Special Sub-Topic: The Life of Chaucer Click Here To Play: The Life of Chaucer

Chaucer was born a commoner but mingled with the nobility. He had an eventful life, and was even captured and ransomed by the French. During what war did this happen?

The Hundred Years War. This occurred in 1359, before Chaucer became a member of King Edward’s personal household.

Chaucer was the son of a:

Wine merchant. Chaucer was born into the growing English middle-class, which was, in the Middle English period, beginning to play a profound role in public life.

What was Chaucer’s first job, as far as we know?

Page. As a teenager, he served as a page to Elizabeth, the Countess of Ulster.

Chaucer traveled on diplomatic missions while a servant of King Edward. Where, besides England, did he go?

All of These (France, Spain, Italy). Italy was perhaps his most profitable journey, because he seems to have been much influenced by Italian literature, having modeled one of his tales and one of his major poems on writings of Boccaccio.

Which of the following was _not_ a post held by Chaucer?

Clerk of the Queen's Works. The correct title is "Clerk of the King's Works," which he was. A Knight of the Shire is just another title for a Member of Parliament.

What famous person was a descendant of Chaucer’s sister-in-law, Katherine Swynford?

King Henry VII. Henry IV was descended from John of Gaunt and his wife Blanche. Katherine Swynford was John of Gaunt’s third wife, and her great-great grandson became Henry VII. The couple’s descendants had been specifically excluded from the throne by law, but Richmond (Henry VII) nevertheless defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, becoming King.

Which wife of John of Gaunt does Chaucer’s “Book of the Duchess” eulogize?

His first. The duchess of Lancaster died in 1372. John of Gaunt was the son of Edward III.

This archbishop was murdered in his own cathedral in 1170. Chaucer’s pilgrims are journeying to his tomb in “The Canterbury Tales.”

Thomas a Becket. Becket’s martyrdom has inspired much literature, including a 20th century work by T.S. Eliot.

True or False: Chaucer wrote most of his works in Old English.

False. Chaucer wrote in Middle English. Old English was the language in which the epic “Beowulf” was written.

What was the name of Chaucer’s scribe, about whose sloppy work he complained?

Adam. Chaucer wrote a humorous poem “To His Scribe Adam,” complaining about the scribe's workmanship on “Troilus and Criseide.”