A Bibliography of Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the early 1340's, in
approximately 1343. Little is known about
Chaucer's early life. According to Microsoft
Encarta, "there is relatively strong evidence to
support the fact that he attended one of the three
grammar-schools: either St. Paul's, St. Mary-leBow's, or St. Martin-le-Grand's. The next reliable
bit of data places him, at around the age of fourteen, as a page in the household
of the wife of Prince Lionel, the third son of Edward III. He apparently held
this position for a long time" (Mirosoft)
According to Grose, "Chaucer's first foray into the King's Business appears in
October of 1360, when he couriered letters from the Calais to England during
peace negotiations there. For this service he held the official title of clerk of the
king attached to the person of Prince Lionel. In this way, Chaucer began to
service to his king. In 1368, Chaucer was awarded a royal pension for life,
indicating a long and valued service to his liege" (Grose 23). He served as sort
of jack-of-all-trades.
The only known facts about Chaucer's life between 1358 and 1367 are that he
was imprisoned in France during the Hundred Years War and was ransomed in
March 1360, for rather large sum. In this time Chaucer also married Philippa
Roet, lady-in-waiting to the queen. She bore at least two children.
Between 1368 and 1367, Chaucer undertook nearly
a dozen diplomatic missions to Flanders, France
and Italy. Many were important; indeed many were
so secret that they were not mentioned in the
histories of the time at all. In 1381, Chaucer was
sent to deal with marriage negotiations between
Richard II and the daughter of the French King
granted the title of "Knight of the Shire," an
important Parliament post, and later (1389) was installed as the Clerk of the
King's Works at Westminster, the Tower, and other property in south England.
In 1399 he settled in Westminster. However he did not live long to enjoy his
retirement. Geoffrey Chaucer died on October 25, 1400.
Monologue
Hi, I am Geoffrey Chaucer. I am one of the
greatest English poets of all time. One of
my greatest works is the Canterbury Tales,
which is one of the most important
influences on the development of English
literature.
I am the son of a prosperous wine merchant.
In 1357, I was page to the Countess of
Ulster Elizabeth, the wife of Prince Lionel,
third son of Edward the III; there I learned
the ways of the court and the use of arms.
Around 1386, I conceived the first work of
the Canterbury Tales. The Canterbury Tales
contains 22 verse tales and two long prose
tales, more than 18,000 lines.
When I wrote the Canterbury Tales, I included many points of view, including
two aspects of myself. I was simultaneously the writer of the story as well as a
participating character in it. There are some differences between me as the
pilgrim and as the poet. I treat the pilgrim as a mechanism to separate the poet
from the text in order to allow me to communicate ideas freely and creatively.
The pilgrim becomes the recorder of the tales. Meanwhile, the poet becomes
the organizer and compiler.
A good example of my dual role can be found in presentations of The Wife of
Bath in the "General Prologue." In line 449 I portray the Wife of Bath as a
stereotypically ordinary woman for that day and age. The passage describes her
as being a good cloth-maker who gives an abundance of gifts to the church.
The second perspective in which the Wife can be seen is that through the story
she tells about herself.
My two personalities as both poet and pilgrim are definitely very different.
Each one wants to say something different about The Wife of Bath according to
his own purpose. The pilgrim focuses on the good side, and the poet focuses on
the bad side. By using these dual roles and different personalities, I will attract
readers who will discuss and enjoy my works for hundreds of years to come.
Activity Time: 25 minutes
Concepts Taught: Making connections between past and present, relevance of studying
Chaucer
1. Start out by asking the class how many of them have ever
seen an episode of Jerry Springer. All hands will usually go
up. Ask them to relate some of the most outrageous stories
they've seen on the show.
2. Tell them you've heard another story even more startling
and launch into an abbreviated account of the reeve's Tale.
The closer you tell it to the student's slang, the better.
but Oswald the Reeve took offense, thinking that the Miller meant to disparage older
men. In response, The Reeve's Tale told the story of a dishonest Miller, Symkyn, who
repeatedly cheated his clients, which included the college at Cambridge. Two Cambridge
students, Aleyn and John, went to the miller to buy meal and corn, but while they were
occupied Symkyn let their horses run free and stole their corn. They were forced to stay
with Symkyn for the night. That night, Aleyn seduced the miller's daughter, Molly, while
John seduced the miller's wife. When Aleyn told John of his exploits, Symkyn overheard
and fought with him. The miller's wife hit Symkyn over the head with a staff, knocking
him unconscious, and the two students escaped with the corn that Symkyn had stolen.
The story is a little bawdy, but it's all Chaucer and it has proven
to mesmerize even the most skeptical student. The key is to read
it so that you make it your own and tell it in a lively, engaging
manner.
The Canterbury Tales
 Chaucer is the most important writer in English before
Shakespeare, and one of the handful of English-speaking
authors whose merits are not in dispute: he is known, for
these reasons, as the “Father of English Literature”.
 Chaucer is the first writer of note to produce substantial
works in a form of English that is recognizably the same
language that we speak and write today
 Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, a collection
of stories in a frame story, between 1387 and 1400
 It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as
pilgrims to Canterbury (England).
 two tales on the way to Canterbury and two tales on the way
back. He never finished
 The printing press had yet to be invented. The Canterbury
Tales has been passed down in several handwritten
manuscripts.
The Medieval period/Middle Ages (476-1450
AD).
 The Early Medieval period (476-800), or Late Antiquity
has been referred to as the "Dark Ages" because of the
lack of a Holy Roman Emperor in the West and the
constant warfare caused by the Barbarian hordes of Goths,
Franks and Vandals.
 Medieval era movies such as "The Princess Bride"
offering resident knights in shining armor, determined
princesses ready to battle evil, and a jousting scene or two
are a pure delight for period movie lovers. Rediscover an
epic set during the first millenium in our Movies Set
During the Medieval Era page.
First 16 lines of the General Prologue
Whan that Aprille with his shoores soote
Wan thot A'prill with his sure-es so-tuh
The drought of March hath perced to the roote
The drewgt of March hath pear-said to the row-tuh
And bathed every vein in swich liquor
And ba-thed every vane in sweech lee-coor
Of which vertu engendred is the flour
of wheech ver-too en-jen-dred is the flu-er
When Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth
When Zeph-er-us ache with his sway-tuh breath
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
In-spear-ed hath in every holt and heth
The tendre croppes and the yonge sun
The tawn-dray crop-pays and the young-gay soan
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne
Hath in the rahm his hall-vey coors e-rown
And smale fowles maken melodye
And smal-ay foe-lays mock-en mel-oh-dee-uh
That slepen all the night with open eye
That slep-en all the neekdt with open ee-ah
So priketh hem nature in hir courages
So prick-eth him nah-tour in hear core-ahj-ez
Thanne longen folke to goon pilgrimages
Thah-nay lon-gen folk to goen-on pilgrim-ahj-ez
And palmeres for to seeken stronge straundes
And palm-ers for to sake-en stroan-jay stroan-days
To ferne halwes couth in sondry londes
To fair-nay hallways kouth in soan-dray loan-days
And specially from every shires ende
And specially from every shear-ez end-uh
Of Engelond to Canterbury they wende
Of Eng-gal-ond to Khan-ter-bury they wend-uh
Middle English
 The Norman conquest had a significant impact
on English, changing the spelling, and
introducing many new words.
 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy,
invaded and conquered England and the AngloSaxons in 1066 AD.
 New overlords spoke a dialect of Old French
known as Anglo-Norman.
 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle continued until AD
1154, most other literature from this period was
in French or Latin.
 Sometimes French words replaced Old English
words; crime replaced firen and uncle replaced
eam. Other times, French and Old English
components combined to form a new word, as
the French gentle and the Germanic man formed
gentleman.
 In 1204 AD, King John lost the province of
Normandy to the King of France. This began a
process where the Norman nobles of England
became increasingly estranged from their French
cousins.
 The nobility adopted a modified English as their
native tongue.
 This mixture of the two languages came to be
known as Middle English.
The Troubadours
Chivalric or Courtly Love (known in medieval France as "fine love" or fin amour)
originated with the so-called troubadours of the late eleventh century. These colorful
figures from the Provence region of southern France effectively challenged and sought to
redefine traditional Christian ideals of love, marriage, manhood, virtue, and femininity.
Under the sponsorship of powerful nobles like Eleanor of Aquitaine and Marie de
Champagne, their influence gradually spread throughout France and eventually into
England and Germany. By the middle of the 13th century, the troubadour philosophy had
become practically institutionalized throughout the courts of Europe, and "fine love" had
become the basis for a glamorous and exciting new style of life.
What is Courtly Love?
Properly applied, the phrase l'amour courtois identified an extravagantly artificial and
stylized relationship--a forbidden affair that was characterized by five main attributes. In
essence, the relationship was





Aristocratic. As its name implies, courtly love was practiced by noble lords
and ladies; its proper milieu was the royal palace or court.
Ritualistic. Couples engaged in a courtly relationship conventionally
exchanged gifts and tokens of their affair. The lady was wooed according to
elaborate conventions of etiquette (cf. "courtship" and "courtesy") and was the
constant recipient of songs, poems, bouquets, sweet favors, and ceremonial
gestures. For all these gentle and painstaking attentions on the part of her lover,
she need only return a short hint of approval, a mere shadow of affection.
Secret. pledged to strict secrecy. The foundation for their affair--indeed the
source of its special aura and electricity--was that the rest of the world (except for
a few confidantes or go-betweens) was excluded.
Adulterous. "Fine love"--almost by definition--was extramarital. Indeed one
of its principle attractions was that it offered an escape from the dull routines and
boring confinements of noble marriage (which was typically little more than a
political or economic alliance for the purpose of producing royal offspring).
Literary. Before it established itself as a popular real-life activity, courtly love
first gained attention as a subject and theme in imaginative literature. Ardent
knights, that is to say, and their passionately adored ladies were already popular
figures in song and fable before they began spawning a host of real-life imitators
in the palace halls and boudoirs of medieval Europe.