Chaucer’s Life

Abstract

GEOFFREY CHAUCER was the descendant of an apparently prosperous family which had originally lived in Ipswich. Known by the names of Malyn, le Taverner, and de Dynyngton, various family members had been occupied in the wool and wine trades and in the customs service, although the name Chaucer indicates that they were once shoemakers. Robert le Chaucer, Geoffrey’s grandfather, who lived in London during the late thirteenth century, was the deputy for the king’s butler for the port of London, which meant that he collected a certain percentage of the wine for the king’s use from every wine ship entering the port. He was also collector of a special duty on wines from Aquitane. Robert was the second husband of Mary, who had previously been married to the well-to-do John Heyroun. Mary’s third husband, Richard Chaucer, who may have been Robert’s cousin, was a wealthy vintner.