Sir John Clanvowe

Jill Havens (Texas Christian University)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Sir John Clanvowe was the ideal Ricardian courtier. A member of the landed gentry, Clanvowe spent his early years as a knight fighting on several campaigns in the Hundred Years War with France. He later served as a knight in the households of the Earl of Hereford, Edward III, and Richard II, for whom he was a Knight of the Chamber, a trusted councilor and an ambassador to France. Clanvowe was an accomplished poet, author of the Chaucerian “The Boke of Cupide” and part of a court literary coterie that included Geoffrey Chaucer and others who were on familiar terms with French poets, such as Oton de Granson, Jean Froissart, and Eustache Deschamps. But Clanvowe was also the author of a pious religious treatise called “The Two Ways”. It is this text and its sympathetic reference to…

1590 words

Citation: Havens, Jill. "Sir John Clanvowe". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 February 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=891, accessed 19 March 2024.]

891 Sir John Clanvowe 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.