Geoffrey Chaucer

Who Was Geoffrey Chaucer?

In 1357, Geoffrey Chaucer became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster and continued in that capacity with the British court throughout his lifetime. The Canterbury Tales became his best known and most acclaimed work. He died October 25, 1400, in London, England, and was the first to be buried in Westminster Abbey’s Poet’s Corner.

David Wallace studied at York and Cambridge. Currently a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as president of the New Chaucer Society. He is the author of Geoffrey Chaucer A New Introduction.

Early Life:

Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born around 1340, most likely at his parents’ house on Thames Street in London, England. Chaucer’s family was of the middle class, descended from an affluent family who made their money in the London wine trade. According to some sources, Chaucer’s father, John, carried on the family wine business.

Geoffrey Chaucer is believed to have attended the St. Paul’s Cathedral School, where he probably first became acquainted with the influential writing of Virgil and Ovid.

In 1357, Chaucer became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster, the Duke of Clarence’s wife, for which he was paid a small stipend—enough to pay for his food and clothing. In 1359, the teenage Chaucer went off to fight in the Hundred Years’ War in France, and at Rethel he was captured for ransom. Thanks to Chaucer’s royal connections, King Edward III helped pay his ransom. After Chaucer’s release, he joined the Royal Service, travelling throughout France, Spain and Italy on diplomatic missions throughout the early to mid-1360s. For his services, King Edward granted Chaucer a pension of 20 marks.

In 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet, the daughter of Sir Payne Roet, and the marriage conveniently helped further Chaucer’s career in the English court.

Public Service:

By 1368, King Edward III had made Chaucer one of his esquires. When the queen died in 1369, it served to strengthen Philippa’s position and subsequently Chaucer’s as well.  From 1370 to 1373, he went abroad again and fulfilled diplomatic missions in Florence and Genoa, helping establish an English port in Genoa. He also spent time familiarizing himself with the work of Italian poets Dante and Petrarch along the way. By the time he returned, he and Philippa were prospering, and he was rewarded for his diplomatic activities with an appointment as Comptroller of Customs, a lucrative position. Meanwhile, Philippa and Chaucer were also granted generous pensions by John of Gaunt, the first duke of Lancaster.

In 1377 and 1388, Chaucer engaged in yet more diplomatic missions, with the objectives of finding a French wife for Richard II and securing military aid in Italy. Busy with his duties, Chaucer had little time to devote to writing poetry, his true passion. In 1385 he petitioned for temporary leave. For the next four years, he lived in Kent but worked as a justice of the peace and later a Parliament member, rather than focusing on his writing.

When Philippa passed away in 1387, Chaucer stopped sharing in her royal annuities and suffered financial hardship. He needed to keep working in public service to earn a living and pay off his growing accumulation of debt.

 Later Life:

From 1389 to 1391, after Richard II had ascended to the throne, Chaucer held a draining and dangerous position as Clerk of the Works. He was robbed by highwaymen twice while on the job, which only served to further compound his financial worries. To make matters even worse, Chaucer had stopped receiving his pension. Chaucer eventually resigned the position for a lower but less stressful appointment as sub-forester, or gardener, at the King’s park in Somersetshire.

When Richard II was deposed in 1399, his cousin and successor, Henry IV, took pity on Chaucer and reinstated Chaucer’s former pension. With the money, Chaucer was able to lease an apartment in the garden of St. Mary’s Chapel in Westminster, where he lived modestly for the rest of his days.

Death:

The legendary 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer died October 25, 1400, in London, England. He died of unknown causes and was 60 years old at the time. Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey. His gravestone became the centre of what was to be called Poet’s Corner, a spot where such famous British writers as Robert Browning and Charles Dickens were later honoured and interred.

 

Major Works of Chaucer:

 

Romaunt of the Rose:

This manuscript is extremely important in being the only extant copy of Chaucer's allegorical poem on the art of love. One of the most popular secular poems of the Middle Ages, Le Roman de la Rose was originally composed in French in the Thirteenth Century by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. Less than a third of Chaucer's Middle English translation of the poem has survived.  Roman de la Rose is the most popular poem of the middle ages. Perhaps the best poem of this period is the Dethe of the Blanch the Duchesse, also known as the Boke of the Duchesse, a poem of considerable dramatic and emotional power, written after the death of Blanche, wife of Chaucer's patron, John of Gaunt.

Book of the Duchess:

 Dethe of Blache the Duchesse, better known as the Book of the Duchess. Is a poem of considerable dramatic and emotional power, written after the death of Blanche, wife of Chaucer’s patron, John of Gaunt. At the beginning of the poem, the sleepless poet, who has suffered from an unexplained sickness for eight years (line 37), lies in his bed, reading a book. A collection of old stories, the book tells the story of Ceyx and Alcyone. The story tells of how Ceyx lost his life at sea, and how Alcyone, his wife, mourned his absence. Unsure of his fate, she prays to the goddess Juno to send her a dream vision. Juno sends a messenger to Morpheus to bring the body of Ceyx with a message to Alcyone.

The House of Fame:

This is one the Chaucer's unfinished poems, having the rare combination of lofty thought and simple homely language showing the influence of the great Italian master. In the poem, the poet is carried away in a dream by a great eagle from the brittle temple of Venus, in a sad wilderness, up to the hall of fame. To this house come all rumours of earth, as the sparks fly upward. The house stands on a rock of ice. 

 

Parlement of Foules:

The Parlement of Foules, also called the Parlement of Briddes (Parliament of Birds) or the Assemble of Foules (Assembly of Fowls), is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343? –1400) made up of approximately 700 lines. The poem is in the form of a dream vision in rhyme royal stanza and contains one of the earliest references to the idea that St. Valentine's Day is a special day for lovers

 

Troilus and Criseyde:

Troilus and Criseyde is a poem of eight thousand lines. The original story was a favourite of many authors during The Middle Ages, and Shakespeare makes use of it in his Troilus and Cressida. The immediate source of Chaucer's poem is Boccaccio's II Filostrato," the love-smitten one";  but he uses his material very freely to reflect the ideals of his own age and society and so gives the whole story a dramatic force and beauty which it had never known before.

 

The Canterbury Tales:

This is a fifteenth-century manuscript of Chaucer’s magnum opus, in which a diverse group set off on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. In having the characters tell stories to while away the time en route, Chaucer provides the perfect framework for a series of narratives, told in a wide variety of styles and genres that together mirror all human life. It has been universally celebrated for its dramatic qualities and inimitable humour. Over eighty complete and fragmentary manuscript copies of the poem survive today. 

The Canterbury Tales, written in 1387-1400. This is the story of the collection is about a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury, Kent. The 30 pilgrims who undertake the journey gather at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, across the Thames from London. They agree to engage in a storytelling contest as they travel, and Harry Bailly, the host of the Tabard, serves as master of ceremonies for the contest. Most of the pilgrims are introduced by vivid brief sketches in the “General Prologue.” Interspersed between the 24 tales are short dramatic scenes (called links) presenting lively exchanges, usually involving the host and one or more of the pilgrims. Chaucer did not complete the full plan for his book: the return journey from Canterbury is not included, and some of the pilgrims do not tell stories.

The Canterbury Tales consists of the General Prologue, The Knight’s Tale, The Miller’s Tale, The Reeve’s Tale, The Cook’s Tale, The Man of Law’s Tale, The Wife of Bath’s Tale, The Friar’s Tale, The Summoner’s Tale, The Clerk’s Tale, The Merchant’s Tale, The Squire’s Tale, The Franklin’s Tale, The Second Nun’s Tale, The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale, The Physician’s Tale, The Pardoner’s Tale, The Shipman’s Tale, The Prioress’s Tale, The Tale of Sir Thopas, The Tale of Melibeus (in prose), The Monk’s Tale, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, The

Manciple’s Tale, and The Parson’s Tale (in prose), and ends with “Chaucer’s Retraction.” Not all the tales are complete; several contain their own prologues or epilogues.

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