Chaucer, Geoffrey
Chaucer, Geoffrey ( c.1343 – 1400 ),the son of John Chaucer ( c.1312 – 68 ), a London vintner. The date of his birth has been much argued, all views now placing it between 1339 and 1346 . In 1357 he served with Lionel, afterwards duke of Clarence. In 1359 he was in France with Edward III's invading army, was taken prisoner, and ransomed. He married, perhaps in 1366 , Philippa , the daughter of Sir Paon Roet of Hainault and the sister of John of Gaunt 's third wife Katherine Swynford . Philippa died in 1387 and Chaucer enjoyed Gaunt's patronage throughout his life. He held a number of positions at court and in the king's service, and he travelled abroad on numerous occasions on diplomatic missions; as well as missions to France, he made a journey to Genoa and Florence in 1372 – 3 in the course of which he could theoretically have met Boccaccio and (slightly more plausibly) ...
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