Geoffrey Chaucer
Chaucer: Illustration from Cassell's History of England, circa 1902.
Born	c. 1343
Died	October 25, 1400 (Aged c. Events 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a 57)
Occupation	Author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, diplomat
Influences Ovid

Geoffrey Chaucer (c. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. The term English literature refers to Literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by Writers not necessarily from The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting Negotiations between representatives of groups or states Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including 1343 – October 25, 1400?) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Events 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting Negotiations between representatives of groups or states Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc is a narrative technique whereby an introductory main story is composed at least in part for the purpose of The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as being the first author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin. Vernacular refers to the Native language of a country or a locality Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome.

Life

Chaucer as a pilgrim from the Ellesmere manuscript DB

Chaucer was born in 1343 in London, although the exact date and location of his birth are not known. His father and grandfather were both London vintners and before that, for several generations, the family were merchants in Ipswich. Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of Wine, starting with selection of the Grapes and ending with bottling the finished wine Ipswich ( ˈɪpswɪtʃ is a Non-metropolitan district and the County town of Suffolk, England on the Estuary of the River Orwell His name is derived from the French chausseur, meaning shoemaker. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people ^[1] In 1324 John Chaucer, Geoffrey's father, was kidnapped by an aunt in the hope of marrying the twelve year old boy to her daughter in an attempt to keep property in Ipswich. The aunt was imprisoned and the £250 fine levied suggests that the family was financially secure, upper middle-class, if not in the elite. ^[2] John married Agnes Copton, who in 1349 inherited property including 24 shops in London from her uncle, Hamo de Copton, who is described as the "moneyer" at the Tower of London. A moneyer is someone who physically creates Money. Moneyers have a long tradition dating back at least to Ancient Greece.

There are few details of Chaucer's early life and education but compared to his near contemporary poets, William Langland and The Pearl Poet, his life is well documented, with nearly five hundred written items testifying to his career. William Langland (ca 1332 - ca 1386 is the conjectured Author of the 14th-century English Dream-vision Piers Plowman. The " Pearl Poet " or the " Gawain Poet " is the name given to the author of Pearl, an alliterative poem written in Middle The first time he is mentioned is in 1357, in the household accounts of Elizabeth de Burgh, the Countess of Ulster, when his father's connections enabled him to become the noblewoman's page. Elizabeth de Burgh Duchess of Clarence suo jure Countess of Ulster ( 6 July 1332 Carrickfergus Castle. The title of Earl of Ulster has been created several times in the Peerages of Ireland and the United Kingdom. ^[3] He also worked as a courtier, a diplomat, and a civil servant, as well as working for the king, collecting and inventorying scrap metal. In 1359, in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, Edward III invaded France and Chaucer traveled with Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, Elizabeth's husband, as part of the English army. The Hundred Years' War (Guerre de Cent Ans was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne vacant with the extinction of the senior Edward III (13 November 1312 &ndash 21 June 1377 was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. Lionel of Antwerp Duke of Clarence ( November 29 1338 &ndash October 7 1368) was the third son but the second son to survive infancy of The history of the British Army spans over three and a half centuries and numerous European wars Colonial wars and World wars. In 1360, he was captured during the siege of Rheims, becoming a prisoner of war. Reims (alternative English spelling Rheims; riːmz in English and /ʁɛ̃s/ in French) is a city of the Champagne-Ardenne région of northern Edward contributed £16 as part of a ransom, and Chaucer was released. Chaucer was then known as the prisoner.

After this, Chaucer's life is uncertain, but he seems to have traveled in France, Spain, and Flanders, possibly as a messenger and perhaps even going on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Flanders (Vlaanderen Flandre Flandern is a geographical region located in parts of present day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Santiago de Compostela (also Saint James of Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa (de) Roet. She was a lady-in-waiting to Edward III's queen, Philippa of Hainault, and a sister of Katherine Swynford, who later (ca. Philippa of Hainault ( June 24 1311 &ndash August 15 1369) was the Queen consort of Edward III of England. Katherine Swynford (also spelled Synford) née (de Roet (also spelled (de Rouet or (de Roelt ( 25 November 1396) became the third wife of Chaucer's friend and patron, John of Gaunt. John of Gaunt 1st Duke of Lancaster (second creation 1st Duke of Aquitaine (6 March 1340 &ndash 3 February 1399 was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third It's uncertain how many children Chaucer and Philippa had, but three or four are the numbers most widely agreed upon. His son, Thomas Chaucer, had an illustrious career, chief butler to four kings, envoy to France, and Speaker of the House of Commons. Thomas Chaucer (c 1367 &ndash 18 November, 1434) was the Speaker of the English House of Commons on three occasions and son of Geoffrey Chaucer The Chief Butler of England is an office of Grand Sergeanty associated with the feudal Manor of Kenninghall in Norfolk Thomas' great-grandson (Geoffrey's great-great-grandson), John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, was the heir to the throne designated by Richard III before he was deposed. John de la Pole Earl of Lincoln (1462/1464 &ndash 16 June 1487) was the eldest son of John de la Pole 2nd Duke of Suffolk and Elizabeth of York Richard III ( 2 October 1452 &ndash 22 August 1485) was King of England from 1483 until his death Geoffrey's other children probably included Elizabeth Chaucy, a nun;^[4][5] Agnes, an attendant at Henry IV's coronation; and another son, Lewis Chaucer. Henry IV (3 April 1367 &ndash 20 March 1413 was King of England and Lord of Ireland (1399&ndash1413

Chaucer may possibly have studied law in the Inner Temple (an Inn of Court) at about this time, although definite proof is lacking. The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London which may call members to The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations to one of which every barrister in England and Wales (and those judges who were formerly barristers It is recorded that he became a member of the royal court of Edward III as a varlet de chambre, yeoman, or esquire on 20 June 1367, a position which could entail any number of jobs. The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Valet de chambre, or varlet de chambre, was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards Yeoman is noun used to indicate a variety of positions or Social classes In the 16th century a yeoman was also a Farmer of middling social status who owned Esquire (abbreviated Esq) is a term of British origin originally used to denote social status Events 451 - Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius ' defeats Attila the Hun. His wife also received a pension for court employment. He traveled abroad many times, at least some of them in his role as a valet. In 1368, he may have attended the wedding of Lionel of Antwerp to Violante, daughter of Galeazzo II Visconti, in Milan. Galeazzo II Visconti (c 1320 &ndash August 4, 1378) was a member of the Visconti dynasty and a ruler of Milan, Italy. Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. Two other literary stars of the era who were in attendance were Jean Froissart and Petrarch. Jean Froissart (c 1337 &ndash c 1405 was one of the most important of the Chroniclers of Medieval France. Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar Around this time Chaucer is believed to have written The Book of the Duchess in honor of Blanche of Lancaster, the late wife of John of Gaunt, who died in 1369. The Book of the Duchess is a Dream vision Narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. Blanche of Lancaster ( March 25, 1345 &ndash September 12, 1369 Bolingbroke Castle) Countess of Derby was an English John of Gaunt 1st Duke of Lancaster (second creation 1st Duke of Aquitaine (6 March 1340 &ndash 3 February 1399 was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third

Chaucer traveled to Picardy the next year as part of the military expedition, and visited Genoa and Florence in 1373. Picardy (Picardie is an historical Province of France, in the north of France. Genoa ( Genova, ˈdʒɛːnova in Italian; Zena in Genoese and Ligurian; Genua in Latin and archaically in English Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany It is on this Italian trip that it is speculated he came into contact with medieval Italian poetry, the forms and stories of which he would use later. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Italian poetry is a category of Italian literature. Important Italian poets Giacomo da Lentini a 13th Century poet who is believed to One other trip he took in 1377 seems shrouded in mystery, with records of the time conflicting in details. Later documents suggest it was a mission, along with Jean Froissart, to arrange a marriage between the future Richard II and a French princess, thereby ending the Hundred Years War. Jean Froissart (c 1337 &ndash c 1405 was one of the most important of the Chroniclers of Medieval France. Richard II (6 January 1367 &ndash ca 14 February 1400 was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399 If this was the purpose of their trip, they seem to have been unsuccessful, as no wedding occurred.

In 1378, Richard II sent Chaucer as an envoy/secret dispatch to the Visconti and to Sir John Hawkwood, English Man-at Arms/Soldier for Hire, in Milan. It is on the person of John Hawkwood that Chaucer based his Knight's Character. The Knight, based on his description/dress and appearance, looks exactly like a soldier for hire/mercenary would have looked in the fourteenth century.

A 19th century depiction of Chaucer. For three near-contemporary portraits of Chaucer see here.

A possible indication that his career as a writer was appreciated came when Edward III granted Chaucer a gallon of wine daily for the rest of his life for some unspecified task. Edward III (13 November 1312 &ndash 21 June 1377 was one of the most successful English monarchs of the Middle Ages. This was an unusual grant, but given on a day of celebration, St. George's Day, 1374, when artistic endeavours were traditionally rewarded, it is assumed to have been another early poetic work. St George's Day is celebrated by several nations kingdoms countries and cities of which Saint George is the Patron saint, including England, the It is not known which, if any, of Chaucer's extant works prompted the reward but the suggestion of poet to a king places him as a precursor to later poets laureate. A Poet Laureate is a Poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events Chaucer continued to collect the liquid stipend until Richard II came to power, after which it was converted to a monetary grant on 18 April 1378. Events 1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland.

Chaucer obtained the very substantial job of Comptroller of the Customs for the port of London, which Chaucer began on 8 June 1374. A comptroller or controller (kənˈtroʊlər ˈkɑmˌtroʊ- also financial controller, abrv London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Events 68 - The Roman Senate accepts emperor Galba. 536 - St Silverius becomes Pope (probable He must have been suited for the role as he continued in it for twelve years, a long time in such a post at that period. His life goes undocumented for much of the next ten years but it is believed that he wrote (or began) most of his famous works during this time period. He was mentioned in law papers of 4 May 1380, involved in the raptus of Cecilia Chaumpaigne. Events 1256 - The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV What raptus means, rape or possibly kidnapping, is unclear, but the incident seems to have been resolved quickly and did not leave a stain on Chaucer's reputation. Rape, also referred to as Sexual assault, is an Assault by a person involving Sexual intercourse with or Sexual penetration of another person It is not known if Chaucer was in the city of London at the time of the Peasants' Revolt (the Tower of London was stormed in 1381).

While still working as comptroller, Chaucer appears to have moved to Kent, being appointed as one of the commissioners of peace for Kent, at a time when French invasion was a possibility. KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format He is thought to have started work on The Canterbury Tales in the early 1380s (the Pilgrims' Way used by his fictional characters on their way to Canterbury Cathedral passes through Kent). The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) "Pilgrim's Way" is also the US title of Memory Hold-the-Door by John Buchan The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a He also became a Member of Parliament for Kent in 1386. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. There is no further reference after this date to Philippa, Chaucer's wife, and she is presumed to have died in 1387. He survived the political upheavals caused by the Lords Appellants despite the fact that Chaucer knew well some of the men executed over the affair. The Lords Appellant were a group of powerful Barons who came together during the 1380s to seize political control of England from King Richard II.

On 12 July 1389, Chaucer was appointed the clerk of the king's works, a sort of foreman organizing most of the king's building projects. Events 1191 - Saladin 's garrison surrenders ending the two-year Siege of Acre. The Clerk of the Works or Clerk of Works (often abbreviated CoW is a person employed by the Architect or client on a Construction site. In Construction, the foreman is the worker or Tradesman who is in charge of the construction crew No major works were begun during his tenure, but he did conduct repairs on Westminster Palace, St. George's Chapel, Windsor, continue building the wharf at the Tower of London, and build the stands for a tournament held in 1390. Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London (and historically as The Tower) is a historic monument in central London It may have been a difficult job but it paid well: two shillings a day, over three times his salary as a comptroller. The shilling is a unit of Currency used in current and former Commonwealth countries and was continued to be used in countries that left the commonwealth In September 1390, records say that he was robbed, and possibly injured, while conducting the business, and it was shortly after, on 17 June 1391, that he stopped working in this capacity. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Almost immediately, on 22 June, he began as deputy forester in the royal forest of North Petherton, Somerset. Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. A royal forest is an area of land where certain rights are reserved for a Monarch or the Aristocracy, usually set aside for Hunting (see Medieval hunting North Petherton is a small Town in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the eastern foothills of the Quantocks, and close to the edge of Somerset ( or) is a county in south west England The County town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county This was no sinecure, with maintenance an important part of the job, although there were many opportunities to derive profit. A sinecure (from Latin sine, without and cura, care means an office which requires or involves little or no responsibility labour or active service He was granted an annual pension of twenty pounds by Richard II in 1394. ^[6] It is believed that Chaucer stopped work on the Canterbury Tales sometime towards the end of this decade.

Soon after the overthrow of his patron Richard II in 1399, Chaucer vanished from the historical record. Richard II (6 January 1367 &ndash ca 14 February 1400 was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399 He is believed to have died of unknown causes on 25 October 1400 but there is no firm evidence for this date, as it comes from the engraving on his tomb, which was built more than one-hundred years after Chaucer's death. Events 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a There is some speculation—most recently in Terry Jones' book Who Murdered Chaucer?: A Medieval Mystery—that he was murdered by enemies of Richard II or even on the orders of his successor Henry IV. For other uses see Terry Jones (disambiguation. Terence Graham Parry Jones (born 1 February 1942) is a Welsh Henry IV (3 April 1367 &ndash 20 March 1413 was King of England and Lord of Ireland (1399&ndash1413 However, as of yet there is no solid evidence to support this claim.

Henry IV did renew the grants assigned to Chaucer by Richard, but in The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse, Chaucer hints that the grants might not have been paid. The last mention of Chaucer in the historical record is on 5 June 1400, when some monies owing to him were paid. Events 70 - Titus and his Roman Legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem in the Siege of Jerusalem Chaucer was buried in Westminster Abbey in London, as was his right owing to the jobs he had performed and the new house he had leased nearby on 24 December 1399. The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a large mainly Gothic church Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes In 1556 his remains were transferred to a more ornate tomb, making Chaucer the first writer interred in the area now known as Poets' Corner. Poets’ Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey due to the number of Poets Playwrights and

Works

Chaucer's first major work, The Book of the Duchess, was an elegy for Blanche of Lancaster (who died in 1369). The Book of the Duchess is a Dream vision Narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. Blanche of Lancaster ( March 25, 1345 &ndash September 12, 1369 Bolingbroke Castle) Countess of Derby was an English It is possible that this work was commissioned by her husband John of Gaunt, as he granted Chaucer a £10 annuity on 13 June 1374. Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for This would seem to place the writing of The Book of the Duchess between the years 1369 and 1374. Two other early works by Chaucer were Anelida and Arcite and The House of Fame. Anelida and Arcite is a 357 line poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. It tells the story of Anelida queen of Armenia and her wooing by false Arcite from Thebes Greece The House of Fame is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, it is one of his early works probably written between 1379 and 1380. Chaucer wrote many of his major works in a prolific period when he held the job of customs comptroller for London (1374 to 1386). His Parlement of Foules, The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde all date from this time. The " Parlement of Foules " (also known as the "Parliament of Fowls" "Parlement of Briddes" "Assembly of Fowls" or "Assemble of Foules" The Legend of Good Women is a Poem in the form of a Dream vision by Geoffrey Chaucer. Troilus and Criseyde (circa 1380-87 is Geoffrey Chaucer 's Poem in Rhyme royal ( rime royale) re-telling the tragic love story of Also it is believed that he started work on The Canterbury Tales in the early 1380s. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) Chaucer is best known as the writer of The Canterbury Tales, which is a collection of stories told by fictional pilgrims on the road to the cathedral at Canterbury; these tales would help to shape English literature. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) Canterbury ( ˈkæntəbɹ̩i is a City in eastern Kent in the South East region of England.

The Canterbury Tales contrasts with other literature of the period in the naturalism of its narrative, the variety of stories the pilgrims tell and the varied characters who are engaged in the pilgrimage. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) Many of the stories narrated by the pilgrims seem to fit their individual characters and social standing, although some of the stories seem ill-fitting to their narrators, perhaps as a result of the incomplete state of the work. Chaucer drew on real life for his cast of pilgrims: the innkeeper shares the name of a contemporary keeper of an inn in Southwark, and real-life identities for the Wife of Bath, the Merchant, the Man of Law and the Student have been suggested. The many jobs Chaucer held in medieval society—page, soldier, messenger, valet, bureaucrat, foreman and administrator—probably exposed him to many of the types of people he depicted in the Tales. He was able to shape their speech and satirize their manners in what was to become popular literature among people of the same types.

Chaucer's works are sometimes grouped into, first a French period, then an Italian period and finally an English period, with Chaucer being influenced by those countries' literatures in turn. Certainly Troilus and Criseyde is a middle period work with its reliance on the forms of Italian poetry, little known in England at the time, but to which Chaucer was probably exposed during his frequent trips abroad on court business. Troilus and Criseyde (circa 1380-87 is Geoffrey Chaucer 's Poem in Rhyme royal ( rime royale) re-telling the tragic love story of In addition, its use of a classical antiquity|classical subject and its elaborate, courtly language sets it apart as one of his most complete and well-formed works. In Troilus and Criseyde Chaucer draws heavily on his source, Boccaccio, and on the late Latin philosopher Boethius. Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480&ndash524 or 525 was a Christian philosopher of the 6th century However, it is The Canterbury Tales, wherein he focuses on English subjects, with bawdy jokes and respected figures often being undercut with humour, that has cemented his reputation.

Chaucer also translated such important works as Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris (extended by Jean de Meun). Translation is the interpreting of the meaning of a text and the subsequent production of an equivalent text likewise called a " translation Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480&ndash524 or 525 was a Christian philosopher of the 6th century Guillaume de Lorris (fl 1230 was a French scholar and Poet, and was the author of the first section of the Romance of the Rose. However, while many scholars maintain that Chaucer did indeed translate part of the text of The Romance of the Rose as Roman de la Rose, others claim that this has been effectively disproved. The Roman de la rose is a medieval French poem styled as an allegorical dream vision The Romaunt of the Rose is a partial translation into Middle English of the French Allegory, the Roman de la Rose. Many of his other works were very loose translations of, or simply based on, works from continental Europe. It is in this role that Chaucer receives some of his earliest critical praise. Eustache Deschamps wrote a ballade on the great translator and called himself a "nettle in Chaucer's garden of poetry". Eustache Deschamps (1346&ndash1406 was a medieval French poet In 1385 Thomas Usk made glowing mention of Chaucer, and John Gower, Chaucer's main poetic rival of the time, also lauded him. Thomas Usk (died March 4, 1388) was appointed the under- Sheriff of London by Richard II in 1387 John Gower (c 1330 – October 1408 was an English Poet, a contemporary of William Langland and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. This reference was later edited out of Gower's Confessio Amantis and it has been suggested by some that this was because of ill feeling between them, but it is likely due simply to stylistic concerns.

One other significant work of Chaucer's is his Treatise on the Astrolabe, possibly for his own son, that describes the form and use of that instrument in detail. A Treatise on the Astrolabe is a Medieval Essay on the Astrolabe by Geoffrey Chaucer. The astrolabe is a historical Astronomical instrument used by classical astronomers, Navigators Although much of the text may have come from other sources, the treatise indicates that Chaucer was versed in science in addition to his literary talents. Another scientific work discovered in 1952, Equatorie of the Planetis, has similar language and handwriting compared to some considered to be Chaucer's and it continues many of the ideas from the Astrolabe. The attribution of this work to Chaucer is still uncertain. . .

Influence

Linguistic

Portrait of Chaucer from Thomas Hoccleve, who personally knew Chaucer, so it is probably an accurate depiction

Chaucer wrote in continental accentual-syllabic metre, a style which had developed since around the twelfth century as an alternative to the alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. Thomas Occleve (or Hoccleve) (c 1368 &ndash 1426 English Poet, was born probably in 1368/9 for writing in 1421/2 he says he was fifty-three years In Poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses Alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry as opposed to Anglo-Saxon literature (or Old English literature) encompasses Literature written in Anglo-Saxon (Old English during the 600-year Anglo-Saxon Chaucer is known for metrical innovation, inventing the rhyme royal, and he was one of the first English poets to use the five-stress line, a decasyllabic cousin to the iambic pentameter, in his work, with only a few anonymous short works using it before him. Rime Royal (or Rhyme royal) is a rhyming Stanza form that was introduced into English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer. Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in Poetry and Drama. The arrangement of these five-stress lines into rhyming couplets, first seen in his Legend of Good Women, was used in much of his later work and became one of the standard poetic forms in English. A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter The Legend of Good Women is a Poem in the form of a Dream vision by Geoffrey Chaucer. His early influence as a satirist is also important, with the common humorous device, the funny accent of a regional dialect, apparently making its first appearance in The Reeve's Tale. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of The Reeve's Prologue and Tale is the third story told in Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales.

The poetry of Chaucer, along with other writers of the era, is credited with helping to standardize the London Dialect of the Middle English language from a combination of the Kentish and Midlands dialects. Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of This is probably overstated; the influence of the court, chancery and bureaucracy—of which Chaucer was a part—remains a more probable influence on the development of Standard English. The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor is a senior and important functionary in the Government of the United Kingdom. Standard English (often shortened to SE within linguistic circles is a term generally applied to a form of the English language that is thought to be normative Modern English is somewhat distanced from the language of Chaucer's poems owing to the effect of the Great Vowel Shift some time after his death. Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift, completed in roughly 1550 The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the Pronunciation of the English language that took place in the south of England between 1200 and This change in the pronunciation of English, still not fully understood, makes the reading of Chaucer difficult for the modern audience, though it is thought by some that the modern Scottish accent is closely related to the sound of Middle English. The status of the final -e in Chaucer's verse is uncertain: it seems likely that during the period of Chaucer's writing the final -e was dropping out of colloquial English and that its use was somewhat irregular. Chaucer's versification suggests that the final -e is sometimes to be vocalised, and sometimes to be silent; however, this remains a point on which there is disagreement. When it is vocalised, most scholars pronounce it as a schwa. In Linguistics, specifically Phonetics and Phonology, schwa can mean the following An unstressed and toneless neutral Apart from the irregular spelling, much of the vocabulary is recognisable to the modern reader. Chaucer is also recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary as the first author to use many common English words in his writings. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English These words were probably frequently used in the language at the time but Chaucer, with his ear for common speech, is the earliest manuscript source. Acceptable, alkali, altercation, amble, angrily, annex, annoyance, approaching, arbitration, armless, army, arrogant, arsenic, arc, artillery and aspect are just some of those from the first letter of the alphabet.

Literary

Chaucer's early popularity is attested by the many poets who imitated his works. Geoffrey Chaucer (c 1343 – 25 October 1400? was an English author poet Philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and Diplomat. John Lydgate was one of earliest imitators who wrote a continuation to the Tales. John Lydgate of Bury (c 1370 – c 1451 was a Monk and Poet, born in Lidgate Suffolk, England. Many of the manuscripts of Chaucer's works contain material from these admiring poets and the later romantic era poets' appreciation of Chaucer was coloured by their not knowing which of the works were genuine. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the 17th and 18th century writers, such as John Dryden, admired Chaucer for his stories, but not for his rhythm and rhyme, as few critics could then read Middle English and the text had been butchered by printers, leaving a somewhat unadmirable mess. John Dryden (– was an influential English poet Literary critic, Translator and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England ^[7] It was not until the late 19th century that the official Chaucerian canon, accepted today, was decided upon; largely as a result of Walter William Skeat's work. Walter William Skeat ( November 21, 1835 - 1912 English Philologist, was born in London on the 21st of November 1835 and educated One hundred and fifty years after his death, The Canterbury Tales was selected by William Caxton to be one of the first books to be printed in England.

Chaucer's English

Although Chaucer's language is much closer to modern English than the text of Beowulf, it differs enough that most publications modernise (and sometimes bowdlerise) his idiom. Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between Thomas Bowdler ( IPA /ˈbaʊdlə/ ( July 11, 1754 &ndash February 24, 1825) was an English Physician who published Following is a sample from the prologue of the "Summoner's Tale" that compares Chaucer's text to a modern translation:

Monuments and tributes

The poet Thomas Hoccleve, who may have met Chaucer and considered him his model, hailed Chaucer as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage. Thomas Occleve (or Hoccleve) (c 1368 &ndash 1426 English Poet, was born probably in 1368/9 for writing in 1421/2 he says he was fifty-three years "^[9] Both an asteroid 2984 Chaucer, and a lunar crater have been named for Chaucer. TemplateInfobox Planet. --> 2984 Chaucer is a small main belt Asteroid, which was discovered Chaucer is a lunar Impact crater that is located to the west of the Hertzsprung walled plain, on the far side of the Moon.

Historical reception and representation

Manuscripts and Audience

The large number of surviving manuscripts of Chaucer's works is testimony to the enduring interest in his poetry prior to the arrival of the printing press. There are 83 surviving manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales (in whole or part) alone, along with sixteen of Troilus and Criseyde, including the personal copy of Henry IV. Henry IV (3 April 1367 &ndash 20 March 1413 was King of England and Lord of Ireland (1399&ndash1413 ^[10] Given the ravages of time, it is likely that these surviving manuscripts represent hundreds since lost. Chaucer's original audience was a courtly one, and would have included women as well as men of the upper social classes. Yet even before his death in 1400, Chaucer's audience had begun to include members of the rising literate, middle and merchant classes, which included many Lollard sympathizers who may well have been inclined to read Chaucer as one of their own, particularly in his satirical writings about friars, priests, and other church officials. Lollardy was the political and religious movement of the Lollards from the mid- 14th century to the English Reformation. In 1464, John Baron, a tenant farmer in Agmondesham, was brought before John Chadworth, the Bishop of Lincoln, on charges he was a Lollard heretic; he confessed to owning a "boke of the Tales of Caunterburie" among other suspect volumes. John Chadworth (or John Chedworth) was Provost of King's College Cambridge from 1447 until his election as Bishop of Lincoln. ^[11]

Printed editions

William Caxton, the first English printer, was responsible for the first two folio editions of The Canterbury Tales were published in 1478 and 1483. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) Caxton's second printing, by his own account, came about because a customer complained that the printed text differed from a manuscript he knew; Caxton obligingly used the man's manuscript as his source. Both Caxton editions carry the equivalent of manuscript authority. Caxton's edition was reprinted by his successor, Wynkyn de Worde, but this edition has no independent authority. Wynkyn de Worde (also Wynken; originally Jan van Wynkyn) (d 1534 was a printer and publisher known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognized

Richard Pynson, the King's Printer under Henry VIII for about twenty years, was the first to collect and sell something that resembled an edition of the collected works of Chaucer, introducing in the process five previously printed texts that we now know are not Chaucer's. Richard Pynson (born 1448 in Normandy, died 1529 was one of the first printers of English books The Queen's Printer (or King's Printer when the monarch is male is a position defined by Letters patent under the Royal prerogative in the United (The collection is actually three separately printed texts, or collections of texts, bound together as one volume. ) There is a likely connection between Pynson's product and William Thynne's a mere six years later. Thynne had a successful career from the 1520s until his death in 1546, when he was one of the masters of the royal household. His editions of Chaucers Works in 1532 and 1542 were the first major contributions to the existence of a widely recognized Chaucerian canon. Thynne represents his edition as a book sponsored by and supportive of the king who is praised in the preface by Sir Brian Tuke. Thynne's canon brought the number of apocryphal works associated with Chaucer to a total of 28, even if that was not his intention. As with Pynson, once included in the Works, pseudepigraphic texts stayed within it, regardless of their first editor's intentions. Pseudepigrapha (from Ancient Greek ψευδής

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Chaucer was printed more than any other English author, and he was the first author to have his works collected in comprehensive single-volume editions in which a Chaucer canon began to cohere. Some scholars contend that that sixteenth-century editions of Chaucer's Works set the precedent for all other English authors in terms of presentation, prestige and success in print. These editions certainly established Chaucer's reputation, but they also began the complicated process of reconstructing and frequently inventing Chaucer's biography and the canonical list of works attributed to him.

Probably the most significant aspect of the growing apocrypha is that, beginning with Thynne's editions, it began to include medieval texts that made Chaucer appear as a proto-Protestant Lollard, primarily the Testament of Love and The Plowman's Tale. Lollardy was the political and religious movement of the Lollards from the mid- 14th century to the English Reformation. There are actually two pseudo-Chaucerian texts called The Plowman's Tale. As "Chaucerian" works that were not considered apocryphal until the late nineteenth century, these medieval texts enjoyed a new life, with English Protestants carrying on the earlier Lollard project of appropriating existing texts and authors who seemed sympathetic--or malleable enough to be construed as sympathetic--to their cause. The official Chaucer of the early printed volumes of his Works was construed as a proto-Protestant as the same was done, concurrently, with William Langland and Piers Plowman. William Langland (ca 1332 - ca 1386 is the conjectured Author of the 14th-century English Dream-vision Piers Plowman. Piers Plowman (written ca 1360 &ndash 1399) or Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman ( William's Vision of Piers Plowman) is the title The famous Plowman's Tale did not enter Thynne's Works until the second, 1542 edition. Its entry was surely facilitated by Thynne's inclusion of Thomas Usk's Testament of Love in the first edition. Thomas Usk (died March 4, 1388) was appointed the under- Sheriff of London by Richard II in 1387 The Testament of Love imitates, borrows from, and thus resembles Usk's contemporary, Chaucer. (Testament of Love also appears to borrow from Piers Plowman. ) Since the Testament of Love mentions its author's part in a failed plot (book 1, chapter 6), his imprisonment, and (perhaps) a recantation of (possibly Lollard) heresy, all this was associated with Chaucer. (Usk himself was executed as a traitor in 1388. ) Interestingly, John Foxe took this recantation of heresy as a defense of the true faith, calling Chaucer a "right Wiclevian" and (erroneously) identifying him as a schoolmate and close friend of John Wycliffe at Merton College, Oxford. John Foxe (1517 &ndash April 18, 1587) martyrologist is remembered as the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs John Wycliffe (ˈwɪklɪf also spelled Wyclif, Wycliff, Wiclef, Wicliffe, or Wickliffe) (mid-1320s – 31 December See also Wardens of Merton College Oxford. Merton College is also the name of a college in the London Borough of Merton. (Thomas Speght is careful to highlight these facts in his editions and his "Life of Chaucer. ") No other sources for the Testament of Love exist--there is only Thynne's construction of whatever manuscript sources he had.

John Stow (1525-1605) was an antiquarian and also a chronicler. John Stow (c 1525&ndash 6 April 1605) was an English Historian and Antiquarian. His edition of Chaucer's Works in 1561 brought the apocrypha to more than 50 titles. More were added in the seventeenth century, and they remained as late as 1810, well after Thomas Tyrwhitt pared the canon down in his 1775 edition. Thomas Tyrwhitt ( March 27, 1730 &ndash August 15, 1786) was an English Classical scholar and Critic. The compilation and printing of Chaucer's works was, from its beginning, a political enterprise, since it was intended to establish an English national identity and history that grounded and authorized the Tudor monarchy and church. What was added to Chaucer often helped represent him favourably to Protestant England.

Engraving of Chaucer from Speght's edition

In his 1598 edition of the Works, Speght (probably taking cues from Foxe) made good use of Usk's account of his political intrigue and imprisonment in the Testament of Love to assemble a largely fictional "Life of Our Learned English Poet, Geffrey Chaucer. " Speght's "Life" presents readers with an erstwhile radical in troubled times much like their own, a proto-Protestant who eventually came around the king's views on religion. Speght states that "In the second year of Richard the second, the King tooke Geffrey Chaucer and his lands into his protection. The occasion wherof no doubt was some daunger and trouble whereinto he was fallen by favouring some rash attempt of the common people. " Under the discussion of Chaucer's friends, namely John of Gaunt, Speght further explains:

Yet it seemeth that [Chaucer] was in some trouble in the daies of King Richard the second, as it may appeare in the Testament of Loue: where hee doth greatly complaine of his owne rashnesse in following the multitude, and of their hatred of him for bewraying their purpose. And in that complaint which he maketh to his empty purse, I do find a written copy, which I had of Iohn Stow (whose library hath helped many writers) wherein ten times more is adjoined, then is in print. Where he maketh great lamentation for his wrongfull imprisonment, wishing death to end his daies: which in my iudgement doth greatly accord with that in the Testament of Love. Moreover we find it thus in Record.

Later, in "The Argument" to the Testament of Love, Speght adds:

Chaucer did compile this booke as a comfort to himselfe after great griefs conceiued for some rash attempts of the commons, with whome he had ioyned, and thereby was in feare to loose the fauour of his best friends. An argument in literature is a brief summary often in Prose, of a poem or section of a poem or other work

Speght is also the source of the famous tale of Chaucer being fined for beating a Franciscan friar in Fleet Street, as well as a fictitious coat of arms and family tree. The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic A Friar is a member of one of the Mendicant orders. Friars and monks Friars differ from Monks in that they are called to a life of poverty in service Fleet Street is a street in London, England named after the River Fleet. A coat of arms or armorial bearings (often just arms for short in European tradition is a design belonging to a particular person (or group of people A family tree is a chart representing family relationships in a conventional Tree structure. Ironically--and perhaps consciously so--an introductory, apologetic letter in Speght's edition from Francis Beaumont defends the unseemly, "low", and bawdy bits in Chaucer from an elite, classicist position. Francis Beaumont (1584 &ndash March 6 1616) was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Francis Thynne noted some of these inconsistencies in his Animadversions, insisting that Chaucer was not a commoner, and he objected to the friar-beating story. Yet Thynne himself underscores Chaucer's support for popular religious reform, associating Chaucer's views with his father William Thynne's attempts to include The Plowman's Tale and The Pilgrim's Tale in the 1532 and 1542 Works.

The myth of the Protestant Chaucer continues to have a lasting impact on a large body of Chaucerian scholarship. Though it is extremely rare for a modern to scholar to suggest Chaucer supported a religious movement that didn't exist until more than a century after his death, the predominance of this thinking for so many centuries left it for granted that Chaucer was at least extremely hostile toward Catholicism. This assumption forms a large part of many critical approaches to Chaucer's works, including neo-Marxism.

Alongside Chaucer's Works, the most impressive literary monument of the period is John Foxe's Acts and Monuments.... John Foxe (1517 &ndash April 18, 1587) martyrologist is remembered as the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, is an Apocalyptically oriented English Protestant account of the Persecutions of As with the Chaucer editions, it was critically significant to English Protestant identity and included Chaucer in its project. Foxe's Chaucer both derived from and contributed to the printed editions of Chaucer's Works, particularly the pseudepigrapha. Jack Upland was first printed in Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and then it appeared in Speght's edition of Chaucer's Works. Speght's "Life of Chaucer" echoes Foxe's own account, which is itself dependent upon the earlier editions that added the Testament of Love and The Plowman's Tale to their pages. Like Speght's Chaucer, Foxe's Chaucer was also a shrewd (or lucky) political survivor. In his 1563 edition, Foxe "thought it not out of season . . . to couple . . . some mention of Geoffrey Chaucer" with a discussion of John Colet, a possible source for John Skelton's character Colin Clout. John Colet (January 1467 &ndash 10 September 1519) was an English churchman and Educational pioneer John Skelton, also known as John Shelton (c 1460 &ndash June 21, 1529) English Poet, was born at Diss in Norfolk The Shepheardes Calender was Edmund Spenser 's first major poetic work published in 1579

Probably referring to the 1542 Act for the Advancement of True Religion, Foxe says he "marvel[s] to consider . The Act for the Advancement of True Religion ( 34 & 35 Henry VIII c . . how the bishops, condemning and abolishing all manner of English books and treatises which might bring the people to any light of knowledge, did yet authorise the works of Chaucer to remain still and to be occupied; who, no doubt, saw into religion as much almost as even we do now, and uttereth in his works no less, and seemeth to be a right Wicklevian, or else there never was any. And that, all his works almost, if they be thoroughly advised, will testify (albeit done in mirth, and covertly); and especially the latter end of his third book of the Testament of Love . . . . Wherein, except a man be altogether blind, he may espy him at the full : although in the same book (as in all others he useth to do), under shadows covertly, as under a visor, he suborneth truth in such sort, as both privily she may profit the godly-minded, and yet not be espied of the crafty adversary. And therefore the bishops, belike, taking his works but for jests and toys, in condemning other books, yet permitted his books to be read. "

It is significant, too, that Foxe's discussion of Chaucer leads into his history of "The Reformation of the Church of Christ in the Time of Martin Luther" when "Printing, being opened, incontinently ministered unto the church the instruments and tools of learning and knowledge; which were good books and authors, which before lay hid and unknown. The science of printing being found, immediately followed the grace of God; which stirred up good wits aptly to conceive the light of knowledge and judgment: by which light darkness began to be espied, and ignorance to be detected; truth from error, religion from superstition, to be discerned. "

Foxe downplays Chaucer's bawdy and amorous writing, insisting that it all testifies to his piety. Material that is troubling is deemed metaphoric, while the more forthright satire (which Foxe prefers) is taken literally.

John Urry produced the first edition of Chaucer in Latin font, published posthumously after his death in 1715. John Urry (1666 Dublin – 18 March 1715 Oxford was a noted literary editor and medieval scholar of Scottish family

List of works

The following major works are in rough chronological order but scholars still debate the dating of most of Chaucer's output and works made up from a collection of stories may have been compiled over a long period.

Major works

• Translation of Roman de la Rose, possibly extant as The Romance of the Rose
• The Book of the Duchess
• The House of Fame
• Anelida and Arcite
• Parlement of Foules
• Translation of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy as Boece
• Troilus and Criseyde
• The Legend of Good Women
• The Canterbury Tales
• Treatise on the Astrolabe

Short poems

• An ABC
• Chaucers Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn
• The Complaint unto Pity
• The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse
• The Complaint of Mars
• The Complaint of Venus
• A Complaint to His Lady
• The Former Age
• Fortune
• Gentilesse
• Lak of Stedfastnesse
• Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan
• Lenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton
• Proverbs
• To Rosemounde
• Truth
• Womanly Noblesse

Poems dubiously ascribed to Chaucer

• Against Women Unconstant
• A Balade of Complaint
• Complaynt D'Amours
• Merciles Beaute
• The Equatorie of the Planets - A rough translation of a Latin work derived from an Arab work of the same title. The Roman de la rose is a medieval French poem styled as an allegorical dream vision The Roman de la rose is a medieval French poem styled as an allegorical dream vision The Book of the Duchess is a Dream vision Narrative poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. The House of Fame is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, it is one of his early works probably written between 1379 and 1380. Anelida and Arcite is a 357 line poem by Geoffrey Chaucer. It tells the story of Anelida queen of Armenia and her wooing by false Arcite from Thebes Greece The " Parlement of Foules " (also known as the "Parliament of Fowls" "Parlement of Briddes" "Assembly of Fowls" or "Assemble of Foules" Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480&ndash524 or 525 was a Christian philosopher of the 6th century Consolation of Philosophy ( Consolatio Philosophiae) is a philosophical work by Boethius, written in about the year AD 524. Boece is Geoffrey Chaucer 's translation into Middle English of The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. Troilus and Criseyde (circa 1380-87 is Geoffrey Chaucer 's Poem in Rhyme royal ( rime royale) re-telling the tragic love story of The Legend of Good Women is a Poem in the form of a Dream vision by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) A Treatise on the Astrolabe is a Medieval Essay on the Astrolabe by Geoffrey Chaucer. It is a description of the construction and use of what is called an 'equatorium planetarum', and was used in calculating planetary orbits and positions (at the time it was believed the sun orbited the Earth). The similar Treatise on the Astrolabe, not usually doubted as Chaucer's work, plus Chaucer's name as a gloss to the manuscript are the main pieces of evidence for the ascription to Chaucer. A Treatise on the Astrolabe is a Medieval Essay on the Astrolabe by Geoffrey Chaucer. However, the evidence Chaucer wrote such a work is questionable, and as such is not included in The Riverside Chaucer. If Chaucer did not compose this work, it was probably written by a contemporary.

Works mentioned by Chaucer, presumed lost

• Of the Wreched Engendrynge of Mankynde, possible translation of Innocent III's De miseria conditionis humanae
• Origenes upon the Maudeleyne
• The Book of the Leoun - The Book of the Leon is mentioned in Chaucer's retraction at the end of The Canterbury Tales. Pope Innocent III ( February 22, 1161 &ndash June 16, 1216) born Lotario de' Conti di Segni, was Pope from January It is likely he wrote such a work; one suggestion is that the work was such a bad piece of writing it was lost, but if so, Chaucer would not have included it in the middle of his retraction. Indeed, he would not have included it at all. A likely source dictates it was probably a 'redaction of Guillaume de Machaut's 'Dit dou lyon,' a story about courtly love, a subject about which Chaucer scholars frequently agree he wrote (Le Romaunt de la Rose). Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault (c 1300 – April 1377 was an important Medieval French Poet and Composer.

Pseudepigraphia and works plagiarizing Chaucer

• The Pilgrim's Tale -- Written in the sixteenth-century with many Chaucerian allusions
• The Plowman's Tale AKA The Complaint of the Ploughman -- A Lollard satire later appropriated as a Protestant text
• Pierce the Ploughman's Crede -- A Lollard satire later appropriated by Protestants
• The Ploughman's Tale -- Its body is largely a version of Thomas Hoccleve's "Item de Beata Virgine"
• "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" -- Richard Roos' translation of a poem of the same name by Alain Chartier
• The Testament of Love -- Actually by Thomas Usk
• Jack Upland -- A Lollard satire
• God Spede the Plough -- Borrows parts of Chaucer's Monk's Tale

Chaucer in popular culture

• In the movie A Knight's Tale, Paul Bettany plays Chaucer, as a gambling addicted writer who becomes the herald for the title character's knight in Medieval jousting tournaments. The Pilgrim's Tale is an English anti-monastic poem It was probably written ca There are actually two pseudo-Chaucerian texts called The Plowman's Tale. Lollardy was the political and religious movement of the Lollards from the mid- 14th century to the English Reformation. Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Pierce the Ploughman's Crede is a medieval Alliterative poem of 855 lines savagely lampooning the four orders of Friars. Thomas Occleve (or Hoccleve) (c 1368 &ndash 1426 English Poet, was born probably in 1368/9 for writing in 1421/2 he says he was fifty-three years Thomas Usk (died March 4, 1388) was appointed the under- Sheriff of London by Richard II in 1387 Jack Upland or Jack up Lande (ca 1389-96? is polemical (probably Lollard) and can be seen as a "sequel" to Piers Plowman with God Spede the Plough is the name of an early sixteenth-century manuscript text that borrows twelve stanzas from Chaucer 's Monk's Tale. A Knight's Tale is a 2001 action / adventure / romantic comedy directed produced and written by Brian Helgeland. Paul Bettany (born May 27, 1971) is a BAFTA - and Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated English Actor, who has starred as
• In Neil Gaiman's The Sandman story Men of Good Fortune (collected in The Doll's House), Chaucer appears briefly in a tavern in fourteenth-century England. Neil Richard Gaiman (ˈgeɪmən (born November 10, 1960) is an English author of Science fiction and Fantasy short stories and The Sandman is a Comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published in the United States by the DC Comics imprint Vertigo The Doll's House is the He is listening to a companion dismiss The Canterbury Tales as "filthy tales in rhyme about pilgrims".
• Comedian Bill Bailey does a 'three men go into a pub' joke in the style of Geoffrey Chaucer called "Chaucer Pubbe Gagge". Mark Bailey where he was initially an academic pupil winning most of the prizes
• The plot of the detective novel Landscape with Dead Dons by Robert Robinson centres on the apparent rediscovery of The Book of the Leoun, and a passage from it (eleven lines of good Chaucerian pastiche) turn out to be the vital murder clue as well as proving that the 'rediscovered' poem is an elaborate, clever forgery by the murderer (a Chaucer scholar). Robert Robinson (born 17 December 1927 in Liverpool) is an English Radio and Television presenter.

Notes

References

• Skeat, W. W. , The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899.
• The Riverside Chaucer, 3rd ed. Houghton-Mifflin, 1987 ISBN 0395290317
• Chaucer: Life-Records, Martin M. Crow and Clair C. Olsen. (1966)
• Speirs, John, "Chaucer the Maker", London: Faber and Faber, 1951
• Ward, Adolphus W. (1907). Chaucer. Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark, Ltd.  

See also

• Literature
• Middle English
• Middle English literature
• Medieval literature
• Chaucer College, a graduate school of the University of Kent, England; North Petherton. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter Middle English is the name given by Historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of The term English literature refers to Literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by Writers not necessarily from Medieval literature is a broad subject encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe beyond and during the Middle Ages (encompassing the one thousand Chaucer College Canterbury is an independent College for Japanese students and other students founded in 1992 by Hiroshi Kawashima on the Canterbury campus The University of Kent is a plate glass campus University in Kent, England. North Petherton is a small Town in Somerset, England, situated on the edge of the eastern foothills of the Quantocks, and close to the edge of
• Asteroid 2984 Chaucer, named after the poet
• The movie A Knight's Tale took its name from The Knight's Tale, one of The Canterbury Tales, and a fictionalised Chaucer himself appears as a character in it (played by Paul Bettany), as do characters loosely based on the Pardoner and the Summoner. TemplateInfobox Planet. --> 2984 Chaucer is a small main belt Asteroid, which was discovered A Knight's Tale is a 2001 action / adventure / romantic comedy directed produced and written by Brian Helgeland. "The Knight's Tale" is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales. Paul Bettany (born May 27, 1971) is a BAFTA - and Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated English Actor, who has starred as
• John V. Fleming, an eminent Princeton Chaucerian

External links

• Works by Geoffrey Chaucer at Project Gutenberg
• Poems by Geoffrey Chaucer at PoetryFoundation.org
• Chaucer's Official Life by James Root Hulbert
• Early Editions of Chaucer
• eChaucer: Full Texts, Modern Translation, and Easy-To-Use Concordance
• BBC television adaptation of certain of the Canterbury Tales
• Geoffrey Chaucer - Radio broadcast, In Our Time, 9 February 2006, BBC Radio 4 broadcast (includes link to Listen Again)
• "Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog" (A Chaucer parody blog)
• The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems
• Chaucer's language: Glossary from the Canterbury Tales
• Troilus and Creseyde
• Chaucer at The Online Library of Liberty
• The Canterbury Tales: A Complete Translation into Modern English
• Chaucer's Life by Walter Skeat, The Online Library of Liberty, <http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=883&Itemid=260> 
• Info Britain - Chaucer, Biography and Visits

Educational institutions

• Caxton's Chaucer Complete digitized texts of Caxton's two earliest editions of the Canterbury Tales from the British Library
• Caxton's Canterbury Tales: The British Library Copies An online edition with complete transcriptions and images captured by the HUMI Project
• Chaucer Metapage - Project in addition to the 33rd International Congress of Medieval Studies
• Chaucer Page by Harvard University
• Three near-contemporary portraits of Chaucer
• Astronomy & Astrology in Chaucer's Work
• Chaucer and his works: Introduction to Chaucer and his works | Descriptions of books with images