11. Chaucer’s Murky Demise
Before Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer (1343 – 1400), author of The Canterbury Tales, was the greatest English poet and writer. Chaucer legitimized the literary use of English vernacular at a time when French and Latin were England’s dominant literary languages. He is thus widely regarded as The Father of the English Language. His works were highly eclectic, and his topics and subject matter ran the gamut from fart jokes to spiritual union with God. However, Chaucer’s writings consistently reflected a pervasive humor, even when they explored serious philosophical questions. Such humor in his writings – especially when he made fun of church figures – might have gotten him killed.
Chaucer was born into a rich family, and his father secured him a position as a royal page – a stepping stone to future advancement. In his teens, he participated in the Hundred Years’ War, was captured, and ransomed by the king for a considerable sum. As an adult, he became a courtier, civil servant, and diplomat. Chaucer became his era’s towering literary figure, and after his death in 1400, he was the first to be buried at what would eventually become known as “Poets’ Corner” in Westminster Abbey. There, he was eventually joined by English literary luminaries such as Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, and Thomas Hardy. Chaucer’s death in 1400 has long been shrouded in mystery. It just might have been the result of a criminal act. So, was England’s greatest man of letters before Shakespeare murdered?
