Geoffrey Chaucer was an English poet. He was born in 1340 at London and died in 1400. He was the son of a vintner named John Chaucer. Nothing is known of his education, but in 1356-1359 he was a page to Princess Lionel. He tells us himself that in 1359 he bore arms in France and was taken prisoner. He was ransomed next year, the king paying 16 pounds towards the necessary sum. In 1367 we find his name as a valet of the king's chamber. Whether he married his wife Philippa in 1366 or not until 1374, and who she was we do not know for certain. In 1367 he received a pension of twenty marks, and between 1370 and 1380 he was employed abroad in seven diplomatic missions. In one of these, in 1372, he was sent to Genoa as a commissioner to negotiate a commercial treaty. It is probable that he visited the Italian poet Petrarch on this occasion.
In 1374 he was appointed comptroller of the customs on wool at London, a lucrative post, and he also received an annual allowance. In 1377 he was sent to Flanders and France on diplomatic business, and next year to Lombardy. In 1382 he was appointed comptroller of the petty customs. In 1386 he was returned to parliament as knight of the shire for Kent, but in the same year he shared the disgrace of his patron, John of Gaunt, was dismissed from his coontrollerships, and reduced to a state of comparative poverty. Three years later, however, he was made clerk of the works at 2 shillings a day, and afterwards had other offices and one or two annuities bestowed upon him, but in 1394-1398 must have been quite poor.
In 1399 he got a pension of forty marks from Henry IV, but did not live long to enjoy it. His most celebrated work, The Canterbury Tales, was written at different periods between 1373 and 1400. It consists of a series of tales in verse (two in prose), supposed to be told by a company of pilgrims to the shrine of St Thomas (Becket) at Canterbury in 1386. In its pages we get such pictures of English life and English ways of thought in the 14th century as are found nowhere else. Besides his great work Chaucer wrote many poems (and others are falsely attributed to him): The Book of the Duchess (1369), The Parliament of Fowls (1374), Troilus and Cres-sida (1380-82), The Legend of Good Women (1385), The House of Fame (1386), etc, some of which are founded on French or Italian works. He also translated Boethius, and wrote a treatise on the Astrolabe (1391) for his son Lewis (who probably died early). He was buried in WestminsterAbbey. Research Geoffrey Chaucer
Henry Beaufort was an English cardinal. He was born in 1377 and died in 1447. The natural son of John of Gaunt and half-brother of Henry IV, king of England, he was made Bishop of Lincoln, whence he was translated to Winchester. He repeatedly filled the office of lord-chancellor, and took part in all the most important political movements of his times. Research Henry Beaufort
Henry IV was King of England from 1399 to 1413. He was born in 1367 and died in 1413. Henry IV was the eldest son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, third son of Henry III. by the heiress of Edmund, earl of Lancaster, second son of Henry III and the first king of the house of Lancaster.
He was made Earl of Derby and Duke of Hereford, but having in 1398 preferred a charge of treason against Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, he was banished with his adversary. On the death of John of Gaunt in 1399 Richard withheld Henry's inheritance, and Henry, landing in England, gained possession of Richard's person. The deposition of Richard by parliament, and the election of Henry, was followed by the murder of the late king. A plot against the king in 1400 was discovered in time to prevent its success, and many executions of men of rank followed; but an insurrection in Wales under Owen Glendower proved more formidable.
The Scots were decisively defeated by the Percies at Homildon, and their leader, the Earl of Douglas, was captured in 1402. An order from Henry not to permit the ransom of that nobleman and other Scottish prisoners was regarded as an indignity by the Percies, who set Douglas free, made an alliance with him, and joined Glendower. The king met the insurgents at Shrewsbury in 1403, the battle ending in the defeat and death of Percy. The Earl of Northumberland was pardoned, and but few victims were executed.
A new insurrection, headed by the Earl of Nottingham and Scrope or Scroop, archbishop of York, broke out in 1405, but was suppressed by the king's third son, Prince John. The rest of this king's reign was comparatively untroubled. In 1405 James, son and heir to King Robert of Scotland, was captured at sea on his way to France, and was detained a prisoner in England. Henry died in 1413, and was succeeded by Henry V. Research Henry IV
Richard II was the son of Edward The Black Prince and King of England from 1371 to 1399. Richard II succeeded to the throne at the age of ten, on his father Edward's death. In 1381 the Peasants' Revolt broke out and Richard, aged 14, bravely rode out to meet the rebels at Smithfield, London. Wat Tyler, the principal leader of the peasants, was killed and the uprisings in the rest of the country were crushed over the next few weeks (Richard was later forced by his Council's advice to rescind the pardons he had given). Highly cultured, Richard II was one of the greatest royal patrons of the arts; patron of Chaucer, it was Richard II who ordered the technically innovative transformation of the Norman Westminster Hall to what it is today.
Richard II's authoritarian approach upset vested interests, and his increasing dependence on favourites provoked resentment. In 1388 the 'Merciless Parliament' led by a group of lords hostile to Richard II (headed by the King' s uncle, Gloucester) sentenced many of the King's favourites to death and forced Richard II to renew his coronationoath. The death of his first queen, Anne of Bohemia, in 1394 further isolated Richard II, and his subsequent arbitrary behaviour alienated people further.
Richard II took his revenge in 1397, arresting or banishing many of his opponents; his cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, was also subsequently banished. On the death of Henry's father, John of Gaunt (a younger son of Edward III), Richard II confiscated the vast properties of his Duchy of Lancaster (which amounted to a state within a state) and divided them among his supporters.
Richard II pursued policies of peace with France and still called himself king of France and refused to give up Calais, but his reign was concurrent with a 28 year truce in the Hundred Years War.
His expeditions to Ireland failed to reconcile the Anglo- Irish lords with the Gaels. In 1399, while Richard II was in Ireland, Henry of Bolingbroke returned to claim his father's inheritance. Supported by some of the leading baronial families (including Richard II's former Archbishop of Canterbury), Henry of Bolingbroke captured and deposed Richard II and Henry of Bolingbroke was crowned King as Henry IV. Risings in support of Richard II led to his murder in PontefractCastle; Henry V subsequently had his body buried in WestminsterAbbey. Research Richard II
Richard III was the last Yorkist King of England from 1483 to 1485. Before he claimed the crown in 1483 from his nephew Edward V - who was just a child - to prevent his scheming sister-in-law from gaining power, Richard III had a strong power base in the north, and his popularity with the ordinary people and dislike of war was to cause much resentment among the barons who relied upon wars to raise money for themselves. A firm pacifist, Richard III concluded a truce with Scotland and attempted genuine reconciliation by showing consideration to Lancastrians purged from office by Edward IV, and moved Henry VI's body to St George's Chapel at Windsor.
A champion of the people, Richard III changed the law so that court proceedings were conducted in English, rather than Latin. In 1484, Richard's only son, Edward, died. Resentment against Richard III from the Barons grew and eventually, after a failed coup, on the 7th of August 1485, Henry Tudor (a direct descendant through his mother MargaretBeaufort, of John of Gaunt, one of Edward III's younger sons) landed at MilfordHaven in Wales to claim the throne for the barons. On the 22nd of August in a two-hour battle at Bosworth, Henry's forces (assisted by Lord Stanley's private army of around 7,000 which was deliberately posted so that he could join the winning side) defeated Richard's larger army and Richard III was killed. Buried without a monument in Leicester, Richard III's bones were scattered during the English Reformation. Richard III was subsequently much aligned, the powerful barons and William Shakespeare spreading propaganda about him, and a portrait of Richard III - the first realistic royal portrait - was altered to show Richard III as a hunchback, which he wasn't. Research Richard III
Tudor was the surname of an English dynasty founded by a Welsh nobleman who in 1423 had married Catherine, widow of Henry V. He was the father of Edmund, Earl of Richmond, and Jasper, Earl of Pembroke. Supporting the house of Lancaster he was captured at Mortimer's Cross and beheaded in 1461. Edmund married Margaret, heiress of John Beaufort, and their son, Henry VII, who reigned from 1485 to 1509, founded his claims to the throne on his descent from John of Gaunt. The other Tudor sovereigns were Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth I. Research Tudor
King Richard II is a play written by Shakespeare. It is set dispersedly in England and Wales. It opens in a room in the palace in London whereupon enter King Richard attended by John of gaunt and other nobles with him. Research King Richard II
The Savoy Palace was an old palace in London, between the Strand and the Thames Embankment. It derived its name from Peter, Count of Savoy, whom was granted the site by Henry III in 1246. As the residence of John of Gaunt, the palace suffered severely in the Wat Tyler rebellion of 1381. It was restored by Henry VII, and in 1505 was endowered by him as a hospital for the poor. Within its walls John of France lay a prisoner, and the SavoyConference on the Book of Common Prayer took place there in 1661. The site is now occupied by the Savoy Hotel, Savoy Theatre and other buildings. Research Savoy Palace
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research House of Tudor
