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Famous
Authors > Geoffrey Chaucer
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Geoffrey
Chaucer
Geoffrey
Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400) was an English author, philosopher,
diplomat, and poet, and is best known and remembered as the author
of The Canterbury Tales. He is sometimes credited with being the first
author to demonstrate the artistic legitimacy of the English language.
He was a contemporary of Giovanni Boccaccio and Christine de Pizan.
Although born as a son of a vintner, he became a page at the court
of Edward III of England. He was in the service of first Elizabeth
de Burgh, Countess of Ulster, and then Lionel of Antwerp, son of Edward
III.
He travelled from England to France, Spain, Flanders, and Italy (Genoa
and Florence), where he came into contact with medieval continental
poetry. |
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Around
1366 Chaucer married Philippa (de) Roet, a lady-in-waiting to Edward
III's queen, Philippa of Hainault, and a sister of Katherine Swynford,
who later (ca. 1396) became the third wife of Chaucer's friend and
patron, John of Gaunt.
Chaucer wrote poetry as a diversion from his job as Comptroller
of the Customs for the port of London, and also translated such
important works as The Romance of the Rose by Guillaume de Lorris
(extended by Jean de Meun), and Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius'
De consolatione philosophiae. However, while many scholars maintain
that Chaucer did indeed translate part of the text of The Romance
of the Rose, others claim that this has been effectively disproved.
He also wrote the Parlement of Foules, the House of Fame, and Chanticleer
and the Fox, the latter based on a story by Marie de France. However,
he is best known as the writer of Troilus and Criseyde and of The
Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories (told by fictional pilgrims
on the road to the cathedral at Canterbury) that would help to shape
English literature.
In the history of English literature, he is considered the introducer
of continental accentual-syllabic metre as an alternative to the
alliterative Anglo-Saxon metre. He also helped to standardise the
southern accent (London area) of the Middle English language.
After the overthrow of his patron Richard II, Chaucer vanished from
the historical record. He is believed to have died of unknown causes
on October 25, 1400, and there is speculation that he was murdered
by enemies of Richard II. He is buried at Westminster Abbey in London.
In 1556 his remains were transferred to a more ornate tomb, making
Chaucer the first writer interred in the area now known as Poets'
Corner.
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