Chaucer's Official Life

A careful documentary study reconstructs the poet's public career from administrative records, tracing the roles, rewards, and careers of royal esquires, customs officials, and local justices while profiling several contemporaries to illuminate court service. It analyzes pensions, offices, and diplomatic missions and reassesses how far patronage and political change explain appointments and removals, particularly in relation to a prominent patron and the crown. Methodologically it privileges primary documents and cautions against speculative inference, offering a measured account of duties, pensions, and archival evidence.