Geoffrey Chaucer :: Biographies Biography Essays

Geoffrey Chaucer ...I think some of Chaucer be hankers to his time and that overmuch of thattime is dead, extinct, and never to be made alive again. What was alivein it, lives through him..._--John Masefield Geoffrey Chaucers world was the Europe of the fourteenth century. It wasneither rich or poor, happy nor sad. Rather, it was the intermingling ofthese, a mixture of splendor and poverty, displaying both worldly trustand spiritual purity. Chaucers travels through it, mostly on the Kingsbusiness,_ or civil service, shaped his writing, offering the readers oftoday a brief coup doeil into the world in which he lived. Chaucer lived from approximately AD 1340 to 1400. The world in which helived was not wholeness of peace or stability. Born the watchword of a capital of the United Kingdom vintner,he remained a capital of the United Kingdomer for most of the rest of his life, going the cityonly on the Kings business_. The city of London was thus Chaucers environment for most of h is life. Aside from brief visits into other(a) countries or areas of England, heremained in the city, and its affects on his writing was immense. London of that time was not the London of today. It was a walled city,guarded against invasion, but long enough time had passed since such athreat had approached that the defenses had loosened. Houses perched uponthe walls, and Chaucer in fact, lived for a time in a house built overAldgate, (one of the gate of the city). London was a city less than three-quarters of a square burl in size Itran east and west along the Thames less than one and a half miles, andextended northwards less than half a mile. Over 20,000 people were packedinto this small area the diversity of the inhabitants was overwhelming. Londoners ranged from cockeyed to impoverished, from small to large, fromshoemaker to blacksmith to minstrel to priest. The city was thus fairlyclose. infernal region building mingled with tile, wood, and thatch. While themajor street s were fairly wide, small shops and stands often rotate outinto the road, effectively narrowing it by up to half its width. LondonBridge (the only bridge in the city) was home to a multitude of homes andshops, perched on top of the span to conserve space. Waste was dispose of simply. It was emptied out the windows into thealley or street and slaughtering was done in he streets as well, withscraps being tossed underfoot.