The First Technical Writer in English: A Challenge to the Hegemony of Chaucer

John Hagge Iowa State University

Abstract

The claim that Geoffrey Chaucer was “the first technical writer in English,” which appears several times in the recent literature on the history of technical writing in early English, misleads because numerous Middle English technical prose texts either precede Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe or are contemporaneous with it. In fact, an important tradition of technical writing exists in both Old and Middle English and extends through the English Renaissance. Historians of technical writing will find it more profitable to investigate the tradition of English practical prose than to find further firsts for their field.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1990-07-01
DOI
10.2190/vwcw-xkmv-949f-vlf7
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Written Communication
Show all 9 →
  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (4)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Also cites 15 works outside this index ↓
  1. Middle English Prose: A Critical Guide to Major Authors and Genres
  2. 10.1093/jhmas/XV.4.399
  3. Middle English Prose: A Critical Guide to Major Authors and Genres
  4. Middle English Prose: A Critical Guide to Major Authors and Genres
  5. 10.2307/2853500
  6. 10.2307/1006388
  7. 10.4324/9780203407578
  8. 10.1086/352199
  9. 10.1017/S0263675100003392
  10. 10.1017/S0263675100002593
  11. 10.2307/460287
  12. 10.1177/002194368902600104
  13. 10.1177/108056998805100102
  14. 10.1177/002194368702400118
  15. 10.1177/108056998604900103
CrossRef global citation count: 11 View in citation network →