(1340?-1400).—
Poet, was born in London, the
son of John C., a vintner of Thames Street, who had also a small
estate at Ipswich, and was occasionally employed on service for the
King (Edward III.), which doubtless was the means of his son’s
introduction to the Court. The acquaintance which C. displays with all
branches of the learning of his time shows that he must have received
an ample education; but there is no evidence that he was at either of
the University In 1357 he appears as a page to the Lady Elizabeth,
wife of Lionel Duke of Clarence, and in 1359 he first saw military
service in France, when he was made a prisoner. He was, however,
ransomed in 1360. About 1366 he was married to Philippa, daughter of
Sir Payne Roet, one of the ladies of the Duchess of Lancaster, whose
sister Katharine, widow of Sir Hugh Swynford, became the third wife of
John of Gaunt. Previous to this he had apparently been deeply in love
with another lady, whose rank probably placed her beyond his reach;
his disappointment finding expression in his Compleynt to
Pité. In 1367 he was one of the valets of the King’s
Chamber, a post always held by gentlemen, and received a pension of 20
marks, and he was soon afterwards one of the King’s esquires. In
1369 Blanche, the wife of John of Gaunt, died, which gave occasion for
a poem by C. in honour of her memory, The Dethe of Blaunche the
Duchesse. In the same year he again bore arms in France, and
during the next ten years he was frequently employed on diplomatic
missions. In 1370 he was sent to Genoa to arrange a commercial treaty,
on which occasion he may have met Petrarch, and was rewarded by a
grant in 1374 of a pitcher of wine daily. In the same year he got from
the corporation of London a lease for life of a house at Aldgate, on
condition of keeping it in repair; and soon after he was appointed
Comptroller of the Customs and Subsidy of Wool, Skins, and Leather in
the port of London; he also received from the Duke of Lancaster a
pension of £10. In 1375 he obtained the guardianship of a rich
ward, which he held for three years, and the next year he was employed
on a secret service. In 1377 he was sent on a mission to Flanders to
treat of peace with the French King. After the accession of Richard
II. in that year, he was sent to France to treat for the marriage of
the King with the French Princess Mary, and thereafter to Lombardy, on
which occasion he appointed John Gower (q.v.) to act for him in
his absence in any legal proceedings which might arise. In 1382 he
became Comptroller of the Petty Customs of the port of London, and in
1385 was allowed to appoint a deputy, which enabled him to devote more
time to writing. He had in 1373 begun his Canterbury Tales, on
which he was occupied at intervals for the rest of his life. In 1386
C. was elected Knight of the Shire for Kent, a county with which he
appears to have had some connection, and where he may have had
property. His fortunes now suffered some eclipse. His patron, John of
Gaunt, was abroad, and the government was presided over by his brother
Gloucester, who was at feud with him. Owing probably to this cause,
C. was in December, 1386, dismissed from his employments, leaving him
with no income beyond his pensions, on which he was obliged to raise
money. His wife also died at the same time. In 1389, however, Richard
took the government into his own hands, and prosperity returned to C.,
whose friends were now in power, and he was appointed Clerk of the
King’s works. This office, however, he held for two years only,
and again fell into poverty, from which he was rescued in 1394 by a
pension from the King of £20. On the accession of Henry
IV. (1399) an additional pension of 40 marks was given him. In the
same year he took a lease of a house at Westminster, where he probably
d., October 25, 1400. He is buried in Poets’ Corner,
Westminster Abbey, where a monument to him was erected by Nicholas
Brigham, a minor poet of the 16th century. According to some
authorities he left two sons, Thomas, who became a man of wealth and
importance, and Lewis, who died young, the little ten-year-old boy to
whom he addressed the treatise on the Astrolabe. Others see no
evidence that Thomas was any relation of the poet. An Elizabeth C.,
placed in the Abbey of Barking by John of Gaunt, was probably his
daughter In person C. was inclined to corpulence, “no poppet to
embrace,” of fair complexion with “a beard the colour of
ripe wheat,” an “elvish” expression, and an eye
downcast and meditative.
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