Scholars: Court papers cast doubt that Chaucer was accused of rape

Two newly examined documents may reverse a 150-year-old perception of Geoffrey Chaucer as a rapist.

The New York Times reports that two academics — Sebastian Sobecki, a professor of English at the University of Toronto, and Euan Roger of the British National Archives — were looking for the original document that contained the word "raptus," commonly translated as "rape" or "abduction."

Instead, their quest led them to two different court documents that actually point to Cecily Chaumpaigne, the woman believed to have been Chaucer's rape victim, being his co-defendant in a court case.

And that case, say Sobecki and Roger, seems to be about Chaumpaigne leaving one man's employment to work for the Canterbury Tales author.

Read more about the newly unveiled Chaucer papers and academics' reaction to the announcement in the NY Times.

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