[TheWriterTX]

Point taken. Spencer was definitely post-medieval in life, but his writing style and influences were taken directly from the courtly love poets.

I thought the Faerie Queene was essential reading in most medieval lit classes. My professor didn’t just expect us to read it, she required us to memorize whole parts of it.

[Verginius Rufus]

I'm sure selections from The Faerie Queene must have been included in the massive Norton's Anthology we had to read in freshman literature, but I don't remember any of it--just recall that Spenser is considered a great English author for some reason. I keep thinking I should go to the library some time and take a look at it, see if it rings any bells.

The International Medieval Conference in Kalamazoo (held every May) includes panels on Shakespeare so they are very generous in how they define the Middle Ages.