Troilus and Criseyde: 'Thus biddeth god, for his benignitee''

Geoffrey Chaucer’s birth and its precise location is unknown other than it was in London and, according to his monument, in 1343.

His family were strongly associated with the wine trade and each successive generation rose in rank, status and income until his father received a royal appointment. His mother also inherited numerous properties, so Chaucer grew up in an affluent, prosperous and influential environment which led to his first public engagement as a page to the Countess of Ulster, a stepping stone for boys destined for knighthood or prestigious appointments. He later worked as a courtier, a diplomat, a senior civil servant, and from 1389 to 1391 as Clerk of the King's Works, directly for the king himself.

Chaucer married Phillippa do Roet, a lady in waiting to the Queen and they had three (some say four) children including Thomas who became one of the richest men in London, and his great-grandson being named heir apparent to the throne of England but died on the battlefield. Chaucer dedicates his treatise on the astronomical instrument, the Astrolabe, the first English technical manual of its kind, to their second son Lewis.

Chaucer travelled abroad many times and was influenced by French contemporary poets. Some scholars believe that on a trip to Italy he met with Petrarch or Boccacio who introduced him to medieval Italian poetry. Certainly, the latter influenced many of his early poems, namely, ‘The Parlement of Foules’, an allegory which, incidentally is the first mention of St Valentine’s Day in British literature.

‘Troilus and Criseyde’, regarded by many as his best work, was a psychologically complex and epic poem on the romance of the doomed lovers. Boccacio’s ‘Decameron’ has similarities to Chaucer’s best known work, ‘The Canterbury Tales’ but clearly Chaucer is more innovative, irreverent and colourful although the work remained unfinished.

Chaucer has been credited as the father of English literature. He was crucial to the growth of the English language as he legitimised the literary use of Middle English when Latin and Anglo-Norman French dominated. His pioneering works display an extensive variety in subjects, genres, tones and styles yet always capturing the complexities, foibles, frailties and follies of our human existence.

Geoffrey Chaucer died on the 25th October, 1400 in London. He was the first writer to be buried in Westminster Abbey and deemed so important that the space around his tomb became known as Poet’s Corner and reserved for other notable literary luminaries to be laid to rest around him.

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