Age of Chaucer:-

Age of Chaucer:-

In the first introductory series, we saw the development of English through ages and we also noticed what had been happening in the Anglo-Saxon period and the turn of events which led to the emergence of the Middle English period. We also saw that the Middle English period was quite eventful to begin with, the most noted name during this period was Chaucer so much so that even an age was named as Age of Chaucer.

 

Chaucer as a real starting point of English literature :

Many historians consider Chaucer as a real starting point of English literature. Chaucer led from 1340 to 1400. However, the entire century gets named after this massive figure, Geoffrey Chaucer. He was described as the very first national poets and he was also considered and continues to be as a father of English poetry. So when we look at the opening moments of English literature, it’s very important to understand the time period which Chaucer’s life and time covered in terms of social history and the political history of the period.

 

Life of Chaucer in terms of the social and political history:

So in that sense, we begin to see that Chaucer had the rare distinction of having lived under three monarchs. He was born in 1340 during the reign of Edward III. And it was during his lifetime that Richard II succeeded - that was in 1377. He also witnessed two major events, the Revolution of 1399 including the deposition of Richard II and also the foundation of the Lancastrian dynasty. And he dies in 1400, one year after the ascension of Henry IV. So this is a very brief introduction towards the life of Chaucer in terms of the social and political history.

 

Introducing Geoffrey Chaucer:

Geoffrey Chaucer, belonged to the Middle English period and was rightfully known as “The morning star of the Renaissance”.

He was born in London; he was born into a fairly well to do family. We know very little about his childhood, most of the details are not available. But however, we get to know that he was the son of a merchant vintner – a wine merchant - and he lived a fairly luxurious life. And the, historians do assume that he also enjoyed the advantages of liberal education and so much so that the contacts that he made at a very young age were quite significant to begin with.

So right at the age of 17, he had his first court appointment and he was a page to the wife of the Duke of Clarence, who was also Edward III’s son.

And we find that by 1359, he also leaves with the English army during one of their wars with France and he was even taken prisoner during that period, but we find that Edward III, he was too kind and generous towards Chaucer that he chose to ransom him with 16 pounds. 16 pounds was a huge sum in the14th century. If we look we compare it with the buying power of the 14th century, historians do calculate that a single pound was enough to sustain an ordinary man for about six months, half a year.

So 16 pounds was a huge sum of money and that money was paid to bring back Chaucer as ransom. So we can even understand the kind of influence and the kind of life that he led so much so that even the king did care to bring him back as a ransom.

He was married too, but we do not have too many details of his domestic life. Historians have not recorded it because many of the things are not available. And he also continued to be closely connected with the court and he was often sent on diplomatic missions to France, to Italy. So his exposure was also quite varied. He had a rather luxurious courtly life and he was sent as ambassadors to different parts of the country, different parts of the world as well. So he got to travel a lot; that exposure really made Chaucer into the man that he was. So rightfully he was the appropriate person to begin the story of English literature with. That he had the fine measure of good exposure. He had a way in which he could articulate everything into good writing and so his writings are considered as the beginning of English literature.

Ups and Downs in Chaucer’s life:

And there were ups and downs in Chaucer’s life. We have already seen how he was sent to Italy in diplomatic missions because he was considered as a fine ambassador to negotiate with the leaders of other provinces and other countries.

And he was very much influenced by the Italian culture and early Renaissance, as we know Renaissance had its early beginnings in the land of Italy. And some historians even feel that he may have met Petrarch and Boccaccio, the leading literary writers of the period.

And also he was the recipient of many royal favours and it’s said that he even sat in the Parliament as knight of the Shire of Kent.

 

Overthrown of the Lancastrian:

And there was brief time when his life went through a major crisis that was a period when the Lancastrian, the House of Lancastrians were overthrown from power. And we do see that, that point of time John of Gaunt who was a major patron of Chaucer, he was banished from court for a brief period and that time he, Chaucer fell into poverty and he saw very difficult times during that period as well. So he even thought that he might end his life in poverty as well but again the turn of events, thanks to the state of flux in which the political and social life of England was; again, we find the Lancastrians coming back to power with the accession of Henry IV who also happens to be one of John Gaunt’s sons.

And with that, we find that Chaucer gets a very generous grant of royal pension. And there is an assumption that perhaps he looked forward to a very comfortable life ahead. He even leased out a really big apartment in the centre of the nation, but we do find that life had other plans for him and he dies within a year of the accession of King Henry IV. So this is a very brief summary of Chaucer’s life and how his life was closely connected with the social and political turn of events.

And also one important note as far as English, the history of English literary is concerned; he was the first poet to be buried in Westminster Abbey, a very prestigious place. And the place in which he’s buried is now known as Poets’ Corner and it’s also much favoured site for the tourist as well.

It is very important to see how Chaucer’s England was fashioned so that it influenced his writings and so much so that an entire period came to be known as the Age of Chaucer as well. So social historians also preferred to call this period as Chaucer's England because it continued to influence ways in which the writing of that period was produced. And also it influenced the ways in which English literature and the general English language was beginning to get fashioned.

So we look forward to seeing you in the next session, thank you.