Literature of the subjects whose language is studied

Chapter 1. The life of Geoffrey Chaucer
1.1 Biography
Jeffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343 - 1400) was a 14th-century English writer, philosopher, and diplomat. As we know from history and literature, he was the father of English literature before Shakespeare was born and is known as the greatest author of this language. Geoffrey Chaucer was born in about 1343 in London. His father's name was John Chaucer and he came from a middle-class family who was a winemaker. His mother, Agnes Copton, was also wealthy and inherited several stores in London. His father had a good relationship with the palace because he served as a servant of the king and was part of Edward III's expedition to Flanders. The surname is derived from the French word shousseur, which means shoe manufacturer. There is no information about the young Geoffrey ChaucerHe was married to the sister of Katherine Wynford, who was the mistress and latterly the wife of one of the most powerful nobles in the realm – John of Gaunt, who was the uncle of the king, Richard II. It was probably through these kinds of connections that Chaucer found some of his patrons. He wrote one of his best works: The Book of the Duchess for the uncle of the king, Richard II, who helped him to overcome his initial wife’s grief at the death, Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster. Chaucer’s life as a public servant also gave him the opportunity to travel. He made trips to France and Italy, and the influence of the literary cultures of these two countries can be seen in his verse, an example being The Legend of Good Women. These works show the range of his skill, but perhaps none have the scale and impressiveness of The Cantenbury Tales – an ambitious collection of stories in a range of poetic (and in one case, prose) forms. It imagines a group of 31 pilgrims who meet while travelling to the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury. To pass the time, they decide to tell two tales to the assembled company on the journey there and the journey home. This extraordinary work, which presents a portrait of late medieval Britain with humour and tragedy, was left unfinished when Chaucer died in 1400, but it – along with much of his other verse – is still celebrated as some of the greatest works in the English language. Through a¹ focus on digitised images of manuscript and print editions of Chaucer’s work, students will develop their comprehending of how his poetry has been produced and read over the centuries. Focusing on the General Prologue, students will become acquainted with the framing device of The Canterbury Tales, enabling them to contextualise the individual Tale they are studying. Activities move from a consideration of medieval illuminated manuscripts through to the late 19th-century medievalism of the Kelmscott Chaucer.. Although, it is known that in addition to knowing his native language, he was fluent in French from an early age and had a good comprehending of Latin and Italian. Apparently, John Chaucer invited his son early as a royal service officer. In 1357, Geoffrey's name initial appeared, after which he served in the house of Edward III's daughter-in-law. In this way, young people like Jeffrey Chaucer were guaranteed access to the information provided for the trial. In addition, they had the ability to establish valuable connections for their careers and professions in the future. During the Hundred Years' War, Chaucer was taken prisoner in Reims, and the British government paid him £ 16, which was a large sum in the fourteenth century. He then continued in royal service, and some historians believe that he may have studied law as usual. From 1366 he was in diplomatic missions as an ambassador of Edward III. The initial location was Spain, but for the next 10 years Chaucer occupied all of Europe. Also, in 1366, Jeffrey Chaucer married Philippe Panga, who, like him, served the county of Ulster. After the death of his mistress, Chaucer's wife passed under the command of Philip de Hainot, a companion of King Edward III. From 1367 he became king's yeoman, and has since received a monthly income from his new position in the court. His responsibilities also increased as he was responsible for more personnel in the service of King Edward III. The 1370s saw a period of economic development for the Choser family. He continued to work as a diplomatic ambassador until he took over the port of London in 1374, which was the initial time in a long time that he was removed from court, and this position was confirmed in 1377 when Richard II ascended the English throne. In the 1390s, Chaucer faced various attacks and looting, and was later assigned to the Royal Forest in Somerset. He also received an annual pension from Richard III, and it is said that his work was completed at that time. Canterbury Tales. After Henry IV ascended the English throne, the new sovereign approved a pension corresponding to Geoffrey Chaucer and increased it. Although, there are some doubts that the writer has a salary because he was forced to mortgage one of his houses. There is no definite information about his descendants, although it is estimated that he had four children. One of them was an important landowner and held senior positions in the kingdom called Thomas Chaucer. The oldest seems to be Lewis, who has an Astrolabe contract to him. He is also supposed to be the father of two daughters, Elizabeth and Agnes. Some think that some of these boys may actually be descendants of John de Gaunt, but nothing supports this claim. Geoffrey Chaucer died on October 25, 1400. He is said to have been killed by enemies of former King Richard II. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, and was thus the founder of the Poets' Corner

1.2 Geoffrey Chaucer’s relationship to John of Gaunt

A patron and close friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, John of Gaunt was best known for his work The Canterbury Tales. He was the third son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault John of Gaunt was born in 1340 at the Abbey of St Bavon, in Ghent in modern-day Belgium. At the stature of his career he was the most authoritative man in the empire after the king. He was practically regent for his father, Edward III, in his old age, thus getting the blameworthiness for military letdowns and government dishonesty. His character was further dented when he blocked the reforms of the Good Parliament of 1376, which had tried to curb the corruption of Edward III’s and limit the influence of the king’s grasping mistress, Alice Perrers.

John of Gaunt’s wealth meant he could form the largest baronial retinue of knights and esquires in the country. He alone provided a quarter of the army raised for Richard II’s Scottish campaign in 1385. A stalwart supporter of his nephew, Richard II, he was the target for the rebels during the Peasants² Revolt; his London residence, the Savoy Palace, was burned to the ground in 1381.
He was a soldier and statesman whose career spanned 6 decades and several countries, including England, Belgium, France, Scotland and Castile. Although, by far the most fascinating part of his life is his love life. John married three times; his wives being two great heiresses and a long-time mistress. John of Gaunt’s initial marital, at the age of 19, was aimed to give him status, belongings and income and was arranged as part of his father’s diplomacies to provide for the futures of several of his kids. John and 14-year-old Blanche of Lancaster, youngest daughter of Henry of Grosmont, Duke of Lancaster, were married on 19th May 1359 in the Queen’s Chapel at Reading. It is rather similar that John had already fathered one child, a daughter, Blanche, by Marie de St Hilaire before his marriage. Blanche was born sometime before 1360 and would go on to marry Sir Thomas Morieux before her death in 1388 or 1389.
Blanche of Lancaster was described as “jone et jolie” – young and pretty – by the chronicler Froisssart, and also “bothe fair and bright” and Nature’s “cheef patron of beautee” by Geoffrey Chaucer. She brought John of Gaunt the earldom of Lancaster following her father’s death from plague in 1361, and those of Leicester and Lincoln when her older sister, Matilda, died of the same disease in 1362, making him the largest landowner in the country, after the king.
The marriage proved very successful, with 7 children being born in just 8 years, 3 of whom survived infancy; daughters Philippa and Elizabeth and a son, Henry of Bolingbroke.
It has always been believed that Blanche died in 1369, when John of Gaunt was away in France, having moved her young family to Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, to escape a fresh outbreak of the Black Death, but that she succumbed to the plague while there. Although, recent research has discovered that Blanche died at Tutbury on 12th September, 1368, more similar from the difficulties of childbirth than from the pestilence, following the birth of her daughter, Isabella, who died young. Her husband was by her side when she died and arranged to have prayers said for the passion of his lost duchess. She was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral in London. John of Gaunt decided to make a splendid alabaster tomb and annual remembrances for the rest of his life. John also commissioned Geoffrey Chaucer to write The Book of the Duchess, also known as The Deth of Blaunche; a poem that is said to depict Gaunt’s mourning for his wife, in the tale of a Knight grieving for his lost love. In it Chaucer describes Blanche as “whyt, smothe, streght and flat. Naming the heroine “White”, he goes on to say she is “rody, fresh and lyvely hewed”. Before 1365 Blanche had taken into her domiciliary a lady called Katherine Swynford, wife of one of her husband’s Lincolnshire knights. John was godfather to the Swynfords’ daughter, Blanche. Katherine later became governess to Blanche’s two daughters, Philippa and Elizabeth and young Blanche Swynford was lodged in the same chambers as the Duchess’s daughters, and accorded the same luxuries as the princesses. Admission of defeat of Santiago de Compostela to John of Gaunt. Constance is the lady on horseback, Katherine was the daughter of a Hainault knight, Sir Paon de Roet of Guyenne, who came to England in the attendants of Queen Philippa. She had grown up at court of law with her sister, Philippa, who later married to Geoffrey Chaucer. At the same time as serving in Blanche’s household, she had married one of John of Gaunt’s allowances, a Lincolnshire knight, Sir Hugh Swynford of Coleby and Kettlethorpe, at St Clement Danes Church on the Strand, London. Following Blanche’s death Katherine stayed on in the Duke’s household, taking charge of the Duke’s daughters. Although, it was only shortly after her husband’s death in 1371 that rumors began of a assembly between Katherine and the Duke; even though it is conceivable the affair started before Sir Hugh’s death, this is far from certain. John and Katherine had four children. They had 3 sons, John, Thomas and Henry, and a daughter, Joan, in the years between 1371 and 1379. They were apparently born in John’s stronghold in Champagne, in France, and were given the name of the castle as their surname; Beaufort. Nevertheless, it seems just as analogous that they were named after the lordship of Beaufort, which had previously belonged to Gaunt and to which he still laid claim.
Meanwhile, John had not yet done with his dynastic ambitions and, despite his relationship with Katherine, married Constance of Castile in September 1371. Constance was the daughter of Peter I “the Cruel” and his ‘hand-fast’ wife, Maria de Padilla. Born in 1354 at Castro Kerez, Castile, she succeeded her father as ‘de jure’ Queen of Castile on 13th March 1369, but John was never able to wrest control of the kingdom from the rival claimant Henry of Tastamara, reigning as Henry III, and would eventually come to an agreement in 1388 where Henry married John and Constance’s daughter, Katherine. Tombs of Katherine Swynford and her daughter, Joan Beaufort, Lincoln Cathedral Katherine – or Catalina – was born in 1372/3 at Hertford Castle and was the couple’s only surviving child. John and Constance’s relationship appears to be purely dynastic. There is some suggestion John formally renounced his relationship with Katherine and reconciled with Constance in June 1381, possibly as a way to recover some popularity during the Peasant’s Revolt, following the destruction of his palace on the Thames. Katherine left court and settled at her late husband’s manor at Kettlethorpe, before moving to a rented townhouse in Lincoln. John of Gaunt visited her regularly throughout the 1380s, and Katherine was frequently at court. With 4 children by John of Gaunt but still only, officially, governess to his daughters, Katherine was made a Lady of the Garter in 1388. Constance, Although, died on 24th March, 1394, at Leicester Castle and was buried at Newark Abbey in Leicester. John then went to Guienne to look after his interests as Duke of Aquitaine and remained in France from September 1394 until December 1395. When he returned to England, John wasted no time in reuniting with Katherine and they were married in Lincoln Cathedral in January 1396. John then made an appeal to the Pope and his children by Katherine were legitimated on 1st September 1396, and then by Charter of Richard II on 9th February 1397. Although, it is claimed a later clause excluded the Beaufort children from the succession. John was a man of renown, of culture and refinement. An amateur poet and friend of Chaucer, who had married Katherine’s sister, Philippa, he was also a patron of Wycliffe and encouraged the translation of the Bible into English.
His complicated love life would cause problems for future generations, with his son by Blanche of Lancaster, Henry, forcing the abdication of Richard II and usurping the throne on 30th September 1399. His Beaufort descendants would be prominent players on both sides of the Wars of the Roses. While his son John, Earl of Somerset was the grandfather of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, his daughter, Joan, was grandmother of the Yorkist kings Edward IV and Richard III. Katherine would outlive John and died at Lincoln on 10th May 1403³. She was buried, close to the High Altar, in the cathedral in which she had married her prince just 7 years earlier. Her daughter Joan, Countess of Westmoreland, was laid to rest beside her, following her death in 1440. Their tombs, Although, are empty and they are buried beneath the floor of the cathedral. John himself died on 3 February 1399, probably at Leicester Castle. He was buried in Old St Paul’s Cathedral, beside his initial wife, Blanche of Lancaster. This has often been seen as his final act of love for his initial wife, despite the problems John went through in order to finally be able to marry his mistress, Katherine Swynford. Two ladies, Blanche and Katherine, were his true love at different parts of John’s life. He had some feelings for poor Constance, who frequently appears as only a means to his dynastic ambitions.
Until the end of their lives, Lancaster and Chaucer were brothers-in-law. Chaucer got married Philippa (Pan) de Roet in 1366, Katherine Swynford (de Roet). Katherine was Philippa Chaucer's sister, when his third wife died in 1387, the men were destined as brothers and Lancaster's children John, Henry, Thomas and Joan Beaufort. They were Chaucer's nephews and niece. Chaucer's great book The Book of the Duchess, also known as the Deeth of Blaunche the Duchesse, was written in commemoration of Blanche of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's initial wife. We can comprehend from the poem that John and Blanche in allegory as the narrator relates the tale of "A long castel with walles white, Be Seynt Johan, on a ryche hil" and he was a mourning grievously after the death of his love, "And goode faire White she het or hat was my lady name ryght". In this sentence, the word "long castel" is a orientation to Lancaster (also called "Loncastel" and "Longcastell"), "walles white" is thought to similar be an oblique orientation to Blanche, "Seynt Johan" was John of Gaunt's name-saint, and "ryche hil" refers to Richmond; these thinly veiled orientations reveal the identity of the grieving black knight of the poem as John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Richmond. "White" is the English translation of the French word "blanche", implying that the white lady was Blanche of Lancaster. Supposed to have been written in the 1390s, Chaucer's short poem Fortune, is also inferred directly to Lancaster itself. "Chaucer as narrator" opens the Fortune, declaring that he has learned who his enemies are through her dictatorship and deceitfulness, and affirms "my suffisaunce". Fortune, unfortunately, does not comprehend Chaucer's severe words to her for she believes she has been sympathetic to him, privileges that he does not know what she has in store for him in the future, but most essentially, "And eek thou hast thy beste frend alyve". Chaucer responses that "My frend maystow nat reven, blind goddesse" and orders her to take away those who merely made-up to be his friends. Fortune turns her consideration to three princes whom she intreats to relieve Chaucer of his pain and "Preyeth his beste frend of his noblesse⁴. That to som beter estat he may atteyne". The three princes are supposed to denote the dukes of Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, and a portion of line 76, "as three of you or tweyne," to refer to the ordinance of 1390 which detailed that no royal gift could be approved without the consent of at least two of the three dukes. Most obvious in this short poem is the number of orientations to Chaucer's "beste frend". Fortune states three times in her response to the plaintiff, "And also, you still have your best friend alive", she also referred his "beste frend" in the envoy when tempting to his "noblesse" to help Chaucer to a higher domain. "Chaucer as narrator", a fifth orientation is made by who rails at Fortune. She shall not accept his friend from him. The poem Fortune distinctively displays his deep gratitude and warmth for John of Gaunt, while the envoy playfully clues to Lancaster that Chaucer would certainly appreciate a boost to his position or income⁵.