Geoffrey Chaucer
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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…
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I love the little incidents that I come across in my research ramblings. While trying to find a particular 1377/8 date in Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror, I found myself reading about a banquet held in France by ‘a certain Vidame de Chartres’—a vidame being a noble rank, I understand. This was quite some banquet, and…
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An interesting article about Ewelme and its church, where Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk, has an exceptional tomb. Ewelme was part of the inheritance of Matilda Burghersh. As mentioned in the earlier M&B article, Matilda’s marriage was quite literally sold to John of Gaunt by her relative and guardian, Lady Mohun. This was only possible…
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I thought that the Lily White Boys (as mentioned in the lyrics of the 12th-century song Green Grow the Rushes O) were a reference to Christ and St John the Baptist. Well, that was what I was told. But then in John Gardner’s book The Life and Times of Chaucer I came upon a reference…
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I’m afraid that I’m not a lover of Shakespeare’s works. I think the blame for this can be laid squarely at the feet of ‘O’ English Literature. I was bored rigid. But when it came to the much earlier Geoffrey Chaucer, which I didn’t read until after leaving school, I loved every word. Maybe if…
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In the aftermath of certain historical novels I have read recently, I should like to give the following information, in the hope it will be helpful to authors, editors (if they still exist) and indeed readers. SLAVERY – Although slavery was quite common in England in Anglo-Saxon times, it was became less usual after the…
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We all know that pinpointing Easter in the medieval period is awkward – well, it’s awkward in any period, come to that. I want to know exactly when Easter Day fell in 1394. But do all the clever-clogs sites agree? Nope. They say they give you the correct date, but one of them had moved…
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“….During his life and in the years following his death, Pedro [I of Castile, 1350 to 1369] became a central figure in a wide range of historical narratives composed in Castilian, French, English, Catalan, Latin, and Arabic. These accounts present contrasting depictions of Pedro; however, as it is well known, the lasting image of…
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Giving the Walbrook the Elbow….
College Hill, Dowgate, Downgate Street, Edward III, Edward IV, Elbow Lane, F.J. Furnivall, flow, Geoffrey Chaucer, Geoffrey Scrope, George Duke of Clarence, Henry I, John Nevill Lord Raby, John Stow, London, maps, Olde Hall, Richard of Warwick, River Walbrook, rivers, Roman era, sewage system, St Mary Overy, Thames StreetIn this article I wrote the following:- “….The Walbrook flowed quite swiftly [south] from its source, but on nearing the Thames the land flattened considerably, and the river seems to have indulged in a curve….” This curve or meander, when filled in and “improved” in the 15th century, for the river to flow more…
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