Geoffrey Chaucer - Life & Times

Pageboy, courtier, civil servant and poet. Chose to write in English rather than Court French. A radical choice, but why?

Today Geoffrey Chaucer died in the year of Our Lord 1400 and buried in Westminster Cathedral.

We are going to explore his life in the City and beyond and how this created a medieval social commentary within his most famous work.

The Canterbury Tales and a selection of the characters will be referred to throughout the talk. To compare the lives of the many who lived in the City and without, their dress, their habits, what they ate and the manners of the period. Also to discover why the annual pilgrimage to Canterbury was so important to so many living in the period.

We will also look into his family, marriage and his famous patron.

An enjoyable virtual jaunt with the City of London as our backdrop whilst following in the footsteps of Geoffrey Chaucer.