The Assembly of Gods: Le Assemble de Dyeus, or Banquet of Gods and Goddesses, with the Discourse of Reason and Sensuality

A Middle English allegorical dream-vision, The Assembly of Gods was written in the late fifteenth century, c. 1478-83, and brings together Classical mythology, courtly love, debate poetry, and didactic moralism. Once attributed to John Lydgate, the poem is now considered anonymously authored, yet it bears striking similarities to the works of Geoffrey Chaucer and Christine de Pizan. Organized into three parts, the first introduces a dreamer who wants to bring Reason and Sensuality into agreement; in the second, Aeolus, Diana, and Neptune debate over the jurisdiction of their earthly realms; in the third, the gods’ argument escalates into a full-blown psychomachia, or battle for the human soul, captained by their associates Virtue and Vice. Ultimately, the dreamer renounces the pagan deities in favor of the Christian God. Jane Chance offers the first edition of the Assembly since the nineteenth century and suggests new exploration from a feminist standpoint.