Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1340 in London to a well-off middle-class family. His father, John Chaucer, was a successful wine merchant in London. He studied law at the Inn Temple. Chaucer had a successful career as a courtier, diplomat, and administrative officer. He was fluent in French, Italian, and Latin, which is why the king repeatedly employed him for political and economic missions abroad. Perhaps it was precisely these public duties and travels that gave him the opportunity to understand people and life, insights he skillfully infused into his works, particularly in "The Canterbury Tales." He was a highly educated man for his time, having studied astronomy and astrology, and possessed knowledge of history, theology, medicine, law, and even alchemy. Chaucer was an avid reader and an excellent storyteller of what he had read. He was familiar with all the Church Fathers, all the texts of the Bible, and the Apocrypha, and he never ceased to read Virgil, Ovid, Statius, Seneca, and Cicero. He wrote many poetic works, culminating in "The Canterbury Tales," through which he showcased the artistic potential of the English language. He died in 1400 and was buried in the precincts of Westminster Abbey.