The Weird and Fabulous Life of Geoffrey Chaucer

1. The Weird and Fabulous Life of Geoffrey Chaucer Or… How I learned to stop worrying and love the fourteenth century…

2. The Weird and Fabulous Life of Geoffrey Chaucer The Young Geoffrey Courtier Diplomat Civil Servant Cuckold Poet and Scholar

3. The Young Geoffrey • Chaucer was probably born in 1342 in London. His father, John, was one of a long line of hard-working newly middle-class who was an important wine merchant and served the King’s butler. The name Chaucer comes from “chaussier” or maker of footwear, and the family’s financial success was in merchandizing of wine and leather. • He was well-read; his writings show familiarity with many important books. He was fluent in French and also was competent in Italian and Latin, and he translated many works from these languages into Middle English.

4. Courtier • Young Geoffrey served in the household of Lionel, the third son of Edward III. This “courtly education” his father knew, would help advance his career. • Chaucer served in the army, fighting in France during the 100 Years’ War. He was captured and the King paid his ransom. He was a messenger, also. • Later, he probably studied law, not an unusual preparation for public service, then as now. He must have shown promise. During this time he was fined for beating a Franciscan friar in a London street. • He became close friends with John of Gaunt, another of Edward III’s sons, but more on him later…

5. Diplomat • By 1366, Chaucer was going abroad in the service of Edward III as a diplomat. • He married Philippa Pan during this time, and we’ll get into the details of this in a moment… • He was sent abroad often from 1367 on, to Spain, France, and Italy. He and his wife were official mourners for the Queen when she died in 1369, which was a plague year in Britain.

6. Civil Servant • In 1374, he and Philippa settled in London, where he was appointed comptroller of the customs and subsidy of wools, skins, and tanned hides for the Port of London. • Richard II became King, and under tutelage of John of Gaunt, continued the appointments his grandfather, Edward III, had given to Chaucer. • Up until this time, Chaucer wrote a few long poems, which showed much promise. • He worked at the Customs house until the mid-1380’s when he took an appointment as a justice of the peace in Kent. He was accused of rape during this time, but was acquitted…

7. Civil Servant • This began a period of hard times for Chaucer. His wife died, the peasants revolted, and later, the King’s power is seriously threatened when barons move against him. Chaucer may have suffered along with the King. He went into debt, and many of his friends were executed by the “Merciless Parliament.” • By 1389, Richard II, regained control, temporarily, and Chaucer was back in favor. He was appointed clerk to oversee repairs and maintenance of royal buildings. Robbed and beaten several times during his tenure, he sought a change of job. • He became “subforester” of the King’s park in Somerset, and remained at this post until his death in 1400.

8. Civil Servant • He maintained his close relationship with Richard’s uncle, John of Gaunt, and John’s son (After the regicide of Richard II, he becomes Henry IV) and with this protection, and monetary rewards, leads a good life. • Henry IV will take the throne from Richard II in 1399. (Chaucer dies right after this deposition, which begins The War of the Roses, but he witnesses the folly of primogeniture in the reign of Richard II…) • When he died, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, a marked honor for a commoner. Likely the honor was due to his close association with the King – and equally to his stature as a poet.

9. Cuckold • And now for the lurid details… • During the time Chaucer was sent away as a diplomat to Italy, it is rumored that Philippa gave birth to John of Gaunt’s daughter! This child, Elizabeth “Chaucy” Chaucer, eventually became a nun. • John of Gaunt later married Philppa’s sister, Katherine! And they all stayed best of friends! • Some speculate that John set up the marriage between Chaucer and Philippa to cover his indiscretion. In any case, Chaucer and Philippa were both very well provided for by this family. • Another child, Agnes Chaucer, might also have been John’s baby. Chaucer and Philippa had two other children: Lewis and Thomas.

10. Poet and Scholar • Chaucer was heavily influenced by Dante, who, although was dead by the time he went as a diplomat to Florence, was still the reigning poet of his time. • He translated both sections of Le Roman de la Rose… • He may also have met Petrarch and Boccaccio, whose respective poetry and fabliaux is apparent in Chaucer’s work – this is certain since some of the Canterbury tales are “borrowed”directly from Boccaccio’s Decameron. • He also translated many Saints’ legends, and other books of morality and devotion.

11. Poet and Scholar • Chaucer was influenced by the 6th century Roman philosopher and early Christian theologian, Boethius, whom Chaucer translated. In his work, The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius discusses free will and determinism, destiny, fortune, true and false happiness, and God’s foreknowledge of human life: all aspects of the manner in which an individual should seek Heaven. It also expresses a unique consolation of free will with fate: the whimsy of humanity doesn’t alter the plan of the universe. • And, like many medieval writers, he was influenced by Latin (Roman) writers. Chaucer read and loved Ovid. He also was familiar with the “dream vision” poetry of Cicero.

12. Poet and Scholar • Chaucer was also a noted scholar, and he translated a text on the astrolabe, an instrument used by navigators of the day, that was invented in Arabia. He studied astrology, as well, and knew the motion of the planets, and the effect of the Sun and Moon on tides. (Franklin’s Tale.) • Likely too he was influenced by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and the scholars of the Convivencia: Averroes (Ibn Rushd 1126-1198) and Maimonides (Moses ibn Ezra 1135-1204) for the satire within many of the Canterbury Tales promotes human reason above blind faith.

13. Poet and Scholar • Chaucer is remembered most for his two most brilliant works: the long poem, Troilus and Crisedye, and The Canterbury Tales. Other notable works are: Book of the Duchess; House of Fame; Legend of Good Women; and Parliament of Fowls (See the Nun’s Priest’s Tale). • Like Shakespeare, Chaucer didn’t publish during his lifetime. Unlike Shakespeare, he never publicly thought himself a poet.

14. Poet and Scholar • Notable aspects of Chaucer’s work are: Variety in subject matter and genre His tone and overall style His use of humor and point of view His brilliant characterization • Thematically, Chaucer shines as one who examines the earthly and spiritual aspects of everyday life and love – and gives a loving and gently mocking presentation of humankind, with all its foibles and nobility.

15. Poet and Scholar • At the end of the Canterbury Tales, and at the end of his own life, Chaucer wrote a Retraccioun, where he asks mercy and forgiveness for “translations and indictings of worldly vanities,” which tend towards sin, and for “many a song and many a lechecherous lay.” (Not unlike John Donne’s conversion, perhaps, although we might wonder, which Of Chaucer’s many narrators is really speaking?)

16. Poet and Scholar • And clearly, Chaucer was deeply influenced by his own weird and fabulous life. His portrayal of women, his attitude towards love and the endurance of love, the shifting social roles of the commoners, his gentle mockery of long-held ideals of fate, divine rule, and courtly love of the Middle Ages, and of royalty, clergy, and commoner alike – seem to stem from his own wide and varied experienced during his own life’s pilgrimage!