GEOFFREY CHAUCER
See Also: FOREIGN RELATIONS Sir John Hawkwood; INNS & TAVERNS The
George Inn; ITALIANS The Lombards; LANGUAGE & SLANG The Canterbury
Tales; LANGUAGE & SLANG Parliamentary Languages; LITERATURE; NAUTICAL
The Custom House; A STIRRING TALE; WESTMINSTER
ABBEY MEMORIALS & GRAVES Poet's Corner
Geoffrey
Chaucer was born into a family of vintners that had connections to the royal
court. As a young man he served the
Crown as a soldier, a diplomat, and an official. It is possible that Chaucer may have learned
to speak Italian from Italian merchants who were resident in London. In 1371-2 he made his first journey to Italy
of which there is evidence. The mission
may have involved him conducting negotiations with the Bardis, who were a
family of Florentine bankers. It is
possible that the trip provided him with his initial exposure to the poetry of
Dante and Petrarch. The writer's output
was to be informed by his appreciation of their work.
In 1374
Chaucer moved into a dwelling that was part of the structure of Aldgate
gate. Four years later he was appointed
as the Comptroller of the Port of London.
He was required to oversee the charging of customs on consignments of
wool, leather, and skins that were being exported. He continued to perform diplomatic missions
for the Crown. The same year he made
another trip to Italy. Among those whom
he had dealings with there was the Essex-born condottiere Sir John
Hawkwood. It was after this journey that
the writer's poetry began to display signs of its author having been exposed to
Boccaccio's work; Boccachio's characters were from a narrow privileged social
spectrum, whereas Chaucer's were from a broader one. By 1387 Chaucer had resigned from his Port of
London position and had stopped living at Aldgate. In 1389 he was appointed as the Clerk of the
King's Works. This involved him
supervising the infrastructure of numerous royal buildings as well as having
oversight of a number of parks. A couple
of years later the post was bestowed upon someone else.
Chaucer s
compositions reflect a familiarity with contemporary English songs. The author also had a knowledge of the poetry
that was being written at the French court and took a number of his themes from
it. He was a friend of John Gower, an
Englishman who wrote poetry in three languages.
His work was more influenced by Italian vernacular poetry than was that
of any of his contemporaries. His poems
mark the literary birth of the English language.1 His output was indicative of how the language
of the court (which since 1066 had been Norman French) and the demotic language
(Old English) were merging to become a new, single entity.
Chaucer s
reputation was cemented by Caxton and the first printers publishing his works.
King
Henry VIII banned pilgrimage in 1538.
Location:
The Tabard Inn, Talbot Yard, SE1 1YP.
The inn was where the Canterbury Tales pilgrims were supposed to
have set out from for Canterbury.
1. The modern reader may not automatically think so from reading his
work. For many, it is about as
comprehensible as Dutch is to a non-Dutch speaker.
Manuscript
What is
regarded as being the primary text for the The Canterbury Tales is held
in the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth.
Website:
www.library.wales/discover/digital-gallery/manuscripts/the-middle-ages/the-hengwt-chaucer
David
Backhouse 2024