The New Murrey and Blue blog

Life wasn’t always a bed of roses for Geoffrey Chaucer. We may laud him today, but in his own time he sometimes got into debt.

His works are brilliant, there’s no doubt about that (I rate him above Shakespeare) and he made a fortunate marriage to one Philippa de Roët. Who she? Well, she was the sister of Katherine de Roët, who is known to history as Katherine Swynford and who became the mistress of John of Gaunt. Eventually she became his third Duchess of Lancaster, so Chaucer had some very handy high connections. He didn’t lack appointments, but his financial situation went up and down like a yo-yo.

Most of his positions are well-known, but one of which we don’t always hear was as Deputy Forester of the royal forest at North Petherton.  

“….He was Clerk of the King’s Works in 1389 but two years later was superseded, so I reckon Chaucer’s link with the county [Somerset] was c.1391. Historians debate the extent of the poet’s involvement although some believe he stayed in the Park House in today’s Parkers Field, presumably the lodge where foresters resided. He wasn’t thrifty so had nought to fall back on, becoming deputy forester in Petherton from necessity….”

You can read about it here.

After the fall of Richard II and usurpation of Henry IV, Chaucer gained a new appointment that enabled him to live in reasonable comfort for the rest of his life. I wonder how he looked back on his role as Deputy Forester? He has always seemed such a city man to me, so maybe the wilds of Somerset were dull, dull, dull? Unfortunately we’ll never know.