The Oxford Companion to English Literature | 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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