • COOPER, Helen (2004). The English Romance in Time: Transforming Motifs from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Death of Shakespeare. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • HODGSON, Phyllis, ed (1960). The Franklin’s Tale. London: Athlone.
  • KIECKHEFER, Richard (1989). Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • KNOPP, Sherron (2004). “Poetry as Conjuring Act: The Franklin’s Tale and The Tempest.” The Chaucer Review 38.4, 337-354.
  • LEE, B. S. (2010) “Apollo’s Chariot and the Christian Subtext of The Franklin’s Tale.” Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 36.1, 47-67.
  • “MAGICIEN” (n.d.). The Middle English Dictionary. 1952-2001 ed. University of Michigan. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  • “MAUGIK” (n.d.). The Middle English Dictionary. 1952-2001 ed. University of Michigan. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  • NORTH, John. “Astronomy and Astrology.” In The Cambridge History of Science, Eds. David C. Lindberg and Michael H. Shank. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 456-484.
  • OSBORN, Marijane (2002). Time and the Astrolabe in the Canterbury Tales. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • PEARSALL, Derek (1985). The Canterbury Tales. London: George Allen & Unwin.
  • ROBERTSON, D. W. (1962). A Preface to Chaucer: Studies in Medieval Perspectives. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • SAUNDERS, Corinne (2004). “Chaucer’s Romances.” In A Companion to Romance from Classical to Contemporary, Ed. Corinne Saunders. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell, 85-103.
  • SAUNDERS, Corinne (2010). Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romances. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
  • “SCIENCE.” (n.d.). The Middle English Dictionary. 1952-2001 ed. University of Michigan. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  • TATLOCK, John S. P. (1913). “Astrology and Magic in Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale.” In Anniversary Papers by Colleagues and Pupils of George Lyman Kittredge, Boston and London: Ginn and Company, 339-350.
  • WOOD, Chauncey (1970). Chaucer and the Country of the Stars: Poetic Uses of Astrological Imagery. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
There are 19 citations in total.

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Journal Section Articles
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Oya Bayıltmış Öğütcü

Publication Date July 12, 2016
Published in Issue Year 2016Volume: 40 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Bayıltmış Öğütcü, O. (2016). Toprak Sahibi’nin Hikâyesi’nde Bilimin Büyüsü. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 40(1), 189-202.

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