Reading an Unrecorded Chaucer Allusion, a Portrait, and Sources

ABSTRACT

This article identifies an allusion to Geoffrey Chaucer as the guardian of Edmund Staplegate in William Lambarde’s Perambulation of Kent (1576). This allusion has not been identified previously. In addition, the article discusses relevant details of Lambarde’s life, parses the legal language of description in which the allusion is contained, and analyzes the portrait of Lambarde (London, National Portrait Gallery 4489), paying particular attention to the emblem of his books to the figure’s left, which may have been inspired by the three volumes beneath the head of John Gower’s effigy on his tomb in Southwark Cathedral.