Gesta Romanorum is Latin story-collection, with each story having an application or allegorization. Some evidence suggests that a Franciscan cleric wrote it late in the thirteenth century. It was known by the early fourteenth century. It was one of the most widely known books within the European Middle Ages. Gesta Romanorum is an open work. It lacks one master version, although many stories are common across most versions.
The bawdy pound-of-flesh motif in the Gesta Romanorum illustrates the moral range of Shakespeare’s medieval sources for The Merchant of Venice. … Read the post bawdy medieval version of The Merchant of Venice’s pound of flesh
In 16th-century France, Gratien Dupont created Controverses that challenged gynocentric oppression indicated in the chess queen’s rise to dominance on the chessboard. … Read the post rise of the all-powerful chess queen & Gratien Dupont’s protest
Gesta Romanorum and Marie de France’s Laustic teach that men’s lack of self-confidence in love contributes to the allure of the nightingale’s song. … Read the post wife caused nightingale’s death, anxious husband killed for it
Charles Swan, later a British naval chaplain, and Wynnard Hooper, later Financial Editor of The Times (London), greatly shaped modern reception of Gesta Romanorum. … Read the post monk, naval chaplain & financial journalist review Gesta Romanorum
Gender bias against men in punishment for adultery is as clear as the vastly disproportionate imprisonment of men. So it has been for adultery through history. … Read the post adultery punishment gender-biased against men throughout history