ABSTRACT
In common with other medieval French and Italian poets, Giovanni Boccaccio does use metaphorical religious language in his account of the love of Troiolo and Criseida, but the phrases he employs are so general that their debt to medieval Christianity is usually only nominal. Troilus, in contrast to Filostrato, also contains many original passages dependent on Christianity that have nothing directly to do with love. Troilus and Criseyde lacks the overt moralism of so many Middle English romances like Havelok or Le Bone Florence; instead, its introduction of Christian elements is subtle and discreet. The values of the characters in Troilus and Criseyde are consistently social and practical rather than Christian. A different but equally valid Christian reading of the poem, for instance, would look past cliches about the evil of cupidity and the goodness of caritas and instead examine Chaucer’s subtle account of the virtues and limitations of the pagan past.
