Interview with Marion Turner on The Wife of Bath

It is difficult to hear the stories of medieval women, but one voice rings down the ages, clear as a bell. Alison, the Wife of Bath, is Geoffrey Chaucer’s most famous creation: irrepressible, hilarious, insightful. She is the star of The Canterbury Tales with her outrageous stories and touching honesty.
An inspiration for a huge range of writers - from William Shakespeare to Margaret Atwood and Zadie Smith - she is the sparkling subject at the heart of Marion Turner’s new book, The Wife of Bath: A Biography.
In this episode Turner takes us back to 1397. We visit Chaucer’s world in London and Oxfordshire. We hear the extraordinary story of John of Gaunt and his beloved mistress Katherine Swynford. Along the way we meet some real-life Alisons. These were women who ran businesses, travelled extensively, and lived independently, including one who was mayoress of London, not once, but twice.
Marion Turner is the J.R.R. Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language at the University of Oxford, where she is a Professorial Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall. Her books include the prize-winning biography Chaucer: A European Life.
For more, as ever, visit our website: tttpodcast.com.
Show notes
Scene One: January 1397. The English Parliament and the legitimatisation of John of Gaunt's children with Katherine Swynford.
Scene Two: End of 1397. Chaucer has been gifted a new grant of a yearly tun of wine from the King.
Scene Three: Summer. Margaret Stodeye heads off to St Paul's Cathedral to declare a vow of chastity.
Memento: Chaucer's handwritten draft of the Canterbury Tales.
People/Social
Presenter: Violet Moller
Guest: Marion Turner
Production: Maria Nolan
Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours
Theme music: ‘Love Token’ from the album ‘This Is Us’ By Slava and Leonard Grigoryan
Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_

[@Phorquieu]

Thank you for this valuable conversation on the subject of women in the late Medieval period, and also in literature. It's very interesting to know that Chaucer must have thought better of women than most of his peers.

[@TravelsThroughTime]

Very glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@rachelhenderson2688]

End of 1397: Chaucer was granted a TUN of wine, (not a TON)

[@TravelsThroughTime]

Thanks Rachel.

[@hejla4524]

Thanks to the presenter, what could have been an interesting history podcast, rapidly descended to the level of a tedious feminist workshop. Plenty of reasons to despise Jacinda Ardern by the way - none of them to do with her gender.