Medieval writers such as Chaucer, Abelard, and Langland often overlaid personal story and sacred history to produce a distinct narrative form. The first of its kind, this study traces this widely used narrative tradition to Augustine's two great histories: Confessions and City of God .

Introduction 1. For the Time Being: Interpretive Consolation in Augustinian Time 2. 'Quanto minorem consideras': Abelard's Proportional Consolation 3. Three Figures of the Church: Piers Plowman and the Quest for Consolation 4. Augustine and Arthur: The Stanzaic Morte and the Comforts of Elegy 5. Chaucer's Knight's Tale: Consolations at War 6. The Tower and the Turks: More's Meditative Consolation Conclusion

Chad D. Schrock is Assistant Professor of English at Lee University, USA.