Geoffrey Chaucer

(1343-1400)Connor Rudge

Early Life

• Born in 1343 to John Chaucer and Agnes Copton• First “Chaucer Life Record” (of 500+ known) was

household accounts of Elizabeth de Burgh, the Countess of Ulster (wife of Lionel, Duke of Clarence)

• Became the noblewoman’s page through his father’s connections (Aquired large amount of storefronts from marrying Agnes; said to be “moneyer” at the Tower of London

Cont.

• the position brought the teenage Chaucer into the close court circle, where he remained for the rest of his life.

• Also worked as a courtier, a diplomat, and a civil servant, and worked fro the King collecting and sorting scrap metal.

Family

• Marrried Phillipa (de) Roet in 1366• Unknown how many children they had• Believed to be 3 or 4– Thomas– Elizabeth– Agnes– Lewis

Life Cont.

• Chaucer studied law in the Inner Court. • He became a member of the royal court of

Edward III as a varlet de chambre, yeoman, or esquire on 20 June 1367

• Believed to have wrote Book of the Duchess around this time

Literary Works

• The Book of the Duchess• House of Fame• Legend of Good Women• Troilus and Criseyde• The Canterbury Tales• Anelida and Arcite

• Ellesmere Manuscript

Achievements

• Author, philosopher, alchemist and astronomer, active career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat

• First person to be buried in Poet’s corner at Westminster Abbey

• Created and used “Modern English Vernacular”

Sources

• Skeat (1899); Vol. I, p. xvii.• Coulton, G. G. (2006). Chaucer and His

England. Kessinger Publishing. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4286-4247-8.