Chaucer: life and works

Geoffrey Chaucer  was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat
and diplomat. He wrote many works, he is best remembered for his
unfinished frame narrative The Canterbury Tales. Sometimes he is
called the father of English literature and is credited by some
scholars as being the first author to demonstrate the artistic
legitimacy of the vernacular English language.

Chaucer was born in 1343 in London.
His father and grandfather were both London vintners
and before that the family were merchants in Ipswich. There are no
details of Chaucer's early life and education. He worked as a
courtier, a diplomat, and a civil servant, as well as working for the
king. In 1359, in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, he took
part in the war. In 1360, he was captured during the siege of Rheims,
and he becoming a prisoner of war. Edward contributed to his ransom,
and Chaucer was released. After this, Chaucer's life is uncertain, but
he travelled in France, Spain, and Flanders.
Around 1366, Chaucer married Philippa Roet.
It is recorded that he became a member of the royal court of Edward III.

Chaucer visited Genoa and Florence in 1373.
It is on this Italian trip that it is speculated he came into contact
with medieval Italian poetry, and he became interested in Dante,
Petrarch and Boccaccio. Chaucer obtained the very substantial job of
Comptroller of the Customs for the port of London, which Chaucer began
in 1374. His life goes undocumented for much of the next years but he
wrote most of his famous works during this time period. While still
working as comptroller, Chaucer appears to have moved to Kent, being
appointed as one of the commissioners of peace for Kent, at a time
when French invasion was a possibility.

He is thought to have started to work on The Canterbury Tales
in the early 1380.He became a Member of Parliament for Kent in 1386.
He is believed to have died ofunknown causes on 1400. There is some
speculation that he was murderedby enemies of Richard II or even on the
orders of his successor Henry IV.

Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales is the most important collection of stories of
Geoffrey Chaucer, write in prose and in verse. The tales are contained
inside a frame tale and told by a collection of pilgrims on a
pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint
Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The Canterbury Tales are
written in Middle English. And the tales are considered to be his
magnum opus, some believe the structure of the tales are indebted to
the works of The Decameron (of Boccaccio), which Chaucer is said to
have read on his earlier visit to Italy.

Fabio Bartolozzi