GEOFFREY CHAUCER’S LIFE
• 1340-1343- Between that time Chaucer was born in London.
• Probably by 1347 Chaucer was placed in the household of Prince Lionel’s wife, a son of King Edward III there he worked as an attendant. Working there he met the Prince’s younger brother John of Gaunt (became later Chaucer’s lifelong patron and a leading political figure of the day).
• 1359-60 He joined the king army to fight against the French (Hundred Year’s War-still a teenager).
• Then became a royal messenger and would be given more diplomatic missions.
• In 1374 he married Philippa ( lady in waiting to the queen and his appointment as comptroller of customs for London.
• Chaucer’s earliest writing effort was his translation of The Romance of the Rose
• 1369? Wrote The Book of the Dutchess (made tribute to Blanque, John of Gaunt, 1st wife who died of plague in 1369.
• Years later he wrote The House of Fame.
• Writing was like his hobby because his important things back then were the politics and diplomacy.
• 1377? His next major work was The Parliament of Fowls (to commemorate Richard’s marriage to Anne of Bohemia in 1382).
• 1390s Chaucer was appointed a knight of the shire and became a member of parliament.
• 1399 When the monarch changes Chaucer political fortunes did not go through any problems because Henry IV was the son of John of Gaunt.
• 1400 A year later Chaucer dies.
• Other literary work were Troilus and Criseyde and his most famous The Canterbury Tales(1387) even though at the time of his death it was still not finish he had already written 20,000 lines.
• 1400 Got honor by burring him in London’s Westminster Abbey.
• 1566 An admirer erected an elaborated marble tomb for his remains.