Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Geoffrey Chaucer

Imagine, if your tiny minds will let you, being a pioneer or a major player in the manifest of anything.  Now imagine that your idea goes viral and hangs around for hundreds of years after you kick off.  People take it up and add to it in their own way and the concept evolves to suit society over and over.  Lots of people have done it; everything we use every day came from somebodies imagination and was forced out into the world to fend for itself.

In the middle ages from 1343 – 1400 in England, there lived a man by the name of Geoffrey Chaucer. Throughout his life he achieved fame as an alchemist, astronomer and he is also known as the father of literature. At a time when the dominant literary languages where Latin and French, Chaucer chose Middle English for his work.

Plaque at The Savoy on The Strand.   

Chaucer was well travelled and settled in Kent where he wrote his famous Canterbury Tales but there was never indication that he actually visited Canterbury.  Like so many writers, the imagination makes up for the actual. The Tales are part of a story-telling contest by pilgrims travelling together from Southwark to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral, and these too are written in the vernacular.

The Canterbury Tales tours in Canterbury

Apart from his writing, Chaucer had many prestigious positions including a sort of foreman of the King’s works. There was nothing major constructed during this stint, but he did oversee repairs to Westminster Palace. So you can imagine work of this capacity fetched a decent wage.

Picture and memorabilia of Chaucer 

It’s unsure how Chaucer died. Some say he was murdered but there’s no clear evidence to support this. Chaucer was the first poet to be buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey where photographs are not allowed – hopefully one day that will change.

If you look back at the era that Geoffrey Chaucer lived in, the realisation of what he did for literature becomes apparent.  Writing in the native language instead of French or Latin was somewhat left of the middle and taking a chance like that wouldn’t have been an easy decision to make.  What if nobody like it and The Canterbury Tales had sat on the bargain table or ended up as landfill somewhere? Lucky for me this didn’t happen because I can’t read Latin or French so my life would have had no meaning. I’m not quite sure what I would be doing if not stalking dead writers, but what I do know for sure is that Once upon a time in London a man tried something out of the norm and it turned out for the best and started a trend that will last forever.  Nothing ventured, hey Geoffrey?