2. His family name derives from the French
chausseur, meaning "shoemaker";
Financially secure, if not elite.
Agnes Copton, who, in 1349, inherited
properties including 24 shops in London
from her uncle, Hamo de Copton.
3. Life
Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa
(de) Roet. She was a lady-in-waiting to
Edward III's queen.
It is uncertain how many children
Chaucer and Philippa had, but three or
four are most commonly cited.
She is presumed to have died in 1387.
4.
5. Major Works
Around this time, Chaucer is believed to
have written The Book of the Duchess
in honour of Blanche of Lancaster, the
late wife of John of Gaunt, who died in
1369.
6. Career
Since Chaucer was a public servant, his
official life is very well documented, with
nearly five hundred written items
testifying to his career. The first of the
"Chaucer Life Records" appears in 1357,
in the household accounts of Elizabeth
de Burgh, the Countess of Ulster,
when he became the noblewoman's
page through his father's connections.
7.
8. Career
In 1359, in the early stages of the
Hundred Years' War, Edward III invaded
France and Chaucer travelled with Lionel
of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence,
Elizabeth's husband, as part of the
English army. In 1360, he was captured
during the siege of Rheims. Edward paid
￡ 16 for his ransom, a considerable
sum, and Chaucer was released.
9. Career
Chaucer travelled to Picardy the next
year he was married as part of a military
expedition in 1373.
On this trip, he was introduced to
medieval Italian poetry, the forms and
stories of which he would use later.
10.
11. Career
His career as a writer was appreciated came when
Edward III granted Chaucer "a gallon of wine daily for
the rest of his life" in 1374.
Chaucer obtained the very substantial job of Comptroller
of the Customs for the port of London, which he began
on 8 June 1374. 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 time.
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. He also became a
Member of Parliament for Kent in 1386.
13. Career
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
period. He is thought to
have started work on The
Canterbury Tales in the
early 1380s.
14. Career
On 12 July 1389, appointed the clerk. A sort of
foreman organising most of the king's building
projects. It may have been a difficult job, but it paid
well: two shillings a day, more than three times his
salary as a comptroller.
Chaucer was also appointed keeper of the lodge at
the King’s park in Feckenham, which was a largely
honorary appointment.
He was granted an annual pension of twenty
pounds by Richard II in 1394.
It is believed that Chaucer stopped work on the
Canterbury Tales sometime towards the end of this
decade.
15. Major Works
In 1378, Richard II sent Chaucer as an envoy
(secret dispatch) to the Visconti and to Sir
John Hawkwood in Milan.
It has been speculated that it was Hawkwood
on whom Chaucer based his character the
Knight in the Canterbury Tales.
16. Life
It is believed that Chaucer stopped work on
the Canterbury Tales sometime towards the
end of this decade.
In 1399, Chaucer's name fades from the
historical record. The last few records of his
life show his pension renewed by the new
king, and his taking of a lease on a residence
within the close of Westminster Abbey on 24
December 1399.
17. The first poet to have been buried in
Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.
18. Contribution
The part played by Chaucer in the development of the English
language has often been overrated.
He neither corrupted it, as used to be said, by introducing French
words which it would otherwise have avoided, nor bore any such part
in fixing it as was afterwards played by the translators of the Bible.
When he was growing up, educated society in England was still
bilingual, and the changes in vocabulary and pronunciation which took
place during his life were the natural results of a society, which had
been bilingual with a bias towards French, giving an exclusive
preference to English.
Chaucer's service to the English language lies in his decisive success
having made it impossible for any later English poet to attain fame, by
writing alternatively in Latin and French.
The claim which should be made for him is that, at least as regards
poetry, he proved that English was "sufficient."
