author
Edith Rickert
1871–1938
A pioneering medieval scholar and novelist, she helped transform Chaucer studies through ambitious manuscript research at the University of Chicago. Her life also reached far beyond the classroom, including fiction writing and wartime codebreaking.
2 Audiobooks
Contemporary American Literature Bibliographies and Study Outlines
by John Matthews Manly, Edith Rickert
The Bojabi Tree
by Edith Rickert
About the author
Born in Dover, Ohio, in 1871, Edith Rickert studied at Vassar College and later earned her PhD at the University of Chicago, where she became a respected medieval scholar. She is especially remembered for major work on Geoffrey Chaucer, including Chaucer Life-Records and, with John M. Manly, the landmark multivolume study The Text of the Canterbury Tales.
Rickert was more than an academic specialist. She also wrote novels and short fiction, and her career reflected a wide range of interests in literature, teaching, and manuscript study. University of Chicago accounts also note her work as a codebreaker during World War I, adding another striking dimension to her life.
Today, she stands out as a scholar whose careful, large-scale research helped shape modern medieval studies, while her writing and unusual career path make her an especially memorable literary figure.