Geoffrey Chaucer Biography - Boza

Geoffrey Chaucer, born in 1343, was a public servant for the majority of his life. Many records indicate that his jobs ranged from page to working for the king. He was a courtier, page, diplomat, and civil servant. Also being a military man he was captured during the siege of Rheims, but King Edward paid his ransom and he was released. He traveled a lot as a messenger and is also believed to have gone on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. He married around 1366 to Phillipa of Hainault, who was a lady in waiting to Edward III’s queen. They had several children but only 4 are actually cited. He then became a member of King Edward III’s Court. Around this time he wrote The Book of the Dutchess in honor of Blanch of Lancaster, the wife of john Gaunt, who died in 1369. Around the year 1374, a time where poetry and other forms of art were generally rewarded, Edward III granted Chaucer a gallon of wine daily for the delivery of one of his works (it is unknown which work it was). He continued to collect the wine until Richard II came to power. In the same year he gained the position of Comptroller of the Customs, which he kept for 12 years. This was a long time for this type of position in that time, but it is during this period that he is believed to have begun his more famous works. His work was the first to be written in English in a time where writing was generally done in more “courtly” languages like French and Latin. Thus garnering him the name “Father of English Literature.” In his position as Comptroller he was appointed a commissioner of peace for Kent, when a French invasion was a possibility. He became of Member of Parliament for Kent and it was during this time that he began work on the Canterbury Tales. He was robbed on June 17, 1391 which caused him to resign from his positions and he began working as a deputy forester days after the incident. Chaucer is believed to have stopped working on Canterbury tales around the end of this decade. After the overthrow of Richard II, Chaucer falls from historical records. Although the new king renewed his grants, his work Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse alludes that these grants were not honored. Chaucer dies of unknown causes on October 25, 1400. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, because of his status as a tenant, but his remains were moved in 1556 making him the first writer to be buried in the Poets’ Corner.

-Boza