GEOFFREY CHAUCER

The famed author of The Canterbury Tales was the first to record the English London dialect, which became the basis for modern-day English. Dante Alighieri, who wrote The Divine Comedy in the Tuscan Vernacular of Italian, is also considered a pivotal contributor to what Italian language is today and had died 22 years before Chaucer. However, Dante's work encouraged Chaucer to write his last and most revered work, The Canterbury Tales, in his own spoken language.

Interestingly, we know more about Chaucer than we know about William Shakespeare. We have his connection to the courts to thank for this. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1343, during the reign of English King Edward III (reign: 1327-77). His father was a "well-to-do wine-merchant with court connections."(Wright, i) So, Chaucer was middle-class. He was not educated at college, but had tutors and was fluent in Latin, French, and Italian. Chaucer was quite familiar with such scholarly works as those by Ovid, Virgil, and later Dante.

In 1359, Squire Chaucer went to France to fight in King Edward's army, during the Hundred Years War and was almost immediately captured. Almost a year later, he was ransomed for what would be $2400 US, which tells us he was of some importance at court.

In 1367, he married Philippa de Roet, a lady-in-waiting to the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who made certain Chaucer had money to write and jobs to do.

Chaucer career at court was also pretty impressive. He returned from war as a squire, then became court valet, and later worked as a courier, who was sent to abroad to negotiate business matters. Chaucer wrote in 1370 his first major poem, "Book of the Duchess," effigy to the wife of John the Gaunt. In 1374, he was appointed Controller of Customs and Subsidy of Wools, Skins, and Hides. Considering wool was England's most important resource at the time, this promotion was rather significant and Chaucer held this position for 12 years. Within this time, he wrote The House of Fame, The Parliament of Fowls and Troilus and Cressida. In 1386, he was a Justice of the Peace and Knight of the Shire to Representative Kent in Parliament.

In 1387, Chaucer's wife Philippa died, and Chaucer began The Canterbury Tales. He dedicated the last 14 years of his life to something he knew he'd never finish. Some speculate this was his way to cheat death. Others say Chaucer had aimed for 120 total Canterbury Tales to outdo Pocachio, who had written 100.

Geoffrey Chaucer died in 1400 before completing his Tales and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Works Cited

Professor O'Connor's Lecture and Class Presentation.

Saul, Nigel, ed. Historical Atlas of Britain: Prehistoric and Medieval . Phoenix Mill: Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1994.

Wright, David, trans. The Canterbury Tales . New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.

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