Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer (/ˈtʃɔːsər/; c. 1343 – 25 October 1400), known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to be buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.

While he achieved fame during his lifetime as an author, philosopher, and astronomer, composing a scientific treatise on the astrolabe for his ten-year-old son Lewis, Chaucer also maintained an active career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Among his many works, which include The Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde. He is best known today for The Canterbury Tales.

Chaucer was a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin.

Life

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London sometime around 1343, though the precise date and location of his birth remain unknown. His father and grandfather were both London vintners; several previous generations had been merchants in Ipswich. (His family name derives from the French chausseur, meaning "shoemaker".) In 1324 John Chaucer, Geoffrey's father, was kidnapped by an aunt in the hope of marrying the twelve-year-old boy to her daughter in an attempt to keep property in Ipswich. The aunt was imprisoned and the £250 fine levied suggests that the family was financially secure—bourgeois, if not elite. John Chaucer married Agnes Copton, who, in 1349, inherited properties including 24 shops in London from her uncle, Hamo de Copton, who is described in a will dated 3 April 1354 and listed in the City Hustings Roll as "moneyer"; he was said to be moneyer at the Tower of London. In the City Hustings Roll 110, 5, Ric II, dated June 1380, Geoffrey Chaucer refers to himself as me Galfridum Chaucer, filium Johannis Chaucer, Vinetarii, Londonie' .

The Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales (Middle English: Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of 24 stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. In 1386 Chaucer became Controller of Customs and Justice of Peace and then three years later in 1389 Clerk of the King's work. It was during these years that Chaucer began working on his most famous text, The Canterbury Tales. The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from London to Canterbury in order to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.

After a long list of works written earlier in his career, including Troilus and Criseyde, House of Fame, and Parliament of Fowls, The Canterbury Tales is near-unanimously seen as Chaucer's magnum opus. He uses the tales and the descriptions of its characters to paint an ironic and critical portrait of English society at the time, and particularly of the Church. Chaucer's use of such a wide range of classes and types of people was without precedent in English. Although the characters are fictional, they still offer a variety of insights into the customs and practices of the time. Often, such insight leads to a variety of discussions and disagreements to people in the 14th century. For example, although a variety of social classes are represented in these stories and all pilgrims on a spiritual quest, it is apparent that they are more concerned with worldly things than spiritual. Structurally, the collection resembles The Decameron, which Chaucer may have read during his first diplomatic mission to Italy in 1372.

Canterbury Tales (musical)

Canterbury Tales is a musical originally presented at the Oxford Playhouse in 1964, conceived and directed by Martin Starkie and written by Nevill Coghill and Martin Starkie. It was expanded into a full length musical and presented at the Phoenix Theatre, London on 21 March 1968 and ran for 2,080 performances. The music was written by Richard Hill and John Hawkins, with the lyrics by Nevill Coghill. Chaucer was played by James Ottaway. It was considered to be very bawdy but appealed to the audiences. The Lord Chamberlain's censorship of the theatre had just ended, so it did not experience any censorship. There were two versions of this musical, each making up about half the story, so that if you saw only one there was a lot you missed.

The musical took five tales from the Canterbury Tales and told them with song and humour. These were; The Miller's Tale; The Nun's Priest's Tale; The Steward's Tale; The Merchant's Tale; and The Wife of Bath's Tale. In addition, Chaucer's Prologue and Epilogue were spoken. The purpose behind these stories was that Harry Bailey, one of the main characters, declares that each pilgrim should tell a tale on the way to Canterbury so that the ride would be more enjoyable.

The Canterbury Tales (TV series)

The Canterbury Tales is a series of six single dramas that originally aired on BBC One in 2003. Each story is an adaptation of one of Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century Canterbury Tales which are transferred to a modern, 21st century setting, but still set along the traditional Pilgrims' route to Canterbury.

Repeats of the series in the UK have been on channels including ITV3.

Production

The anthology series was conceived by executive producers Laura Mackie and Franc Roddam in 2001, and produced by Kate Bartlett, while a number of writers and directors were chosen specifically to work on individual episodes.

Bartlett said of the productions that:

The production filmed in Kent at Rochester which is the setting for The Pardoner’s Tale and features the castle, Cathedral, Chertsey Gate, the High Street, Esplanade and various streets, pubs and restaurants. Gravesend is the setting in The Seacaptain’s Tale where old waterfront warehouses, the pier and Town Pier Square feature and the river scenes in The Man of Laws’ Tale were filmed on the River Medway and The Medway Estuary.

Canterbury

Coordinates: 51°16′30″N 1°05′13″E / 51.275°N 1.087°E / 51.275; 1.087

Canterbury (ⁱ/ˈkæntərbri/, /-bəri/, or /-bɛri/) is a historic English cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent in the United Kingdom. It lies on the River Stour.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion owing to the importance of St Augustine, who served as the apostle to the pagan Kingdom of Kent around the turn of the 7th century. The city's cathedral became a major focus of pilgrimage following the 1170 martyrdom of Thomas Becket. A journey of pilgrims to his shrine served as the frame for Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th-century classic The Canterbury Tales.

Canterbury is a popular tourist destination: consistently one of the most-visited cities in the United Kingdom, the city's economy is heavily reliant upon tourism. The city has been occupied since Paleolithic times and served as the capital of the Celtic Cantiaci and Jute Kingdom of Kent. Many historical structures fill the area, including a city wall founded in Roman times and rebuilt in the 14th century, the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey and a Norman castle, and the oldest extant school in the world, The King's School. Modern additions include the Marlowe Theatre and the St Lawrence Ground, home of the Kent County Cricket Club. There is also a substantial student population, brought about by the presence of the University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University, the University for the Creative Arts, and the Girne American University Canterbury campus. Canterbury remains, however, a relatively small city in terms of geographical size, when compared with other British cities.

Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Canterbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1987 by Julian Brazier of the Conservative Party.

History

The wider constituency was formed from an expansion of the narrow parliamentary borough (or simply borough) of the same name that existed from 1295 to 1918. This had elected two MPs from 1295 (the Model Parliament) until 1885, and then one until 1918. Since 1918 it has consistently elected candidates of the Conservative Party.

Boundaries

1918-1950: The County Borough of Canterbury, the Urban Districts of Herne Bay and Whitstable, the Rural Districts of Bridge and Elham, and the Rural District of Blean with the detached parts of the civil parishes of Dunkirk and Hernhill which were wholly surrounded by the rural district.

1950-1983: The County Borough of Canterbury, the Urban Districts of Herne Bay and Whitstable, and the Rural District of Bridge Blean.

1983-1997: The City of Canterbury wards of Barham Downs, Barton, Blean Forest, Chartham, Chestfield, Gorrell, Harbledown, Harbour, Little Stour, Marshside, Northgate, North Nailbourne, St Stephen's, Seasalter, Stone Street, Sturry North, Sturry South, Swalecliffe, Tankerton, Westgate, and Wincheap, and the Borough of Swale wards of Boughton and Courtenay.

Canterbury (disambiguation)

Canterbury is a city located in the county of Kent in southeast England. It may also refer to:

Places

In Australia

In Canada

In New Zealand

In the United Kingdom