Sources, Analogues, and Background Texts

• Alain of Lille (Alanus Insulis), De planctu naturae ('The Complaint of Nature') (translation)
• Andreas Capellanus, The Art of Courtly Love
• Giovanni Boccaccio:
• The Decameron Project at Brown University has an excellent text as well as other resources
• Passages relevant to Chaucer can be found at the Harvard Chaucer Page
• Boethius, De consolatio philosophiae ('The Consolation of Philosophy') ('The Consolation of Philosophy') ('The Consolation of Philosophy') ('The Consolation of Philosophy') (translation)
• Caesarius of Heisterbach, The Friars in Heaven: An Extract from The Dialogue of Miracles
• Cato, Distychs (the translation is by Benjamin Franklin). Passages relevant to Chaucer can be found at the Harvard Chaucer Page
• Dante Alighieri:
• The ILTweb Digital Dante Project at Columbia University has excellent texts of the Divine Comedy and Dante's other works
• Passages relevant to Chaucer can be found at the Harvard Chaucer Page
• Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria Nova (only the first half)
• John of Salisbury, Policraticus:
• Selections from Book 4: On princes, tyrants, and the law
• Selections from Book 6: The cohesion and mutual dependence of the head and members of the commonwealth
• Marie de France. On-line texts and translations can be found at the International Marie de France Society web site
• An Extract from Lanval by Marie de France
• An Example of the Pastourelle
• Virgil, The Aeneid (translation by John Dryden)