Thread by @JonathanHsy

I'm eagerly anticipating (cringing?) in anticipation of the #ChaucerLifeRecords reveal today #MedievalTwitter eventbrite.co.uk/e/geoffrey-cha…

Sobecki contectualizing the Chaumpaigne quitcliam doc via Furnivall's work (at the time writing a bio of Chaucer) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Sobecki discusses Cannon's reassessments of the term "raptus" and feminist scholarship in its wake #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Two new National Archives life-records re: Chaucer & Chaumpaigne #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Sobecki: Chaucer & Chaumpagine were co-defendants in this case under discussion (!) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: discussion change in handwriting and the significance of "scriptum" (?) in contextualizing the Chaumpaigne quitclaim record #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

[I deleted the previous tweet which erroneously included a screenshot; my apologies]

Roger: Chaucer & Chaumpaigne as co-defendants in a writ in a matter regarding the Statue of Laborers (involving Staunton) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: discussion of Brevia files (not accessible to early Chaucer biographers): ID original write under statute/ordinance of laborers brought by Thomas Stuandon vs. Geoffrey Chaucer & Cecily Chaumpaigne #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Really interesting issues of labor, gender, and property emerging here #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: working with idea that Chaumpaigne had moved from Staundon's service into Chaucer's service; was she abducted? poached? #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: Was Chaumpaigne poached out of Staundon's service by promise of higher wages? #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: Did Chaumpaigne leave willingly of her own volition out of the service of Staundon? #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: pursuing the reading of the quitclaim by Staundon as being jointly against Chaucer & Chaumpaigne as co-defendants, removing means for Staundon to pursue the issue #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: pursuing the question of how trespass and the language of abduction underlies the legal documents re: labor issues/disputes #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: tracing legal issues as navigated via Chaumpaigne's attorneys and the release of charges of "raptus" within the formal legal context of Staundon's charges #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

(I can't quite follow everything but look forward to the article in Chaucer Review!) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Roger: reconsidering established interpretations and chronologies; major insight is Chaucer & Chaumpaigne as co-defendants in a labor disputed involving Staundon; possibility for more life-records to come to light #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Sobecki: Chaucer life-records causing/reminding us to read texts/archives with suspicion; importance of feminist work to reassess Chaucer/contemporaries "against the grain" of gender hierarchies and power structures #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

(So many #MixedFeelz about some of the framing right now but I'm sure we will all continue to process & grapple all of this in due course) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Sobecki: this new info re: Chaumpaigne quitclaim will NOT "undo" the contributions of feminist scholarship and no amount of "new" life-records will change the historical/present reality of rape culture & sexual violence #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Prescott: discussing history/experience in researching King's Bench records, many of which were unexamined (just laying in sacks!) until 1960s #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Prescott: importance of King's Bench files as under-appreciated archive on many fronts (Peasants' Revolt/Rising, labor, and more); needs further conservation #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Prescott: sacks full of unexamined files #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Prescott: Could National Archives make these records more accessible? it's an "archival iceberg" #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Cannon: discussion literary implications of these new revelations re: the Chuampaigne quitclaim contexts and what "raptus" could mean & where info could be found; the paper itself at NCS didn't generate much interest and skepticism & gasps #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Cannon: meaning of "raptus" still remains mysterious in 14c English law, even in the copy of the release; even in light of these documents "raptus" opens up questions #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Baechle: These new documents shift us from individual survivor discourse (can invite spectacle & victim-blaming) to a structurally oriented approach to medieval consent/rape; using Chaucer's Philomena story, attending scripts of rape culture #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Baechle: Chaucer managing narrative-literary rhetoric in conjunction with legal formulae constructing ideas of rape as a "deviant" event & who is considered more vulnerable to rape (including class) and which kinds of rape deserve attention #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Baechle: structural forces of rape culture (medieval and present-day) to engage in implicit or overt victim-blaming and putting the impetus on the (potential) target to prevent sexual violence; myths about rape/consent pervade medieval culture #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Harris: didn't think the "answer" regarding Chaumpaigne & "raptus" was findable; now need to explore status of consent & servant women at the intersections of labor, class, and sexuality in medieval England & enduring realities of rape culture #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Harris: unpacks the term "enduren" on how Chaucerians can respond to this new discovery; it's still a case about Chaucer and another man via female service; think about "wenches" and maids in medieval culture; will, labor, subordination #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Harris: Chaumpaign's status as a woman subject to two men, including Chaucer, gives new attention to the maid in the Wife of Bath's prologue; female (domestic?) servants pervade the Canterbury Tales; what tasks, what scripts of consent/labor? #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Harris: we need to attend to how servant-women endured rape culture in medieval England; intersecting disadvantages of their labor conditions & gender make them uniquely vulnerable to violation; this info does not "relieve" us from discomfort #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Seal: opens with co-edited issue of ChR & understandings of Chaucer as a rapist, racist & antisemite; feminist scholars grapple with "cancel culture" accusations; historical Chaucer wasn't in legal jeopardy re: "raptus" but Father Chaucer is #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Seal: insightful & scathing reading of male Chaucer biographers who winkingly or jokingly refer to Chaumpaigne as a "wench" (!) or similar insinuations with apologist language re: "seduction" etc. that rely upon classic rape culture paradigms #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Seal: constructions of historical Chaumpaigne profoundly shaped by rape culture cannot be "undone," & Chaucerian women in 20c have been reminded of their contingent belonging in the field; "Father Chaucer" is not exonerated & we are complicit #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

I feel I have new readings of the many domestic working women in WBP after Harris's talk (& her previous talks re: medieval "wench"); intersecting forces of gender, labor, class, consent, and more -- want to bring this into future classes #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion of the discourse of the "ward" and rhetorics/frameworks of agency in how these Chaumpaigne legal documents are interpreted; how did laborers interact with court systems? #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Big large-stages question emerging here: what is "servitude" in medieval England? #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion: consistent references to Chaumpaigne as a "baker's daughter" but her father owned property & was a high-end grain dealer; bio of Chaumpaigne in the works #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion: interesting context re: urban merchant-class legal disputes re: labor, which could involve both the male householder and female laborer (e.g., Chaucer and Chaumpaigne as co-defendants) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

(I'm wondering how one re-reads Chaumpaigne in context of Cook's Tale: gender, labor, household relations, domestic order, etc.) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion of "raptus" in other areas of medieval records (e.g., any involving men?): there are actually many more records out there, says Prescott in context of 1381 rebels #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion: Chaucer & Chaumpaigne together jointly using a strategy in order to show he didn't take her against her will, as this matters re: the statue of laborers litigation #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion: how do revelations change how we teach Chaucer? Harris: students read ChR issue, respond re: servant women in text(s); Baechle: doesn't change much re: "Father Chaucer" but bio needs nuance; Seal: texts are not "single issue" texts #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Seal: we don't "just" talk about Jews and antisemitism in the Prioress's Tale, just as we don't only talk about rape re: WBT/MillT; these are broader structural issues we address re: the signifier/idea of "Father Chaucer" writ large #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Harris: this new gendered labor context of "raptus" still leaves the sexual "availability" framework in place re: medieval female domestic laborers who had little recourse for their harms & vulnerabilities #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Baechle: important reminder that this particular context re: this Chuampaigne "raptus" matter is not the full story, and all of this never exonerates his participation and complicity in medieval (and modern) rape culture #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Sobecki: this is NOT about "clearing Chaucer's name" #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

THE SPECIAL ISSUE HAS LANDED #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/chaucer/i…

Seal: we've tended to forget about Phillippa, the historical Chaucer's own wife; how do we think about other women in Chaucer's life & life-records and these networks of gender, power, control #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion: coercion is NOT ruled out even in this understanding of this Chaumpaigne legal matter; these are high-status men and Chaumpaigne is at the center; procurement is a "gray area" (says Roger) #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

Discussion re: digitizing and making records more accessible online; importance of collaboration across archival, legal, literary fields; needs funding & labor to make this kind of thing happen #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter

THUS ENDETH my live tweets of this transformative event re: Chaucer & Chaumpaigne life-records. The special issue of ChR is now live (many of the articles are OA); thanks to all! #ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/chaucer/i…

P.S. Just one more thing re: this ChR special issue. Ironic that the only OA articles co/authored by men. It sends message that men do the important "discoveries" and women "respond" (and that feminist framing is optional). #ChaucerRecords #MedievalTwitter scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/chaucer/i…

PPS. UPDATE! The *entire* special issue of Chaucer Review re: Chaucer & Chaumpaigne is now available for download! Get it while you can!

(Thanks to all who worked to make this happen)

#ChaucerLifeRecords #MedievalTwitter scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/chaucer/i…