Chaucers Italy

Geoffrey Chaucer might be considered the quintessential English writer, but he drew much of his inspiration and material from Italy. In fact, without the tremendous influence of Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio (among others), the author of The Canterbury Tales might never have assumed his place as the father of English literature. Nevertheless, Richard Owens Chaucers Italy begins in London, where the poet dealt with Italian merchants in his roles as court diplomat and customs official. Next Owen takes us, via Chaucers capture at the siege of Rheims, to his involvement in arranging the marriage of King Edward IIIs son Lionel in Milan and his missions to Genoa and Florence. By scrutinising his encounters with Petrarch, Boccaccio, and the mercenary knight John Hawkwood and with vividly evocative descriptions of the Arezzo, Padua, Florence, Certaldo, and Milan that Chaucer would have encountered Owen reveals the deep influence of Italys people and towns on Chaucers poems and stories. Much writing on Chaucer depicts a misleadingly parochial figure, but as Owens enlightening short study of Chaucers Italian years makes clear, the poets life was internationally eventful. The consequences have made the English canon what it is today.