The war between England and France had started in 1338 and Chaucer was born in 1340. In the earlier years of war, England was powerful and won many battles against the French.
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the reign of Edward III and lived through that of Richard II and died the year after henry IV descended the throne.
These victories lead the trade in England to flourish and people became richer and this can also be noted in Chaucer’s Canterbury tales and the spirit of ideal romanticism and English Chivalry can be noted in Chaucer’s Knightes Tales. The stories of successive wars with France are written about in the Chronicles of Froissart.
This scenario is also depicted in Trevelyan’s British History of Six Centuries.
Unfortunately, in its moment of glory, Britain was struck by plague, in 1348-9, named the Black Death, which took a heavy toll on Britain. As a result of Black Death, most people who had survived the plague left the country resulting in unavailability of essential commodities at reasonable rates.
The plague struck again in 1362, 1367, and 1370 and was followed by a famine. Tyrants, Vagrants, and thieves multiplied and soon the Parliament tried to force the labourers to work and for the same wages that were given before the plague and that led to a peasants’ revolt during the reign of Richard II. Along with that, the corruption of the church spiritual zeal and energy had declined in Chaucer’s age.
In the Literary world, one can notice the advent of the spirit of new learning from Italy and drastic changes in the structure of English language which were inevitable since the outcome of the Norman conquest at Hastings 1066. In these conditions, the most significant writers of the age, namely –Chaucer, Langland, Dunbar, etc. lived and heralded a new age slowly.
Chaucer himself took little interest in social reform but was still aware of the reality around him. This is best depicted through the portraits he drew of fat, pleasure-loving monks, the merry and wanton friar, and the clever rogue, the pardoner, who wanders about hawking indulgences and relics.
It is then, that we also heed the importance of the work of John Wyclif (1320-84), he is seen as the morning star of reformation as he gave his life to the task of reviving spiritual Christianity in England. He, with the help of his disciples produced the first complete English translation of the scriptures of the Bible in the modern vernacular.
Social unrest and the beginning of a new religious movement were two main forces in the later fourteen century and the third main influence was new learning as mentioned previously that changed the intellectual interests of people and affected literature directly.
This spirit of new learning had arisen from Italy, from a renewed study of the literature of classical antiquity and from the consequent awakening of enthusiasm for art and moral ideas of Greece and Rome.
The leaders of this great revival were two celebrated writers, namely, -Petrarch (1304-74) and Boccaccio (1313-75) and through their works the influence of humanism passed into England. Its effect was seen in literature in the form of a quickened sense of beauty, delight in life and a free secular spirit.
Boccaccio Giovanni started his outstanding work “Decameron” in 1348 and completed in 1358, his work inspired Chaucer to write his Canterbury tales.
Chaucer’s Work
Chaucer’s work can be said to be bookish but it still tells us that he is not just drawing upon what he has read but his own deep knowledge of life. His work can be divided into three periods.
His French Period
Chaucer’s natural ability was nourished on the French poetry and romance which was the favourite reading of the cultivated society in his youth. His early work was done on French models.
So, besides translating portions of then popular Roman de la Rose, he wrote, amongst other things, an allegory on the death of Blanche, John of Gaunt’s wife, which he called The Boke of the Duchesse (1369)
His Italian Period
Soon as a result of his frequent visits to Italy, his French influence disappeared and Italian influences took their place between 1370-84, his House of Fame owes much to Dante, Troylus and Cryseyde which is his longest single poem is based upon and translated from Boccaccio’s Filosyrayo.
His English Period
Later, it can be noted that his works become independent, relying solely upon himself even for his borrowed themes. It does not mean that he ceased to be inspired by the French or the Italian material, as he continued to do that to the end. To this last period belong, along with minor poems, The Canterbury Tales, which is Chaucer’s most famous and characteristic work.
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