Geoffry Chaucer

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Geoffry Chaucer Medieval Times
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Geoffry Chaucer

• Born 1340 (approximately)
• Died 1400 - buried in the Poets Corner of
  Westminster Abby
• Nicknames The Father of English Poetry,
  Father of English Fiction
• Wrote descriptions of 14th Century England

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Chaucer (cont.)

• Early life
• Family of rising middle class
• Page in noble household
• Knew Latin, French, and Italian - translated
  literary works
• Court favorite and soldier

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Chaucer (cont.)

• Adult life
• Courtier, diplomat, civil administrator
• Comptroller of Customs for London
• Member of Parliament
• Justice of the Peace
• Clerk of Works at Westminster Abby and Tower of
  London
• Patron of the Kings Uncle (Richard II)- John of
  Gaunt

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Chaucer (cont.)

• Literary Accomplishments of Chaucer
• Second only to Shakespeare in importance
• Used English for literary purposes - not Latin
  (late Middle Ages)
• Works
• Book of the Duchess
• Troilus and Cresedë
• The Canterbury Tales
• Parliament of Foluls

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Areas of 14th Century Life discussed in The
Canterbury Tales

• Occupations
• Clothing
• Transportation
• Lodging
• Food
• Religious practices

• The economy
• Feudal system
• Military
• Corruption in high places
• Social class system

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• Irony- a contrast or discrepancy between
  expectations and reality
• Satire - writing that ridicules human weakness,
  vice, or folly to bring about social reform (here
  the Catholic Church)

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The Canterbury Tales background

• Frame story a story that serves to bind together
  several different narratives, usually starts and
  ends at the same point in the story
• Setting springtime pilgrimage to Canterbury
  Cathedral (64 miles - 4 day trip on foot and
  horseback) religious shrine where Thomas à
  Becket was murdered
• Framing device - the trip to Canterbury

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Pilgrims were a cross section of Medieval society

• Feudal
• Knight
• Squire
• Yeoman
• Franklin
• Reeve
• Miller
• Plowman

• Ecclesiastical
• Parson
• Summoner
• Monk
• Prioress
• Friar
• Pardoner
• Student

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Pilgrims were a cross section of Medieval society

• Urban
• Doctor
• Lawyer
• Manciple
• Merchant
• Shipman

• Tradersman
• Cook
• Clothmaker
• Innkeeper
• Estates Satire church (who pray), warriors (who
  fight), peasants (who labor) - characters for
  each class were satirized

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Chaucers Original Plan for the Tales

• Each pilgrim would tell two stories on the way to
  Canterbury and then two on the way back (124
  stories total)
• Only 24 stories were written before Chaucers
  death
• Excellent description of 14th Century life
• Prologue was written in heroic couplets (aa, bb,
  cc rhyme scheme)

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Medieval Times

• 9th Century
• Normans conquered the French
• Normans intermarry with Saxons
• William, Duke of Normandy, claims English throne
  in 1066
• Battle of Hastings in 1066 to defeat King Harold
• Last invasion of England by the Norman French
• New Englishmen Saxon and Norman - French
  combination
• Normans - nobles
• Anglo-Saxons - peasants
• It is interesting to note that the fight between
  the French and English continues through the 19th
  Century until Queen Elizabeths army and navy
  defeat the French and end the fight for the
  throne of England as England became a world power.

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• Medieval Church
• Church was for all classes
• Carried the torch for civilization
• Monks copied manuscripts (spread of literacy and
  equality of classes)
• Oxford and Cambridge grew up
• Canterbury Cathedral was the center of Church
  activity

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The Crusades

• 11th-13th Centuries
• Expeditions left to recapture Jerusalem and the
  Holy lands from Muslims, even Richard the
  Lion-Hearted went

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Feudalism

• William develops the feudal class system where
  all would promise allegiance to the king
• Normans became the nobles and landowners
• Anglo-Saxons became the serfs and laborers

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Chivalry

• Social code practiced by the nobility
• Produced a trained group of gentlemen and
  soldiers
• Knightly honor, Christian principles and romantic
  love
• Tournaments and jousts were popular leisure
  activities
• Literary genre- romance - glorified adventurous
  heroes in a setting of medieval splendor

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Town Life

• Guild system like modern trade unions
• Guilds performed Church productions of miracle
  plays on wagons in public squares (often Bible
  stories)
• Miracle plays developed into morality plays
  allegorical with characters personifying virtue
  and vice
• Bubonic (Black) Plague 1348 - wiped out 2/5 of
  the English population - spread by fleas and rats

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Government

• William followed by the Plantagenets starting
  with Henry II (established English Common Law),
  King John cruel actions led him to be forced
  to sign the Magna Carta
• Later Parliament began

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Wars of Medieval Times

• Continuing wars with Scotland
• Hundred Years War with France (also fought in
  America)
• English Civil War - War of the Roses, York VS
  Lancaster, death of Richard III
• Marriage between York and Lancaster produced the
  House of Tudor
• 1485 Henry VII comes to the throne - end of the
  Medieval Period

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Medieval Literature

• Morte DArtur, Mallory
• Everyman, morality play
• Canterbury Tales, Chaucer
• Bible translations, Wycliff
• Piers Plowman, Langland (poetry discusses the
  plight of the poor)