The Author Geoffrey Chaucer Although little is known about Geoffrey Chaucer s personal life, and even less about his education, existing records document his professional life. The poet was born in London in the early 1340s, the only son in his family. Chaucer s father was originally a wine merchant and became very wealthy1 when he inherited2 the property of some relatives who had died of the Black Death3 in 1349. So he was able to send young Geoffrey to be a page4 to the Countess of Ulster. Eventually5, Chaucer served the Countess s husband, Prince Lionel, son to King Edward III. Chaucer served in the Hundred Years War between England and France, both as a soldier and as a diplomat, because he was fluent in French and Italian and knew Latin and other languages. His diplomatic travels brought him twice to Italy, where he probably met Boccaccio and Petrarch, whose writing influenced Chaucer s work. Around 1378, Chaucer began to develop his personal idea of an English poetry that could be linguistically accessible to all, making use neither of French (the official language of the court) nor of Latin (the official language of the Church). Instead, Chaucer wrote in the vernacular6, the kind of English that was spoken in and around London at that time. No doubt he was influenced by the writings of the Florentines Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio, who wrote in the Italian vernacular. The nobles and kings (Richard II until 1399, then Henry IV) that Chaucer served were clearly impressed with Chaucer s skills as a negotiator as he received many rewards7 for his service. These time. 6. vernacular: the language spoken in a particular area or region by a particular group. 7. reward: something that you get because you have done something good. 1. wealthy: rich. 2. inherited: got money as a result of someone s death. 3. Black Death: bubonic plague which killed around 25 million Europeans. 4. page: boy who served a knight. 5. eventually: at an unspecified later 4