This is the text-only version of the feature. For the full feature, complete with links, go to:

http://historymedren.about.com/library/weekly/aa082799.htm

 

1. The exact date of Geoffrey Chaucer's birth is uncertain; it is generally given as c. 1340, but it's more likely he was born in 1342 or 1343. Who was king of England when he was born?

1. Edward II
2. Edward III
3. Richard II
4. Henry IV

The answer is b. Edward III.

Edward's reign lasted from 1327 to 1377, during which time he drove David II of Scotland into exile, initiated the Hundred Years' War, and founded the Order of the Garter. He was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II.

Geoffrey Chaucer was in service to King Edward III and later to Richard II. Among his various duties were diplomatic courier (which enabled him to visit France and Italy, among other places), comptroller of petty customs, and justice of the peace.

 

2. Which of Chaucer's works is associated with Valentine's Day?

1. The Book of the Duchess
2. The Legend of Good Women
3. The Parliament of Fowles
4. Troilus and Criseyde

The answer is c. Parliament of Fowles.

The Parliament of Fowles is a poem of 699 lines based on the myth that each year on Valentine's Day birds gather to choose their mates. This tradition may have led to the modern view of Valentine's Day as a celebration of romantic love.

 

3. Geoffrey Chaucer was alive to witness--or hear breaking news of--some remarkable events in medieval history. Which one of the following events was he not around for?

1. The Battle of Agincourt
2. The Black Death
3. The Deposition of Richard II
4. The Peasants' Revolt

The answer is a. The Battle of Agincourt.

Geoffrey was a small child when the horrible plague known as the Black Death hit England in the late 1340's. The Peasants' Revolt took place in 1381, and Richard II was maneuvered off the English throne in favor of Henry IV in 1399. Chaucer died in October, 1400.

The Battle of Agincourt took place in 1415; the victorious English were led by the son of Henry IV, King Henry V, and Shakespeare's play revolves around the event.

 

4. Chaucer wrote The Book of the Duchess as an elegy for Blanche, the late wife of which nobleman?

1. Henry Bolingbroke
2. John of Gaunt
3. Jean de Montfort
4. Simon de Montfort

The answer is b. John of Gaunt.

John of Gaunt was the Duke of Lancaster, the second son of King Edward III, and regent to Richard II during his minority. He and Chaucer knew each other for some years and were apparently on very friendly terms. Blanche died of plague in 1369. John's son by Blanche, Henry Bolingbroke, would later become King Henry IV. Jean de Montfort was the duke of Brittany at that time; Simon de Montfort lived in the 13th century and led a baronial revolt against King Henry III.

The Book of the Duchess is Chaucer's first important poem, probably written in 1370. A dream-vision, it was heavily influenced by the French poem of courtly love, the Roman de la rose, which Chaucer translated in part.

 

5. The Canterbury Tales is an unfinished work, wherein each pilgrim was supposed to tell more than one tale. How many tales did Chaucer originally envision each pilgrim telling?

1. Two
2. Three
3. Four
4. Seven

The answer is c. Four.

Originally, each pilgrim was to tell two tales on the journey to Canterbury and two tales on the way back.

The Canterbury Tales is by far the best-known of Chaucer's works, and although it was never finished, enough of it remains for it to be considered a unified book.

 

6. The device Chaucer employs in The Canterbury Tales of many characters gathered together, each telling stories, was not new. The idea had been used by an Italian author in a work probably begun sometime in the late 1340's. Who was this Italian poet?

1. Dante Alighieri
2. Giovanni Boccaccio
3. Baldassare Castiglione
4. Francesco Petrarch

The answer is b. Giovanni Boccaccio.

Boccaccio wrote the Decameron, a collection of 100 tales told by a group of 10 people who've fled from plague in the city of Florence. Other works by Boccaccio may also have influenced Chaucer, including Il filostrato, which influenced Troilus and Creyside, and Teseida, which had a direct impact on The Knight's Tale. Chaucer encountered the works of Boccaccio, Dante and Petrarch on his diplomatic missions to Italy.

Dante Alighieri (1245-1321) was perhaps the most significant author of pre-Renaissance Italy and wrote such masterpieces as The Divine Comedy. Petrarch, a contemporary and friend of Boccaccio, was not only a poet but might reasonably be called the founder of Humanism. Baldassare Castiglione was a fifteenth century writer, courtier and diplomat and is best known for his Book of the Courtier.

 

7. Chaucer's epic poem Troilus and Criseyde is considered by some to be his best work. Against what war is this tragic romance set?

1. The Hundred Years' War
2. The Peloponnesian War
3. The Trojan War
4. The War of the Roses

The answer is c. The Trojan War.

Troilus and Criseyde is based on an earlier medieval romance, probably invented by Benoît de Sainte-Maure in his Roman de Troie, and was also the subject of Boccaccio's work Il filostrato. In it the story of the love affair between the son of the Trojan king and the daughter of a deserter priest is told. Shakespeare was undoubtedly influenced by Chaucer's version as well as others in his own play.

Unlike The Canterbury Tales, this epic romance was not only finished but polished, and therefore reveals the advantages of the time and effort that Chaucer was able to invest.

 

8. Chaucer was strongly influenced by classical and early medieval writings and even translated one into the English of his day. Which older work did he translate?

1. The City of God by St. Augustine
2. The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
3. De Officiis by Cicero
4. Metamorphoses by Ovid

The answer is b. The Consolation of Philosophy.

Boethius was a Roman philosopher of the early sixth century; his Consolatio Philosophiae discusses free will, destiny, and God's omniscience, and was highly influential to medieval thought. Chaucer was profoundly influenced by the work, most obviously in his poem Troilus and Criseyde, which he wrote soon after his translation of Boethius.

 

9. In the early 1390s, Chaucer began a treatise that he dedicated to "little Lewis"; scholars are undecided as to whether or not the Lewis in question was Chaucer's own son or that of a friend. What topic did this factual treatise cover?

1. Alchemy
2. The Astrolabe
3. The Cannon
4. The Printing Press

The answer is b. The Astrolabe.

Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe is the oldest known "technical manual" in the English language. It remained unfinished, possibly because the young man to whom it was dedicated passed away. The theory of the astrolabe is ancient in origin; fully-realized devices were introduced to western Europe in the 12th century.

Alchemy was a protoscience, the precursor of chemistry, and a discipline of medieval philosophical thought. The cannon had come into fairly common use by the middle of the fourteenth century. The printing press with movable type was not used in the west until Johann Gutenberg devised one in the late 1440's.

 

10. Geoffrey Chaucer died in October, 1400. Where is he buried?

1. St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury
2. The Crypt of Canterbury Cathedral
3. Potter's Field
4. Westminster Abbey, London

The answer is d. Westminster Abbey.

The crypt was the site of the tomb of St. Thomas Á Becket from 1170 to 1220; St. Augustine's Abbey is so named because it was established by St. Augustine of Canterbury. Geoffrey Chaucer was too well-off to have been buried in obscurity in a Potter's Field.

About a year before he died, Chaucer took lodgings in a house in the garden of Westminster Abbey, having previously been Clerk of Works to the Palace of Westminster. His burial in the Abbey is considered a signal honor, and the area where he was buried has come to be known as Poets' Corner.

Scoring

How did you do? Score yourself as follows:

1-3		Novice. Hey -- who knew there was so much to know about Chaucer?
4-7		Not bad -- you must have become acquainted with good ol' Geoffrey.
8-9		Proficient. A Chaucerian, to say the least.
10		You're a True Chaucerian Scholar -- this quiz was too easy for you!

Facts for this quiz were checked at Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

 

For useful links and a hyperlinked book list, please return to the regular feature.

The Chaucer Quiz is copyright © 1999 Melissa Snell and About.com. Permission is granted to reproduce this quiz for personal or classroom use only, provided that the URL below is included. For reprint permission, please contact Melissa Snell.

The URL for this feature is:
http://historymedren.about.com/library/weekly/aa082799.htm

The URL for the Home Page of the Medieval History site is:
http://historymedren.about.com/

 

return to the regular feature
home page | site map | article index | link directory